Indiana Broadcast History Archive

Ted Linn worked as a news director, anchor, producer, and reporter in his 43-year career in journalism. Linn’s career brought him to stations across Indiana and beyond. Starting as a reporter, he covered a number of events in Indiana’s history, including the Colts move to Indianapolis and the blizzard of 1978. He was the News Director for WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana, for 16 years. During this time, the station received numerous IBA Spectrum Awards, two Regional Emmys and an Edward R. Murrow Award. 

Ted Linn was inducted into the Indiana Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2022.

Early Life  

Linn was born in Northeast Indianapolis in 1954. He attended North Central High School and went to college at Butler University.  

In 1976, he interned at WISH-TV while at Butler. Eleven weeks after graduating, he landed his first job in 1977 as a reporter for WLFI-TV in Lafayette, IN.

WLFI-TV, Lafayette, IN

Linn’s first job was at CBS station WLFI in Lafayette, where he earned the nickname “Our Man in Howard County” for his reporting in Kokomo. It was during this part of his career that Linn was invited to shoot a promotion with legendary CBS anchor Walter Cronkite. 

In January of his first full year in the business, Linn covered the Blizzard of ’78, which covered much of Indiana in snow and trapped him in Kokomo for over a week. According to Linn, this was the biggest weather story of his career.  

Linn said the WLFI was a tough job for him to get but taught him how to work with news directors and other reporters, as well as skills like writing and editing, which would help him throughout the rest of his career.  

WKEF-TV, Dayton, OH 

Linn got his second job as a reporter in Dayton, Ohio, for WKEF-TV, where he reported on a variety of topics including the police report and consumer report, and eventually anchored a morning show. Linn said the morning show he anchored was an anomaly for the time, with morning news being much less common in the early 80s and was often made up of short clips.  

Although he enjoyed his time at WKEF, Linn desired to return to Indianapolis with his wife and two young children in order to be closer to his extended family and return to his home state. In 1983, the opportunity came with a job offer at WISH-TV in Indianapolis.  

WISH-TV, Indianapolis

After getting the job at WISH-TV, Linn was now thrust into the role of producer, which presented new challenges and opportunities. Linn was one of two main producers at WISH; Linn managed the night newscast while the other producer managed the evening broadcast.  

He produced news for Mike Ahern and Debby Knox, as well as other big names in Indiana broadcasting, and enjoyed working for News Director Lee Giles, who he came to see as a mentor.  

He would go on to call this ‘the best job in TV,’ and would work as a producer at WISH for six and a half years. Some of the biggest stories covered by WISH during this time were the Colts moving to Indianapolis, the 1984 election, the Pan-American games in 1987, and a number of special and investigative reports.  

In 1994, Linn became assistant news director, moving him into yet another role. Linn enjoyed managing and particularly was thankful for all the people he was able to work with. In 2004, Linn would pursue a new job in Fort Wayne and make the move up to News Director.

WANE-TV, Fort Wayne, IN

For the next 16 years until his retirement in 2020, Ted Linn would work as News Director at WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He carried his management experience from WISH but applied it for the Fort Wayne broadcast market.  

Around this time, Linn cited the emergence and popularity of the internet as something that significantly changed how he managed the news station. Another big change he mentioned was the increasing responsibilities of reporters, which became a challenge due to the high employee turnover.  

In 2010, Linn added morning weekend news, expanding the staff, and providing coverage that most other local stations did not. The newscast continued after Linn’s retirement. The changes and expansions made by Linn took effect in boosting ratings, and WANE-TV took the leading spot in the Fort Wayne news market. 

The last major challenge of Linn’s career would come with the Covid-19 pandemic, which made managing a newsroom very difficult. Linn discussed the challenges he faced, and as someone who valued in-person collaboration he struggled with the change. 

Linn retired in September of 2020 at the age of 66. Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry declared Sept. 11, 2020, Ted Linn Day in the city of Fort Wayne, in honor of Linn’s dedication to broadcast.

IU Media School student Kyler Logan interviewed Ted Linn in 2024 for the IBHA Oral History Collection. 

March 2025

By Kyler Logan, Edited by Lily Saylor