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History
Television Comes Of Age
WBRZ: In Fast Forward, the 1960s
The infant medium, television, grows up quickly. 
Baton Rouge television thrives, breaking new ground with its unique power to inform and its ability to captivate the imagination, affording residents of South Louisiana an incisive view of their changing world.
Broadcasting in "living color," WBRZ's daily coverage of local news, sports, weather, community and civic events rapidly expands, creating new departments and doubling staff size. Doug Manship takes to the airways with editorials that, among other issues, advocate peaceful desegregation within the state. WBRZ airs a locally-produced documentary entitled, Without Violence, featuring interviews from other southern cities where integration has taken place peacefully. The program attracts national attention, winning the station's first Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Science.
WBRZ remains actively involved with all aspects of the community. It pioneers remote broadcasts with its own mobile production bus, covering news-making events, concerts and cultural happenings. During Hurricane Camille, the station provides around-the-clock coverage with its self-sustaining weather radar equipment, bringing viewers up-to-the-minute accounts of the Gulf Coast devastation.
The station provides start-up funding for LSU's Center of Excellence, promoting outstanding academic and business achievements within the community. Thousands visit WBRZ's "Singing Christmas Tree." "Fireworks on the Mississippi" becomes the hallmark of July 4th festivities.
WBRZ has now firmly established what will become its legacy - uncompromising response to the needs of Baton Rouge and to the surrounding parishes. With a clear vision of its past and a vigilant eye on its future, WBRZ fast forwards into the next decade with unbridled confidence and renewed dedication to its founding principles of broadcast leadership.
Television Leads The Way
WBRZ Celebrates, the 1970s
The Baton Rouge television market is rapidly maturing. One station remains the most watched in all of Louisiana…influencing and enhancing the lives of viewers along the way. WBRZ begins 1970 in celebration of its fifteenth birthday. The Louisiana Association of Broadcasters names station President Doug Manship "Broadcaster of The Year." 
Technological breakthroughs develop at the speed of light. Portable videotape recorders replace bulky, Hollywood-style film cameras, eliminating time-consuming delays in airing fast-breaking news events. WBRZ becomes the flagship provider of television news footage to scores of out-of--town stations across the state and around the nation. It broadcasts Louisiana's first gubernatorial debates from the capital city. It produces an award-winning series entitled, "Louisiana Heritage," which establishes an historic collaboration between local education and commercial television.
The Associated Press, United Press International, Peabody, Columbia, and Scripps Howard are just a few of the prestigious organizations that bestow awards on the station's staff. WBRZ provides hundreds of civic, cultural and charitable organizations countless hours of air-time publicity and fund-raising promotion.
In keeping with a policy of bringing the best programming to viewers, WBRZ changes network affiliations by joining the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1977. Jules Mayeux becomes general manager of Channel 2. The station adds LiveEye broadcasting and Early Warning Radar to its considerable array of high-tech innovations. 
WBRZ stands poised on the cutting edge of the emerging '80s technology - technology that will enable viewers to control the times they watch television and will offer them access to more programming choices than ever before. It is a time of great challenge that will create even greater opportunity.
Television Delivers News And Information
WBRZ: The Source, the 1980s
The decade opens with WBRZ being named "Station Of The Year" by the Louisiana Association of Broadcasters. Richard Manship assumes the responsibilities of General Manager.
The Eyewitness News investigative reporters, operating from a computerized newsroom, further establish WBRZ as Louisiana's most authoritative source of information. Each year the station is recognized locally, nationally and internationally for excellence in broadcast journalism, consistently delivering in-depth coverage that sets the standard by which other news organizations are measured. United Press International cites "Louisiana's Legacy of Neglect" as Best Documentary. The American Bar Association presents its Gavel Award for a program entitled, "Equal Opportunity Abuser."
The station broadcasts with a circular polarization transmission system that vastly improves viewer reception in all directions. It acquires Newstar 2, one of only 10 satellite uplink vehicles in the U.S. The truck sends news stories back to the WBRZ newsroom by transmitting them to a satellite orbiting 23,000 miles overhead.
A two-year construction project triples the original size of WBRZ, now a total Telecommunications Center. Doppler Radar comes on-line. The station expands its sponsorship of community programs with public service innovations like 2 On Your Side, CrimeStoppers, Feed-A-Family and Pat's Coats For Kids. Closed captioning for the hearing-impaired is introduced. "We Play Baton Rouge," the city's first and only television game show, airs. WBRZ resurrects the 3-D movie by broadcasting "Revenge of the Creature." Innovation, leadership and commitment to community continue to be the standards pursued at WBRZ…through the '80s and into the decade ahead.
