Harry Truman was in the White House, American workers averaged $2,950 a year and a new house cost $7,450. The year was 1949, the year 10 million new televisions would be produced and sold in the United States. It was also the year Central Ohio viewers could turn on those TVs and, for the first time, tune in to a local station.

On April 3, 1949, at 3 p.m., WLW-C signed on. We began with limited programming and a 15-minute evening newscast anchored by announcer Joe Hill. WLW-C quickly became a station of firsts!

Seventeen days after first signing on, we originated the first remote telecast of a baseball game at Columbus RedBird Stadium. By September, we were the first to have weekday programming. That month we added the first telecast of Ohio State football as the Buckeyes hosted Missouri. In October, Sally Flowers’ Meetin’ Time pioneered audience participation in Columbus. We ended 1949 with a 16-hour Christmas day program; the first station in the country to run a continuous program of that length.

In 1952, our station became the first NBC affiliate to originate a network show: Kukla, Fran and Ollie. In 1953, we changed from Channel 3 to Channel 4 and added a young ex-Marine from Mansfield to our sports staff. Throughout the next 41 years, Jimmy Crum pushed the boundaries of local sports, becoming a legend both on camera and in community service.

Innovation and community service were always hallmarks of our station on Planting River Road. In 1954, the same year Steve Allen took the reins of the Tonight Show, Channel 4 was first in Columbus to telecast in color. In 1959, with Columbus’ daily newspapers on strike, a sign-language interpreter helped anchor Hugh Demoss present the newscast so the hearing impaired could keep up with the day’s events.

Viewers tuned to Jimmy Crum and Channel 4 for Buckeye basketball from the late 1950s to the late ‘60s, including OSU vs. Michigan State in 1961, the first Columbus origination in color. In the mid-1960s, Studio B would rock on Saturdays for the hour-long, live broadcast Dance Party, hosted by popular weatherman Jerry Rasor. In 1976, WLW-C was renamed WCMH. Three years later, we welcomed a young certified meteorologist from Iowa into our fold. Jym Ganahl joined the team of Demoss, Crum, Vic Mason and Michelle Gailiun.

In 1983, Doug Adair and Mona Scott came to Columbus from Cleveland. Doug, Mona, Jimmy and Jym presented credible journalism with personality and spontaneity that quickly vaulted Channel 4 to the top of Columbus ratings. In 1985, we were first in the city to broadcast in stereo.

That same team led the way in community events for most of the next decade. Easter Seals, 4’s Army, Arthritis and UNCF telethons were priorities. Everyone, on air and behind the scenes, was involved.

In 1993, 5:30 Live’s field anchor moved inside to begin anchoring from the desk, soon joining former weekend anchor Colleen Marshall. A year later, Doug Adair finished his distinguished career and Cabot and Colleen became the anchor team for evening broadcasts. With more than 15 years together, we are very grateful to have anchored the evenings longer than any duo in Columbus broadcast history.

We’ve seen unprecedented change in 15 years: from videotape to digital cards, from analogue to digital signals, from hardliner broadcasts to satellite TV, Skype broadcasts through laptops, and the inclusion of social sites into our broadcasts. The changes have been head-spinning! The Internet has changed everything and is now vital to our survival. Reporters and even viewers now use Blackberry’s or iPhones to send immediate updates on stories to our Web site.

Jym and I recently marveled at the studio’s robotic cameras located just feet below an original old electro voice speaker and a “SILENCE” sign from 1949. If you listen carefully you can almost hear the echoes of Ruth Lyons, Sally Flowers, Dance Party and Jimmy Crum. We celebrate 60 years of firsts and friendships with our community as we look to a future filled with innovation that will make our world even smaller and, hopefully, better.

Watch Cabot Rea, NBC 4 Anchor, at 5:30 on 4, NBC 4 at 6 and NBC 4 at 11.