BATON ROUGE - John Spain wore many hats during his tenure at WBRZ, moving from weatherman to reporter and then manager of the station. 

In 1973, he started doing the weather on the weekends and reporting three days during the week. He said it was the only job that was open when he applied but it helped him get his foot in the door. 

"I said I didn't know anything about weather, [the news director] didn't care. So, it started out and I did weekend weather for Saturday and Sunday and kinda read the script. I really enjoyed the reporting," Spain said. 

After about six months, he walked away from the weather maps and became a full-time reporter. He soared to the top and ended up running the entire team as the news director and then as station manager. 

"Twenty-plus years. I had a wonderful career, I believe I lived through many of the best days of local television news. It was coming into its own back then."

He says it's because the Manship family invested in the community and built the legacy of WBRZ News. He said that was a very different time for local news stations.

"Many of the first employees were coming out of radio stations where we had done news. We started doing news with pictures. It was a small group, a couple of newscasts a day everybody did everything. You shot film, edited film, wrote the scripts, laid down the sound. It was a complicated process but it worked."

The WBRZ Newsroom grew and more newscasts were added to keep up with the demand. 

"We did a 5 o'clock news which was unheard of at the time. Weekend news, then we said, 'Let's do a morning show,' which no one thought anyone would wake up at 6 o'clock to watch what is now 2une-In."

Spain says WBRZ set the standard for covering the big stories, including the Oakdale Prison Riot in 1987. 

"It was before live trucks so we were using helicopters to fly reporters and stories back and forth each day. We owned the story because we figured out how to logistically make it happen."

In 1972, tragedy hit home when a WBRZ anchor was beaten while covering a riot on North Boulevard. 

"That was where Bob Johnson from Channel 2 was killed. It became very much a part of the Channel 2 legacy and our history."

John Spain's history at WBRZ spans more than 20 years from 1973 to 1995. He was a self-described "news junkie" back then. Fast-forward to now and not much has changed. 

"I still watch the news and I still critique it."

Spain still believes in WBRZ and the Manship family's commitment to remaining locally owned.

"These are owners who live here, who go to restaurants, civic meeting and know they are going to hear from the public if that TV station does something wrong. It's very personal to them. They take great pride in it and want to know each and every day that that TV station is doing the best it can do and providing the resources to make sure it happens," Spain said.