A visionary named Wilbur: Family archives shine new light on founder of WTVR-TV

Some people use genealogy sites like Ancestry.com when they want to learn about their great-grandparents. One local woman doesn't need to do that. She has good memories of her great-grandfather - the family man. But only in recent years has she really started to learn about his legacy as the man who brought television to Richmond. "I’m proud of it all, I’m proud of what my great-grandfather did with his life," said Margaret Ferguson, the great-granddaughter of Wilbur Havens, the founder of WTVR-TV. "He went for his dream and he fulfilled it." In April 1948, Havens put Channel 6 on the air, introducing not only Richmonders, but people across the commonwealth to a brand-new medium. "Wilbur Havens is the guy whose shoulders we all stand on," said Don Talley, senior account executive at WTVR. "He had been working on setting up a television station in Richmond, virtually investing his fortune in it, for years."