Dean Pantazi Shifting Into New Role At WPTA

Quincy Media’s ABC affiliate WPTA Fort Wayne, Ind. (DMA 110), sports anchor Dean Pantazi will assume a new role this summer as he marks 50 years in broadcasting and 46 years at the station.

Pantazi will continue to cover a range of athletics while focusing his attention on an area he is passionate about — high school sports.

In 2019, Pantazi approached WPTA management to express his desire to make the change and to reduce his role at the evening sports anchor desk in the year ahead. It is expected to take place in July.

“Dean’s remarkable career may be at a crossroads, but we’re ecstatic that he has chosen to extend his time with us and with the entire Fort Wayne sports community,” said Jonathan Shelley, News Director for WPTA TV.

Pantazi will help lead the station’s Friday Night sports program, The Score, into its 2020-21 season. He will be joined again by Sports Director Zach Groth and an additional member of the ABC21 sports team, to be named in the weeks ahead.

Pantazi joined WPTA in 1974 and has covered generations of local athletes while expanding his reach through the local radio airwaves (co-hosting Sports Talk on WOWO-AM-FM Fort Wayne for 16 years) and, at various times, through other media outlets in the Fort Wayne market. From 1994 to 2012, he was sports director at the television station.