Dave Ward helps turn on ’13’ KTRK tower lights

To celebrate abc13 KTRK’s 65th birthday, Dave Ward helped turn on the station’s iconic “13” tower lights once again.

The station held a big celebration outside of its Bissonnet studios Wednesday night to celebrate its six decades plus on the air with one very large birthday candle.

But instead of blowing it out Ward and station president Wendy Granato flipped the switch to let these KTRK tower lights “candle” shine on every night from now on.

“I’m very proud of this television station, and everybody in Houston should be proud of this place, and I can’t wait to see these lights tonight,” Ward said during Eyewitness News at 6pm.

“Way back when, Dave was our very first street reporter,” Granato added. “Hard to imagine how far we’ve come.”

You can read more about Dave’s career in his memoir Good Evening, Friends: A Broadcaster Shares His Life.

Granato said that 65 years ago, KTRK started with two, 15-minute newscasts a day.

Now the station runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with dozens of crews covering the streets of Houston on television and multiple digital platforms.

So next time you are driving down the Southwest Freeway at night, and possibly stuck in traffic, look up in the sky to see if you see the lucky number 13 floating in the sky above the West University area on the KTRK tower lights.

Here is to the next 65 years of Houston’s channel 13!

RELATED
KiTiRiK tells all to Dave Ward
How KTRK inspired the Astrodome
Watch Oldest KTRK show, “Soundtrack,” which aired in 1959


"Good Evening, Friends: A Broadcaster Shares His Life"

Learn more about Dave Ward's biography.