Dispatch #311: The Strange Death of WKJG

 

    Yesterday marked the 70th anniversary of Fort Wayne's first local TV station, WKJG-TV 33. It should have been a big local story, but it wasn't—primarily because the station many of us grew up with doesn't really exist in 2023.

   WKJG made its debut as an NBC affiliate on November 21st, 1953 (CBS affiliate WANE joined the local line-up in 1954, followed by ABC's WPTA in 1957). 33 was owned by William Kunkel, who also owned Fort Wayne's morning newspaper, the Journal Gazette, which explains the origin of WKJG as its call letters.

  Perhaps because it was the oldest station in town, but I always perceived WKJG as a bit stodgy when I was a kid. The on-air personnel—Hilliard Gates, Dick Floria, Dick DeFay, Wayne Rothgeb—seemed older to me than anchors at the other two stations, and more like teachers I knew from school.

    Even so, WKJG could be a comforting presence. I was a big fan of WKJG's John Siemer, for instance—known to legions of Fort Wayne kids for his Engineer John cartoon show. 

  For years the station was also home to local reruns of the classic Star Trek series. I still remember WKJG promotions director Larry Bower dressing up as a Klingon to hype the show in a memorable local ad.

   I first knew WKJG was in trouble early in 2003 when the channel's new owners promptly renamed it WISE-TV "in honor" of the station's 50th anniversary. Unfortunately, things only got worse in the years that followed.

  In the digital TV era, all NBC programming would be eventually relegated to channel 21.2, a secondary digital offering from WPTA—our local ABC affiliate—which prioritized their local newscasts at the expense of the WISE staff (I can only imagine what Dick Florea thought about that).

  WISE itself evolved into local digital channel 33.1, becoming home to programming from the CW instead of NBC. So, in November 2023 on the 70th anniversary of WKJG's debut, what really remains of the old station? Precious little, apparently.

   The story of how the Summit City's pioneering TV station first lost its call letters, then it's personnel, and finally its network identity, is a very strange one indeed (and a little sad, too). 

   While we're on the subject, someday I'll have to relate the strange tale a retired Fort Wayne first responder once told me about an odd encounter with WANE-TV legend Ann Colone in downtown Fort Wayne—a story that's been kept very hush-hush in the Summit City for decades.

  There's more to come in the next dispatch.

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