NORFOLK, Va. — Celebrating 75 years! Today is a big day for WTKR, as we commemorate decades of hard work dedicated to informing the people of Hampton Roads.
On April 2, 1950, the first television station in southeastern Virginia went on the air — back then it was WTAR.
Veteran journalist Nate Custer, who joined WTAR in 1966 and stayed for 39 years, remembers when he started: "We covered stories with a 16 millimeter black and white film and it was a big deal when we even went to color film."
Watch full interview: Becky Livas, Barbara Hamm Lee, Barbara Ciara discuss their impact on WTKR News 3
Another blast from the past, Michael Rasnick, said, "I was there from 1972 to 1985." He wore many hats, including reporter, weather, and sports. He recalls it wasn't just the TV side of WTAR: "Absolutely, it was radio and TV—the radio news and the TV news were right in there, in the same area where you're working right now."
"I'd run over and hand them a 100-foot can of film," Custer recalled. "Then someone from the station would go pick up that film and get it into the film processor. That whole landscape really, really changed. And as that happened, what made it possible was the changes in technology."
Michael agrees, "Yeah, we had the first live truck in Hampton Roads, where we did live shots, and I did the first stand-up."
Over the years, there were various talk shows. The Dick Lamb Show, the popular morning radio voice, appeared on our airwaves. We were also home to Becky Livas, the first Black female reporter in Hampton Roads, who hosted two talk shows on WTAR.
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We took some of our talk shows on the road, such as the grand opening of Virginia Beach's Lynnhaven Mall in 1981. Jan Callaghan was there on the production team, transitioning from running the teleprompter to landing on the anchor desk.
We worked in a newsroom side by side with legends like Ed Hughes, who Jan remembers fondly: "I just never knew anybody quite like him. He was generous with his time and knowledge. He was fun; he was a character. I feel like he's still here because he was such a big presence and a great representative of our region."
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Similar sentiments come from anchor and health reporter Ann Keffer.
"When I think back on those times, it was just such a level of camaraderie. We kind of learned journalism together, and we had the folks, like Ed Hughes and Bruce Barry and Nate Custer, who helped guide us a little bit," Keffer said.
Barbara Ciara, one of the longest-serving anchors in Hampton Roads, remembers those names as well: "When I think back to my first reflections on people that I came to know — Bruce Barry and Ed Hughes — I think there's a rich history of journalism at News 3. I think if there is a television station that rings true to telling the people's stories, it's News 3."
