For Tribune, getting the CBS affiliation for its Indianapolis station WTTV was just the beginning of the story. Now there are things to buy, people to hire, and newscasts to build.
Tribune’s SVP of News Katherine Green, who was SVP and managing editor at HLN before coming to the station group in May, described the process of putting it all together for a January 1 launch as a “crazy science experiment.”
The station group announced yesterday it was hiring 80 people in Indianapolis and Green said she hoped to have everyone on board by mid to late November.
Led by GM Paul Rennie, the station group plans to have both FOX affiliate WXIN and new CBS affiliate WTTV under one roof. Green said Tribune plans to keep the news operations, studio and sales separate but will combine assignment desks. She said she hoped there would be some spirited competition between the two stations.
WTTV plans a full-plate of news with morning, Noon and evening newscasts. For equipment like news vans, cameras and studio gear, Green said the station group will invest in some new equipment and borrow from its other affiliates.
With all the buying and moving and hiring, Green seemed most excited by two things: the opportunity to challenge what she called the old news paradigm and give viewers what they want in a fresh new way and the opportunity to leverage the combined meteorological brain power of both WXIN and WTTV weather teams during weather emergencies.