1978-1984

WANE-TV Videotapes

The first local television station in Fort Wayne was WKJG (NBC) and began broadcasting on November 21, 1953. On May 26, 2003, the station was renamed WISE in honor of its 50th anniversary of broadcasting. The second Fort Wayne television station launched September 26, 1954 as WINT, broadcasting from Auburn. In 1956, the station was renamed WANE (CBS) and broadcasting moved to Fort Wayne. The FCC deemed Fort Wayne "too small of a market to support three full-power stations," so the third station, WPTA (ABC) launched on September 28, 1957, licensed to operate in Roanoke, officially moving its license to Fort Wayne in the 1970s. In 1989, WANE-TV donated approximately 1,000 tapes of footage, and 89 of those tapes were preserved in the Historical Society collection for historical content. These tapes feature a few stories in the collection including the Flood of 1982, the closing of the International Harvester plant and the opening of the Old City Hall Building Historical Museum in 1980.