May 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of Naperville News 17 reporting what’s happening in Naperville on Channel 17 and online.
How It All Began
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.
Where We Are Now
Every news story is posted online, on 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.
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.
Daily News Update
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.
