Indianapolis

WLEX morning anchor Nicole Pence is leaving the station later this month to join WTHR, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports.

Pence joined the Lexington NBC-affiliate in 2008 as a reporter and was promoted to morning c0-anchor in 2009. At WTHR, she will anchor the weekend morning newscasts and report during the week.

Pence, an Indiana native, told the Herald-Leader that WTHR, the NBC-affiliate in Indianapolis, was her “dream station.”

WLEX news director Bruce Carter said the station is currently conducting a national search for Pence’s replacement, though internal candidates are also being considered.

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WRTV now has what no other station in Indianapolis has: a permanent street-level studio.

The ABC-affiliate announced today plans to open a permanent, glass-enclosed studio in downtown Indianapolis.

The space, located on Monument Circle in the center of the city, is in the Emmis Communications building, the home of local news/talk radio station WIBC.  Last November, WRTV and WIBC launched a news-gathering partnership.

“We are very pleased to take our partnership with WIBC to the next level,” WRTV vice president and general manager Larry Blackerby said, announcing the plans for the studio. Read more

Indianapolis Fox-affiliate WXIN will launch a 6 p.m. newscast this fall, the station announced today.

“Our hour at 6:00 will continue our mission — at any hour of the morning, day or night — of being the go-to place for the big stories as they happen,” news director Lee Rosenthal said in a statement.

WXIN said several new on-air faces, as well as production staffers, will be hired in preparation for the newscast’s September 10 debut. The newscast will bring WXIN’s weekday local news hours to 50 per week, the highest in the Indianapolis market.

WXIN morning anchor Angela Ganote, an Indiana University graduate, and morning meteorologist Jim O’Brien, a Kentucky fan, placed a bet when the teams met recently in the NCAA tournament.  And after the Hoosiers lost, Ganote succumbed to a dunk tank during the station’s morning show.

Winning the bet, O’Brien had the chance to knock Ganote off her perch in the dunk tank… it didn’t take long.  Oh, by the way, the temperature outside at the time was 34 degrees.

Morning anchor Chris Pisano has left WRTV after almost two years at the Indianapolis ABC-affiliate.

WRTV news director Kevin Finch told TVSpy Pisano resigned for family reasons. His last day was earlier this month.

Pisano was the weekday morning and noon anchor for the station. His replacement has not yet been announced, according to a post from morning co-anchor Grace Trahan on the WRTV website.

There will be a pair of new reporters at WBBM next week. Marissa Bailey (pictured) and Brad Edwards are joining the CBS O&O, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Bailey joins the station after five years as a reporter and anchor at WGRZ. She left the Buffalo NBC-affiliate in January to move to Chicago with her boyfriend.

Edwards is an investigative reporter who was cut loose at WISH, the CBS-affiliate in Indianapolis, in December. He was halfway through his three-year contract at the time, and was reportedly dismissed due to budget constraints at the station.

Bailey and Edwards will both start at WBBM on Monday.

A story about an anonymous lottery winner in Shelbyville, IN, took a strange turn recently when the winner was incorrectly identified by WRTV, the ABC-affiliate in Indianapolis.

Several local news outlets, including WRTV and Fox-affiliate WXIN, identified the winner as James Prather. On February 24, WRTV interviewed Prather’s estranged wife, Ericka, who hired an attorney to stake her claim to half of the $34.5 million jackpot. She told WRTV’s Chris Proffitt that her husband called her and asked her for a divorce after he won the lottery.

“I was like, is it because you just hit the lottery?’” she said in the interview. “And he’s like, ‘huh?’ He tried to say he didn’t, but then he’s like, ‘Yeah, I did.’”

One problem: Prather may not be the lottery winner.

Read more

Just three weeks after denying reports that Joy Dumandan‘s contract at WISH had not been renewed, station management is now refusing to comment on the status of the morning anchor’s employment.

After investigative reporter Brad Edwards was fired from the Indianapolis CBS-affiliate, it was reported that Dumandan, who anchored the 5 to 8 a.m. newscast, had also been cut loose. WISH general manager Jeff White denied those reports, saying the morning anchor was just on vacation. Dumandan reported for the station after White’s denial, but has not been on the air at WISH since January 6.

Dumandan’s absence has been a topic of conversation on the station’s Facebook page, with several viewers inquiring about the morning anchor’s whereabouts. WISH has responded to each of the posts with a one-sentence statement that reads, “I understand you have questions, however it is our policy not to comment on personnel matters.” Read more

Cliff Nicholson, a veteran meteorologist with more than 20 years of forecasting Indianapolis weather, died Friday morning. He was 62.

Nicholson was most recently a meteorologist at NBC-affiliate WTHR. He joined the station in 1998 and worked full-time for six years, occasionally returning on a freelance basis after he left in 2004. He also worked at CBS-affiliate WISH and ABC-affiliate WRTV.

WTHR chief meteorologist Chris Wright remembers Nicholson as “just a real nice guy,” according to a statement on the station’s website.

Indianapolis ABC-affiliate WRTV is shuffling talent on the evening newscasts.

According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, WRTV has tapped Jenna Kooi (previously known as Jenna Maloney), who has been working at the station as a freelance reporter, to anchor the 7 and 11 p.m. newscasts alongside Todd Connor.

Erika Flye, who currently serves as Connor’s 5 p.m. co-anchor, will expand her duties to also include the 6 p.m. newscast.

Until last fall, Connor’s co-anchor for the 6, 7 and 11 p.m. newscasts was Trisha Shepherd, who left in September for a position at the Riley Children’s Foundation.