Editing David Letterman (section)

=== Weatherman ===
Soon after graduating from Ball State in 1969, Letterman began his career as a radio talk show host on [[WNTS]] and on Indianapolis television station WLWI (which changed its call sign to [[WTHR]] in 1976) as an anchor and [[Weather presenter|weatherman]]. He received some attention for his novel on-air delivery, which included congratulating a [[tropical storm]] for being upgraded to a [[Tropical cyclone|hurricane]], as well as for predicting [[hailstones]] "the size of canned hams".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.playboy.com/articles/david-letterman-interview/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415130808/http://www.playboy.com/articles/david-letterman-interview/index.html |title=Playboy Interview – David Letterman – Late Show Host |archive-date=2009-04-15 |work=Playboy |date=1994-01-01 }}</ref>

Letterman also occasionally reported the weather and the day's very high and low temps for fictitious cities ("Eight inches of snow in Bingree and surrounding areas"). On another occasion, he riffed that the state border between Indiana and Ohio had been erased, when a satellite map accidentally omitted it, jokingly attributing it to dirty political dealings: "The higher-ups have removed the border between Indiana and Ohio, making it one giant state. Personally, I'm against it. I don't know what to do about it."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Samenow |first1=Jason |title=David Letterman's early career as a weatherman |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2015/05/20/video-david-lettermans-early-career-as-a-weatherman/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2015-05-20 |access-date=2015-06-03 }}</ref>

Letterman also starred in a local kiddie show, hosted a late-night TV show called "Freeze-Dried Movies" (a show in which he once acted out a scene from ''[[Godzilla (1954 film)|Godzilla]]'' (1954) using plastic dinosaurs), and hosted a talk show that aired early on Saturday mornings called ''Clover Power'',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bzbq8X8qZE#t32s |title=Letterman morning show clips and & Jon Stewart cancellation -Jun1995 |publisher=YouTube |date=2010-01-22 |access-date=2011-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203052315/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Bzbq8X8qZE |archive-date=2013-02-03 }}</ref> in which he interviewed [[4-H]] members about their projects.<ref>{{cite web |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20010620022309/http://www.indystar.com/library/factfiles/people/l/letterman_david/letterman.html |archivedate=2001-06-20 |url=http://www.indystar.com/library/factfiles/people/l/letterman_david/letterman.html |title=David Letterman |work=Indianapolis Star |date=2001-06-01 }}</ref>

In 1971, Letterman appeared as a pit road reporter for [[ABC Sports]]' tape-delayed coverage of the [[1971 Indianapolis 500|Indianapolis 500]], which was his first nationally telecast appearance (WLWI was the local ABC affiliate at the time).<ref name="indy">{{YouTube|8sMnBmHzAg0|Letterman's Network Debut}}</ref> He was initially introduced as [[Chris Economaki]], but this was corrected at the end of the interview ([[Jim McKay]] announced his name as Dave Letterman). Letterman interviewed [[Mario Andretti]], who had just crashed out of the race.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-05-27 |title=Relive the moment David Letterman asked Mario Andretti a weird question at the Indy 500 |url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/05/indy-500-david-letterman-sideline-reporter-mario-andretti-video |access-date=2024-06-12 |website=For The Win |language=en-US}}</ref>