Television in Fort Wayne: 1953-2018: A Look Back at 65 Years of Northeast Indiana through the Eyes of the Television Camera & Stories of the People Who Covered It

This is a populist history primarily of one television market – Fort Wayne, Indiana – from the first local broadcast on November 21, 1953 through 2018. It is a compilation of images, promotional ads, news stories, and internal documents provided by many long-time news personalities and management representing every decade and every local network affiliate.

Congressman Mark Souder was the second-longest serving Congressman from the region since Indiana became a state. He joined with Melissa Long and Heather Herron, the two most-watched news anchors in the region’s history, to compile this one-of-a-kind book. The book illustrates how television shaped a sense of shared community. It does not do so with charts or conclusions of the authors, but rather tells the shared history through what people saw on television and the personal stories of the people who were invited into people’s homes each day to describe the news and to entertain them. There are funny stories, and very sad stories. There are unknown background stories and others that everyone who lived in the market at the time remembers.

It is told in 296 pages, accompanied by 500 images, hundreds in full color. There are also stories that are of interest throughout the state of Indiana and beyond. This is a book for television buffs and historians, as well as a keepsake for anyone who lived within the Fort Wayne television market.

M.T. Publishing has published nearly 300 local history books, from San Francisco to New York City. They are in demand not only from local markets but also libraries and museums coast to coast.

Hardcover 296 pages. 2021, MT Publishing.  Authors: Congressman Mark Souder, Melissa Long and Heather Herron.