By Frank Macek
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| WKYC Studios Today at 13th & Lakeside Ave. |
That move quietly redefined how Channel 3 would operate, adapt, and ultimately survive in an industry that was about to change faster than anyone imagined. I know that because I lived on both sides of it.
I walked into WKYC for the first time in June 1994, learning the craft of local television inside the old East 6th Street building. By then, the place already carried decades of history in its walls. You could feel it the moment you stepped inside. It wasn’t just a workplace; it was an institution. The building had character, quirks, and limitations that everyone learned to navigate. Floors creaked, equipment ran hot, and no two studios behaved exactly the same way. It was a space that demanded experience, intuition, and a certain toughness if you were going to make it through a breaking-news night without losing your cool.
East 6th was where many of us truly learned television. It was where timing became instinct, where communication often happened through glances and hand signals, and where problem-solving was a daily requirement rather than an occasional inconvenience. The technology was analog, the workflows were manual, and the margins for error were razor thin. You didn’t just do the job in that building—you adapted to it. The facility shaped the way we worked, and in many ways, the way we thought.
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| Former WKYC Studios at 1403 E. 6th Street |
When the decision was made to move, it wasn’t just about square footage or modern aesthetics. It was about survival and relevance. Building a new broadcast center at 13th and Lakeside was a statement that WKYC intended to compete not just in the present, but in a future that was still taking shape. For those of us in operations, the move wasn’t theoretical. It meant rethinking how we did our jobs and trusting that the disruption would be worth it.
January 2001 arrived, and with it came one of the most complex transitions a television station can undertake. Anyone who has lived through a station move understands that it’s equal parts excitement and anxiety. Careers, routines, and muscle memory are suddenly uprooted. The big question for many of us wasn’t whether the new building would be impressive, but whether it would still feel like home.
The first time I walked into the Lakeside facility, it was immediately clear that this wasn’t just an upgrade—it was a reinvention. The space was open, intentional, and built with production flow in mind. Control rooms made sense. Studios were designed for flexibility rather than workarounds. The newsroom breathed. For the first time in my career, the building felt like it was working with us instead of against us.
From a director’s chair, that difference is profound. At East 6th, you were constantly compensating for the building’s limitations, adjusting timing around equipment constraints, and relying on experience to navigate systems that had been layered on top of one another over decades. At Lakeside, the workflow itself became an asset. Communication improved. Access was quicker. The physical layout supported the pace and precision that modern newscasts demanded. It felt like the station had finally been given the infrastructure it deserved.
What stands out most in hindsight is how forward-looking that move really was. In 2001, social media didn’t exist. Streaming wasn’t part of the conversation. Most viewers still consumed news at scheduled times on traditional television sets. And yet WKYC built a facility designed to adapt—to scale, to evolve, and to absorb technological change without breaking. That foresight proved invaluable as the industry moved from tape to servers, from analog to high definition, and from linear broadcasts to digital platforms and streaming channels.
Watch: A drone's eye view of WKYC Studios today
If the station had remained at East 6th, I’m not sure how we would have kept pace. The Lakeside facility gave WKYC the physical and operational flexibility to grow into the newsroom it needed to become. It allowed engineering to innovate, production to expand, and journalism to reach audiences in new ways without being constrained by the walls around us.
Now, twenty-five years later, what strikes me most is the passage of time—and my place within it. I am still here. There are only a handful of us left who worked in the East 6th building, helped usher in the Lakeside era, and continue to put shows on the air today. When the building opened, it was the future. Today, it’s the place where new generations of journalists and producers begin their careers, many of them unaware that WKYC ever operated anywhere else.
I’ve directed newscasts across two distinct eras of television inside the same station. I’ve watched technology transform nearly every aspect of production while the mission remained the same. Through all of it, this building has been the constant backdrop—a space that enabled growth rather than resisted it. Walking its halls early in the morning, before the day’s first show, I’m often reminded how rare it is to have that kind of continuity in an industry defined by change.
Buildings don’t make television—people do. But the right building makes it possible for those people to do their best work. Every smooth breaking-news broadcast, every complicated show that hits cleanly, every successful launch of something new carries a trace of the decision made in 2001 to move to 13th and Lakeside. It was an investment not just in concrete and steel, but in the people who would spend their careers inside it.
Today, the address no longer feels new. It feels lived in, tested, and proven. East 6th taught me how to do the job. Lakeside gave me the space to grow with it. Being one of the few still here from the building’s earliest days is a perspective I don’t take lightly. It’s a reminder of how far the station has come and why that move, twenty-five years ago, mattered so much.
WKYC didn’t just change locations in 2001. It gave itself room—physically and philosophically—to evolve. A quarter century later, that decision continues to pay dividends, and I’m grateful to have had a front-row seat for the entire journey.
Watch: Our first in house broadcast on Super Bowl Sunday before our main studio launch the following day with weekend anchors Scott Newell, Kristen Anderson, Eileen McShea and Chuck Galeti (January 31, 2001):
Watch: Our first night 7p special with Romona Robinson, Tim White, Mark Nolan and Jim Donovan (February 1, 2001):