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Saturday, August 30, 2008

History

Defining News in the New Millenium

WBRZ receives The Louisiana Association of Broadcasters "Promotion of the Year Award" in 2000 for its "Buckle Up for Tony" campaign.

Radio-Television News Directors Association awards the Edward R. Murrow for Excellence in investigative reporting to anchorman George Ryan for his investigative series "Silent Trust."

Later in 2000, "Silent Trust" wins the 2000 National Edward R. Murrow Award for WBRZ.

WBRZ introduces the WeatherBug computer desktop tool to the Baton Rouge area. Weatherbug serves the area as the only live neighborhood weather source with information available free to anyone with PC accessibility. The weather information comes direct from Automated Weather Source's Worldwide School WeatherNet; part of the world's largest automated real-time weather network.

WBRZ introduces "You 2 TV," an interactive concept to area viewers. You 2 TV kiosks give residents a chance to speak their minds and possibly see themselves on television. The "You 2 TV" portable booths can be seen around the Baton Rouge area.

The Louisiana Association of Broadcasters recognizes WBRZ in 2001 as the recipient of its "Community Service Award" for a single project. The LAB honored Channel 2 for its "Fill a Prescription for the Needy" campaign.

WBRZ announces expanded services on WBRZ Cox Cable Channel 2. In addition to airing live weather 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, WBRZ News begins re-broadcasting newscasts on WBRZ Cox Cable Channel 2. WBRZ news repeats have been requested for many years, reinforcing a growing trend across the nation due to viewers' daily changing schedules.

The Douglas L. Manship family receives the 2001 Outstanding Philanthropist Award. The family is honored for their record of generosity to charitable causes including a gift of $2 million to build a center for the performing arts in downtown Baton Rouge.

The Louisiana Association of Broadcasters selects WBRZ in 2002 as "Community Station of the Year." This marks the fifth year in a row that WBRZ wins this award because of campaigns such as "Fill a Prescription for the Needy," "Pat's Coats for Kids," "Feed a Family," and the "Children's Miracle Network Broadcast."

Richard F. Manship, President of WBRZ is also named President and CEO of Capital City Press.

On April 2, 2003 wbrz.com and theadvocate.com combined resources and the two Web sites became 2theadvocate.com

A new television era dawns in Baton Rouge on April 22, 2002 when WBRZ becomes the first local commercial station to broadcast programming in Digital TV on WBRZ-DT 13. HDTV has twice the picture resolution of older analog television, producing images that are as sharp as 35 mm film, yet wider than analog. HDTV also provides CD-quality sound. "WBRZ has always been the pioneer of broadcast technology in Louisiana, and we know that Digital TV is the future of the commercial station," said WBRZ President Richard Manship. Due to the popularity of Digital television broadcasts on DT 13, WBRZ begins airing Digital TV 24 hours a day starting September 29, 2003. Previously, owners of high-definition television sets could only view DT 13 between the hours of 12:00 p.m. and 12:30 a.m. each day.

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