In May 2019 Naperville News 17 celebrates its 10th anniversary of reporting what’s happening in Naperville on Channel 17 and online at NCTV17.com. Tune in Tuesday, May 7 at 8PM for a special look back over the past 10 years.
Find out how the show started, the news anchors’ favorite stories, and what’s in store for the future. This special program also coincides with the City of Naperville proclaiming May 7 Naperville News 17 day.
This exciting milestone anniversary is a testament to the popularity of this weekly newscast, which evolved from humble beginnings in 2009. Naperville News 17 started out as Naperville Connection; a vehicle to bring together small stories into a single program designed to let people know about the weekly happenings around town. If it was happening in Naperville, residents would hear about it from Dolly McCarthy, the first anchor of Naperville Connection. Producer Lindsey Theis and a small team of interns and part-time reporters created the first television news team devoted solely to Naperville.
As the show evolved into the polished news program viewers see today, the name changed to Naperville News 17 and the reporting staff grew with full time professionally trained journalists at the helm. A series of reporters took over as anchor – Jen Hannon, Jordan Abudayyeh, Whitney Goodbred, Natalie Vitale, Alyssa Bochenek, and now Kim Pirc – but the goal remained the same: keep residents informed about what is happening within their community.
With almost 150,000 residents, Naperville sits in the orbit of the number three news market: Chicago. However, when the larger networks cover Naperville, it is often for a tragic event and rarely anything more than a minute.
Each week for the past 10 years Naperville News 17 has been bringing viewers local news and information that matters to them for a full thirty minutes.
Through Naperville News 17 and its newly launched companion daily e-update, NCTV17 News Update, the station provides TV coverage of all aspects of community life. Everything from local elections, City Council meetings, school district initiatives, local business issues, veteran affairs, festivals and parades, fine arts performances, and nonprofit happenings. This level of professional TV coverage is befitting the fourth largest city in Illinois.
Also note that every news story is posted online at NCTV17.com, the station’s YouTube channel, as well as social media platforms. These video news stories are sharable, so in today’s world of social media, viewers can transmit Naperville’s news instantly to friends and relatives around the world – all at a click of a button.
Part of NCTV17’s mission as a nonprofit television station is education. Over the past decade, many student interns have learned the ropes of broadcast news by working on Naperville News 17. In fact, the station also gives many young journalists their first job by hiring recent college graduates as part-time reporters. These new broadcast professionals have an opportunity to learn how to tell stories in a supportive and nurturing environment. The majority of them have gone on to network affiliates in larger markets.
Help NCTV17 celebrate 10 years of Naperville News 17 by tuning in on Tuesday, May 7 at PM – on channel 17 or online at NCTV17.com.
Naperville Community Television, Channel 17 is dedicated to keeping residents informed about what’s happening in their community and telling Naperville’s story on air and online. All programming can be viewed on Channel 17 in Naperville or online at NCTV17.com. The studio is located at 127 Ambassador Drive in Naperville. For more information, visit NCTV17.com.
