On top of the world: Barbara Boyd turns 95!

INDIANAPOLIS — Trailblazing WRTV journalist Barbara Boyd is celebrating her 95th birthday today. Boyd’s reporting career spanned 25 years at WRTV.

Boyd joined the station, then known as WFBM, in 1969. At 40 years old, Boyd became Indiana's first African American woman broadcast journalist. Boyd left her previous job as office manager for the Indianapolis Operation Head Start Project to become a reporter. It happened by chance.

WRTV Archives

Boyd answered a phone call from someone at the television station that was looking for on-air talent.

"I jokingly said, ‘Honey, if you’re looking for a star, here I are,’” Boyd told WRTV in 2019.

It was the start of a career that took Boyd on stories around the state until her retirement in 1994. She reflected on her career and impact in Indianapolis with WRTV’s Marc Mullins last year.

WRTV

Boyd was recognized for her breast cancer advocacy work in our community in October 2023.