Indiana Broadcast History Archive

Tina Cosby has spent decades in Indianapolis media, serving as a news anchor, reporter, and producer at WISH-TV/MyINDY-TV from 1983 to 2017. At WISH-TV/MyINDY-TV, she anchored the 5 p.m. and weekend newscasts, reported for daily and weekend stories, and led public affairs programming and special reports. At WISH-TV, she anchored the 5 p.m. and weekend newscasts, reported for daily and weekend stories, and led public affairs programming and special reports. In 2002, Cosby became the station’s Community Affairs Director, a role she held for 15 years. 

Cosby is currently the host of "Community Connection" on WTLC-AM in Indianapolis.

Marissa Meador interviewed Tina Cosby for the IBHA Oral History Collection in 2024.

Early life 

Tina Cosby was born on March 22, 1959, in Madison, Indiana. She lived there until age 18, when she left to attend Indiana University Bloomington. Although she initially enrolled as a pre-med student with plans to become a psychiatrist, a broadcast journalism class she took as an elective changed her path. 

One of Cosby’s professors, Richard Yoakam, recognized her talent for writing and encouraged her to apply for a competitive internship at WAVE-TV in Louisville, Kentucky. The internship only accepted two students each summer, and Cosby was initially hesitant about applying so her professor told her that if she didn’t end up liking the internship, he would pay for her to get back on track with pre-med. She ended up securing the internship, which ultimately convinced her it was what she wanted to do. She rearranged her schedule to pursue the career and made tapes to submit to jobs. Shortly before she graduated, she was already getting job offers. A station in Chattanooga, Tennessee, WTVC TV, was looking for “qualified minorities” to serve in an entry-level reporting role, but Cosby wanted to graduate first. 

When she graduated in 1981 from the Indiana University School of Telecommunications, she got the job at WTVC Channel 9 in Chattanooga, Tennessee, after she dropped off tapes at several news stations across the country. She was on the street reporting by noon, she said. After two years there, WISH-TV’s news director, Lee Giles, reached out with a job opportunity in Indianapolis, launching a 30+ year career at the station. 

Cosby said she didn’t have a specific inspiration but mentioned Loretta Harris, someone she met in Louisville who ran the community affairs show. On Cosby’s last day of the internship, she got Cosby a gift of a journal. When she handed it to Cosby, the reporter told her “Always remember, this is what you do. It’s not who you are.” Since then, this principle has guided Cosby’s life. 

Racism and Sexism in the Newsroom 

Life was difficult for women in the newsroom, Cosby said. 

Cosby said women of color experienced sexism far more than racism in the 80s and 90s because of the “good old boy” network that existed in journalism at the time. For example, women were often assigned to things like Black Friday shopping while men got to cover a fire. Women had to fight against this by being twice as good at what they did. 

At the same time, Black reporters were often assigned to “Black” stories like the Indiana Black Expo. Cosby said this even upset some white reporters who wanted to cover the Black Expo. 

Cosby anchoring the news for WISH-TV

Cosby said she saw the good in humans as a result of her job, which is rare when you’re covering the news. 

One of the biggest stories Cosby covered was the Mike Tyson rape trial, but another set of local stories sticks out in her mind. It was about a dog named Tramp who kept defecating in the neighbor’s yard until the neighbor hooked Tramp up to his truck and drove off, injuring the dog. Tramp's veterinary bills topped $7,000, but because of the generosity of people who saw the story, the family raised $50,000.

Cosby has received numerous awards throughout her broadcast career, including recognition from groups like the Society of Professional Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists. She has also received Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. 

WTLC – Community Connection 

Cosby hosts a radio show called the Community Connection on WTLC, succeeding the late Rev. Michael Jones and community activist Amos Brown. Cosby’s focus on the show surrounds issues affecting the Black community like education, health disparities and politics. Though the show was initially pitched to her as “The Tina Cosby Show,” Cosby didn’t want to be the focus. The name she chose instead, “Community Connection,” is an apt description for some of the things Cosby talks about, such as inviting someone from Common Cause Indiana to share important information for voters. At the heart of it all is a desire to use her news skills to provide people with important resources and inform and enlighten, she said. 

How Broadcast Has Changed 

The emergence of the multimedia journalist has been the biggest change to television, Cosby said. Since new journalists at TV stations are now expected to shoot and edit and write, the individual roles are less clearly defined. To Cosby, this makes it hard to keep track of things with so much extra to do. News directors and television news stations are also having a difficult time filling jobs because they’re offering lower pay, probably due to shrinking profit margins. In a lot of ways, it’s the “Wild Wild West” Cosby said. Adapting to social media and streaming is important but so is remaining local. 

Personal Life

In her free time, Cosby loves golf, cooking, spending time with family and watching the Pacers and the Colts. She describes herself as a simple, down-to-earth person, and has never forgotten the quote from a colleague at her internship about the importance of separating life from work. 

---

Written by Marissa Meador, edited by Katherine Maners

February 2026

Bibliography 

Montgomery, Gregg. “Celebrating 5 years of local ownership of WISH-TV.” WISH-TV. 22 

September 2024. https://www.wishtv.com/wish-tv-70th-anniversary/celebrating-5-years- of-local-ownership-of-wish-tv/ 

Morehead, Andrea. “Tina Cosby hopes to inspire, empower community through radio show.” WTHR.1 July 2019. https://www.wthr.com/article/news/local/tina-cosby-hopes-inspire- empower-community-through-radio-show/531-e19e9b14-77fc-4c76-9428- 7f96d52141b8 

“WISH-TV.” Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. https://indyencyclopedia.org/wish-tv-channel-8/ 

“Tina Cosby – Host Community Connection WTLC-AM – Women’s History Month Honoree.” 

106.7 WTLC. https://wtlcfm.com/3475271/tina-cosby-host-community-connection-wtlc- am-womens-history-month-honoree/