The History of WNIN

Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation founded local educational television in the late 1950’s by initiating the Southwestern Indiana Educational Television Project, a consortium of 16 southwest Indiana school corporations.  Through a grant from the Ford Foundation, the Project began producing a series of educational programs at commercial station WTVW. 

The program was dropped in 1968 but soon the EVSC obtained a license to operate its own station with the call letters WNIN.   With equipment donated by WTVW and other stations, WNIN began broadcasting in 1970 from studios created in the old McCutchanville School. One year after signing on, WNIN found itself with $59,000 deficit.   A community subscription campaign failed to meet its goal, resulting in the station going off the air in 1972.

An independent non-profit, community-owned corporation was formed in 1973 for the purpose of reviving the station.  A $100,000 gift from the University of Evansville was the turning point that enabled Southwest Indiana Public Television to put WNIN/TV 9 on the air. 

The first Great Channel 9 Auction both took place in 1974, fueling plans to add a radio station and to eventually relocate both stations to a single new facility. WNIN-TV’s first local programs included Ride the Reading Rocket, The Public’s Business, and Primetime 9.  Through the years, WNIN has hosted many famous on-air guests, from Donnie & Marie Osmond to the governor of Indiana.

The stations first Capital Campaign to raise $3,000,000 began in 1981 for the purposes of moving the station to a downtown location, developing a public radio service and replacing the used television equipment. The campaign raised approximately $1.2 million and placed the station in a deficit situation.

WNIN 88.3 FM went on the air in 1982, broadcasting from the basement of the old McCutchanville School. Radio Reading Service was added three years later. 

David Dial was hired as President and General Manager in 1983, succeeding Glen Traw and Bob Edelman (under EVSC management) and Vince Saele and Art Paul (as WNIN General Managers).

In 1986, WNIN purchased Evansville’s oldest building, the Willard Carpenter home, for $260,000.  A $900,000 capital campaign enabled the purchase of new equipment and then the retirement of the mortgage three years later.

Two additional TV channels were added in 1991 when WNIN signed an agreement with EVSC to operate WNIN-ETV on cable channels 12 and 13.  The channels were initially used as a demand system to provide video material to teachers in the classroom. The City of Evansville also provided important on-going funding to support after school and community programming.

The 1990’s also brought the addition of Descriptive Video Service, the Sesame Street Pre-School Educational Outreach Program (RTL), and the development of one of the first local community computer networks in the country.  It was in 1993 that WNIN changed its corporate name to Tri-State Public Teleplex, Inc.

In 2001, the State of Indiana granted its public TV stations $20 million to assist compliance with a federal mandate for digital conversion.  With its 3.5-million-dollar share, WNIN purchase 20 acres of land in Boonville for a new ‘1000 tower and transmission site to add a high definition channel, datacasting and multichannel capabilities, 5.1 digital surround audio, and Internet streaming capabilities by 2006.  WNIN raised nearly $2 million in a local capital campaign to complete the conversion.

In 2005, WNIN-TV joint in a partnership with the Vanderburgh County Commission to begin live coverage of government meetings. The County purchased the necessary equipment that is operated through fiber optic lines from WNIN’s Carpenter Home headquarters and pays for each ½ hour of coverage. In 2007, the City of Evansville, joined in a similar arrangement.

WNIN FM 88.3 took a big step into radio’s digital age in 2006 with the construction of a new radio control room made possible through federal grant funds.

In 2008 our name changed to WNIN Tri-State Public Media, Inc.

WNIN-TV is presently completing construction of its next generation all-digital facility that will provide the launching pad for an exciting new era of service to the Tri-State. 

The Historic Carpenter House

The Willard Carpenter Home, located at 405 Carpenter Street, houses the offices and studios of WNIN TV and WNIN 88.3 FM.

The Willard Carpenter mansion is one of the two landmarks that are recognized as memorials to one of the city's most aggressive and influential pioneers, philanthropist Williard Carpenter. The other is Willard Library which he built, endowed and gave to the people of the area.

Construction began in 1848 on the Carpenter home and was completed in 1849. The home is one of the finest examples of pure Georgian architecture in this area. Built of brick and stone, it features a balanced facade and a classic facade over the entrance door. Its cellar walls are massive stone blocks. The outer walls of this home are solid brick. Originally, there were long, wide, two-storied porches on either side of the mansion behind the drawing rooms and filling the space of the rear portion of the house which is narrower than the front. Lawns and gardens were spacious as they were surrounded by acres of open space. Large stables and carriage houses were at the rear of the estate, with quarters for grooms and gardeners.

Indiana limestone was cut by hand to resemble stone. All materials except the bricks were brought in from Lawrenceburg, IN. The rooms have exceptionally massive baseboards of molded woodwork, and interior shutters, divided like Dutch doors, were at each window. Together with massive brick and stone exterior walls, they kept the rooms surprisingly cool during the hot Evansville summers. The wide central hall led to a cross hall behind what were a spacious drawing room and library. There were two main stairways, ascending to the second story, one in each end of the cross hall. Four large bedrooms were on the second floor. A single stairway led to the third story. Italian marble was purchased for the fireplaces which were kept burning constantly during the cold months as the house had no central heating. All furnishings for the home were purchased in Europe of New York City.

The hard times of the Depression years were to see the fine old home pass from Carpenter hands. The property was purchased by Funkhouser American Legion Post for a reputed amount of $3500-00. In 1956, they sold the property to WTVW/TV7. The TV station occupied the gymnasium (built by the American Legion) but had no use for the mansion. Owners, with reluctance, announced their plan to have it demolished. However, fate was again kind to the aged but sturdy stricture. Upon purchasing the mansion in 1974, Medco announced plans to restore the home to as close to its original condition as possible.

WTVW moved to its strikingly modern quarters on the site of the Carpenter School for which Mr. Carpenter had contributed both the land and the money. The gymnasium came down to provide off street parking. The old home was, indeed, restored. Medco stayed in the home until 1985 when it was purchased by WNIN.

The Carpenter House is listed among the National Register of Historic Places.