Tom McClanahan signs off

“I really enjoyed the business the year I spent there,” he said. “I was a photographer and still think that’s quite frankly one of the best parts of the business.”

That was in 1969. By the time McClanahan graduated from Indiana State in 1971, his boss at WTHI-TV had moved to WTWO and hired him full time.

Except for a nine-month period when he left to sell cable TV advertising, McClanahan has worked at the stations ever since.

But at 6 p.m. today he will anchor his final newscast.

One station, lots of jobs

There aren’t many jobs McClanahan hasn’t done along the way.

After two years as a videographer, he discovered reporters earned “considerably more.” He auditioned for and landed a reporting job and anchored weekend newscasts. He then did local updates during NBC’s “Today” show for about five years and became the station’s “at large” reporter.

“That was a great time here because I really learned the market,” he said. “I was in every town, every county several times.”

In February 1979, McClanahan became sports director — just in time for the Larry Bird-led ISU Sycamores’ run to the NCAA basketball title game. He described that as “one of the most magical times” in his tenure.

Following a two-year run on the sports side, he sold advertising for the station for 11 years and for cable TV for nine months before returning in 1992 to succeed Johnny Palmer as the main news anchor.

At the same time, he returned to his photography roots, often shooting some stories himself using a small camera dubbed the “McClanacam.”

In the early 2000s, McClanahan also served as news director.

About 15 months ago, he cut back to part-time and formally decided to retire after turning 70 on Dec. 1.

Asked about his most memorable stories, McClanahan cited three from the first of his nearly five decades with WTWO: the 1977 Valentine’s Day Massacre of four boys in the Parke County community of Hollandsburg, Indiana State’s 1979 “Dream Season” and the 1978 Blizzard.

Matchmaker

WTWO colleague Dana Winklepleck describes McClanahan as “a very genuine person. What you see on the air is the guy that he is. He is funny on the air. He’s even more hilarious in real life. I always knew that when I saw Tom I would laugh.”

He also served as matchmaker for Winklepleck and her husband, Robert Hunley, circuit judge in Sullivan County.

Winklepleck met Hunley while covering a murder trial when he served as a prosecutor. Later, as she and McClanahan were watching an interview of Hunley by another reporter, “I commented how cute he was,” Winklepleck said.

McClanahan proceeded to reach out to one of Hunley’s colleagues and the rest, as they say, is history.

“He has forever changed my life,” Winklepleck said. “Tom helped me find true love.”

Social media concerns

Social outreach as a matchmaker is one thing but the explosion of social media is quite another for McClanahan.

“That’s another reason why it’s probably not a bad time for me to hang it up,” he said. “I have some fundamental philosophical issues with social media.”

“Whether you like President Trump or don’t like President Trump, he’s using social media in a way I’ve never seen before,” he explained.

“The regular media, he’ll tweet and they’ll spend all day chasing it down and it’s a silly way to go about business. If you try to be credible and take the time to learn the truth, you’re already way behind. I think it’s a very dangerous combination.”

Related or not, there’s the polarization of politics where Republicans blast “dastardly Democrats” and Democrats attack “dastardly Republicans,” McClanahan said.

“I never saw that before and I’ve covered a lot of politics over the last half-century,” he said. “I’ve seen dirty business, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve never seen this kind of vehement opposition at all levels.”

As much as he doesn’t like the trend, McClanahan advises newcomers to develop adept social media skills as the broadcast media and traditional journalism rely increasingly on electronic media for revenue.

“But please learn how to spell and how to punctuate sentences,” he said. “Be prepared to work all hours – and you’re not going to get rich early.”

Future plans

Asked what retirement may hold, McClanahan said, “I really don’t know. I’ve thought a little bit about politics – not on a huge scale … Everybody and their brother says when you retire you want to stay busy ... I don’t. I want to sit down.”

Tim Sturgess, vice president and general manager at WTWO and WAWV, said, “We’re all going to miss Tom. He’s been in this building as long as anybody.”

The fact that McClanahan chose to stay in the Wabash Valley mans a lot, Sturgess said.

“One of the many things I’ll miss is his depth of knowledge on so many topics,” he said.

Mike Tank, who has been anchoring the station’s 11 p.m. newscast for the last couple of years, will take over the 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. duties, Sturgess said. Additional changes are expected as a result of what he called a domino effect.

As a tribute to the departing anchor, the studio at WTWO/WAWV has been named McClanahan Studio. WTWO will air a special tribute to McClanahan at 4 p.m. today.

Dave Taylor can be reached at 812-231-4299 or dave.taylor@tribstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @TribStarDave.