WLS-TV's ABC 7 News opening.
WLS-TV's State Street Studio Sign,
c.
WLS-TV channel 7 is a
television station in Chicago
, Illinois
. The
station is
owned and
operated by
Walt Disney
Company-owned
American
Broadcasting Company.
WLS-TV produces its broadcasts at 190 North
State Street in The
Loop
and transmits its signal from the Willis Tower
. The WLS-TV call letters stand for "World's
Largest Store," recognizing their AM sister station's
founding part-owners, Sears, Roebuck and
Company.
History
The station first went on the air as the third TV station in
Chicago (after WBKB-TV which later became WBBM-TV and WGN-TV) on
September 17,
1948
as
WENR-TV. It was named after WENR-AM,
ABC's Chicago radio affiliate.
As one of
the original ABC-owned
stations on channel 7, it was the second station after WABC-TV
in New York
City to begin operations, ahead of WXYZ-TV
in Detroit,
KGO-TV
in San Francisco and KABC-TV
in Los
Angeles.
In 1953,
ABC merged
with
United Paramount
Theatres, the former theater division of
Paramount Pictures.
UPT owned
WBKB on channel 4 (which shared a CBS affiliation with WGN-TV
) but the new
ABC could not keep both, because of Federal Communications
Commission regulations at that time. As a result, WBKB was
sold to CBS and renamed WBBM-TV
; while WENR
was renamed WBKB-TV. The old WBKB's talent stayed at WBBM
(which moved to channel 2), while the old WBKB's call letters and
management moved to channel 7. The general manager from the early
1950s to the mid-1960s was Sterling "Red" Quinlan,
[78596] who was a giant in early Chicago television.
He was instrumental in the careers of
Tom
Duggan,
Frank Reynolds, and
Bob Newhart. The station courageously
aired
The Tom Duggan Show in the mid-1950s, which was the
most popular show in Chicago far out drawing other network
competition.
The station became WLS-TV on
October 7, 1968, after
WLS-AM, which ABC
had owned since 1959.
Today, the
WBKB-TV
calls are
used by a CBS affiliate in Alpena,
Michigan
.
Digital Television
The station's digital channel is multiplexed.
WLS is one
of two stations in Chicago whose digital frequency is on VHF, the
other being WBBM-TV, Chicago's
CBS affiliate.
WLS
currently broadcasts its digital signal at low power (4.75 kW) to protect the digital signal of WOOD-TV
in Grand Rapids, Michigan
(which also broadcasts on channel 7, but with much
higher power). As a result, many viewers were not able to
receive the station.
The FCC sent extra personnel to Chicago,
Philadelphia
, and New York City
to deal with difficulties in those cities.
WLS had received 1,735 calls just by the end of the day on June 12
(WBBM only received 600), and an estimated 5000 calls in total by
June 16. WLS-TV is just one station which may need to increase its
signal strength to solve its problems, but doing this will require
making sure no other stations are affected. WLS received a two-week
experimental permit late in June.
WLS had also applied for a permit to
construct a low-power fill-in digital translator station on UHF
channel 32, (the former analog frequency of WFLD
) but
abandoned that plan. Eventually the FCC granted it a permit to
transmit on a second frequency, Channel 44, formerly occupied by
WSNS-TV
, and WLS announced the availability of that
frequency on October 31, 2009.
News operations
WLS, like
the other ABC owned-and-operated stations, adopted the Eyewitness News format in the late 1960s
after it became a hit at flagship WABC-TV in New York. Fahey Flynn, a
local broadcaster known for his bow ties and
Joel Daly served as the anchormen of the newscasts
from the mid 1960s until the early 1980s.
In 1973, Eyewitness
News surpassed WMAQ-TV
to become Chicago's top-rated new operation, a lead
it held until WBBM-TV surpassed it in 1979. For much of the 1970s
and 1980s, it waged a spirited battle for second place in the
Chicago news ratings.
By 1983, a disastrous anchor change had dropped WLS into third
place. That prompted two major changes. First was the hiring of
Dennis Swanson as General Manager, who in turn, hired Bill
Applegate as News Director. Secondly, ABC commissioned
Frank Gari to write an updated version of the
Cool Hand Luke theme widely
associated with the Eyewitness News format. The result was
News Series 2000, which was quickly picked
up by the other ABC O&Os.
Swanson was instrumental in hiring
Oprah
Winfrey to host its then low-rated morning talk show, "AM
Chicago," in 1983. Within a year, it had shot to first place. It
was picked up nationally in 1986 and renamed
The Oprah Winfrey Show. Channel 7
still airs it today, along with most other ABC O&Os.
Swanson
also hired lead anchor John Drury, who
had previously worked at WLS, WBBM and WGN-TV and Floyd Kalber, who had led WMAQ-TV to the top of
the ratings in the 1960s.
Drury and
Mary Ann Childers were a
popular anchor team at WLS during the 1980s and 1990s, accompanied
by weatherman
Steve Deshler and
sportscaster
Tim Weigel. In March 1986,
WLS passed WBBM as the highest-rated news station in Chicago. It
has held the lead ever since, aside from a brief period when WBBM
managed to forge a tie for first.
As of 1996, the station currently brands its newscast as
"ABC7 News" even though it still uses the same
basic format from its Eyewitness News days. The station has been
using its current news music package,
News Series 2000 Plus by
Frank Gari since 1992. It also updated the on-air
graphics for its newscasts on Saturday, June 3, 2005.
The new
State Street Studio officially debuted Monday,
April 10, 2006 during its morning newscast, but they started
broadcasting their newscast from the new studio on Saturday, April
8, 2006.
On the weekend of April 29-30, 2006, ABC7 began using Chopper 7
HD.
On Saturday, January 6, 2007, ABC7 became the first Chicago station
to broadcast its entire news and local programming in high
definition.
On Sunday, December 23, 2007, the State Street Studio became news
when a minivan drove through a reinforced studio window two minutes
into the 10pm newscast, startling anchor Ravi Baichwal on air and
creating a 20° draft, but injuring no one.
ABC 7 News personnel
Current ABC 7 News anchors
- Stacey Baca - Weekend Mornings; Field Reporter
- Ravi Baichwal - Weekend Evenings;
Field Reporter
- Kathy Brock - Weeknights 6:00 p.m.
& 10:00 p.m.
- Cheryl Burton - Weeknights 5:00
p.m.
- Judy Hsu - Weekday mornings; Field Reporter
- Thom Johnson - Fill-in Weekday Morning Traffic
- Karen Jordan - Weekend Evenings; Field Reporter
- Alan Krashesky - Weekdays 4:00
p.m. & 6:00 p.m.; "NewsViews" Sundays 9:00 a.m.
- Ron Magers - Weeknights 5:00 p.m.
& 10:00 p.m.
- Sylvia Perez - Weekdays 11:00 a.m.;
"Healthbeat"
- Kevin Roy - Weekend Mornings; Field Reporter
- Hosea Sanders - Weekday Mornings; Field Reporter
- Roz Varon - Weekday Morning Traffic
- Linda Yu - Weekdays 11:00 a.m. &
4:00 p.m.
ABC 7 Weather Team
- Jerry Taft - Chief Meteorologist -
Weeknights 5:00 p.m., 6:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m.
- Mike Caplan - Weekdays 4:00 p.m.
- Tracy Butler - Weekday Mornings & 11:00 a.m.
- Phil Schwarz - Sunday Mornings; Weekend Evenings
- Mark Bishop - Saturday Mornings
ABC 7 Sports Team
- Mark Giangreco - Weeknights 5:00
p.m. & 10:00 p.m.
- Jim Rose - Weekdays
4:00 p.m. & 6:00 p.m.
- Ryan Chiaverini - Weekend Evenings & Sports Reporter; Host
of the "Chicago Huddle"
ABC 7 Local Programs
- Bill Campbell - "Chicagoing"
- Janet Davies - "190 North" Host; Feature/Entertainment
Reporter
- Theresa Gutierrez - "The ñ Beat"; Field Reporter
ABC 7 reporters
- Michelle Alegria - "190 North" Contributor
- Dave Ball - "190 North" Contributor
- Doug Banks - "190 North"
Contributor
- Ben Bradley
- Steve Dolinksy - Food Reporter
- Michelle Gallardo
- John Garcia
- Chuck Goudie - Chief Investigative
Reporter
- Theresa Gutierrez
- Evelyn Holmes
|
- Leah Hope
- Jason Knowles
- Frank Mathie - Features Reporter
- Paul Meincke
- Karen Meyer - Disablilty Issues
- Mark Nilsson - "190 North" Contributor
- Sarah Schulte
- Charles Thomas - Political Reporter
|
Past personalities
- Mike Adamle - sports anchor
(1983-1988)
- Diane B. Allen - anchor/reporter (1979-1982)
- Andy
Avalos - weather anchor (1983-1993, now at WMAQ-TV)
- Jim Avila - reporter (1980-1984)
- Roberta Baskin - investigative
reporter (1980-1984)
- Nancy Becker - Anchor (1974-1977)
- Jeff Blanzy - sports anchor/reporter (1998-2009)
- Carol Bogart - reporter (1978-1981)
- Diann Burns - anchor/reporter
(1985-2003)
- Lou
Canellis - "190 North" contributor (1999-2008, now at WFLD-TV
 )
- Jann Carl - reporter (1983-1984)
- Susan Carlson - traffic reporter (1998-2002, now at
WBBM-TV]])
- Mary Ann Childers -
anchor/reporter (1980-1994, now Senior Consultant at Res Publica
Group)
- Lauren Cohn -
anchor/reporter (1994-1998, now at WFLD-TV)
- John Coleman -
longtime meteorologist (1968-1979)
- Liza Cruzat - "190 North" contributor (1999-2002)
- John Culea - reporter (1977-1980)
- Joel Daly (longtime anchor from
1967-2005, also part-time legal contributor 2005-2007, now
retired)
- Gary Deeb - media critic/commentator (1983-1995) - now retired
in Matthews, N.C.
- Steve Deshler - weather anchor (1980-1993)
- John Drury - anchor (1970-1979 and
1984-2002, deceased)
- Tom Duggan - talk show/mob basher
(1954-1956, deceased)
- John Edwards
- Steve Edwards -
A.M. Chicago host (1975-1978)
- Dr. Dave Eiser - weather anchor (1981-1984)
- Joan Esposito - anchor/reporter (1981-1989)
- Russ Ewing - investigative reporter (1981-1995)
- Fahey Flynn - anchor (1968-1983,
deceased)
- Bill Frink - sports anchor (1968-1979, deceased)
- Judie Garcia -
anchor/reporter (1996-2001, now at WGN-TV)
- Mike Jackson - anchor/reporter
(1983-1989)
- Dick
Johnson - anchor/reporter (1982-2002, now at WMAQ-TV)
- Rob
Johnson - weekend anchor/reporter (1998-2006, now at WBBM-TV)
- Jack Jones (1980-1984,
deceased)
- Floyd Kalber - anchor (1984-1998,
deceased)
- Lonnie Lardner- weekend anchor (1983-1986)
- Jay
Levine - reporter, weekend anchor, 6PM anchor (1974-1990, now at
WBBM-TV)
- Al Lerner - sports anchor (1978 -
1984)
- Dr. Walt Lyons - meteorologist (1976-1979)
- Johnny Mountain- meteorologist (1977) Later to KABC in LA now
on KCBS and KCAL in LA
- Cora Ann Milhalik - anchor (1982-1984)
- Kent Ninomiya - reporter (1993 -
1998)
- Mike Nolan - sports anchor
(1975-1978)
- Terry Murphy - reporter/5PM anchor (1976-1980)
- Brad Palmer - sports reporter/anchor
(1985-2006)
- Kim Peterson - anchor/reporter
(1979-1982)
- Bob Petty - weekend anchor/reporter/host of Weekend
Edition (1971-2002)
- Dan Ponce - reporter (2006-2009)
- Harry
Porterfield - features reporter/host of People, Places, &
Things/Someone You Should Know (1985-2009, now at WBBM-TV)
- Jim
Ramsey - weather anchor (1980-1983, now at WGN-TV)
- Frank Reynolds - anchor/reporter
(early 1960s?-1967, deceased)
- Charlie Rose - A.M.
Chicago host (1978-1979)
- Jim Rosenfield - anchor/reporter
(1989-1998)
- Charles Rowe - anchor/reporter (1969-1973). Last worked for
KREM-TV
 in Spokane, WA from 1987-2007. Currently
retired.
- Tim Ryan - reporter (1983-1989)
- Warner Saunders - host of
For Blacks Only (1965-1972)
- Mark Schanowski - sports
anchor/reporter (1990-1998, now at Comcast
Sportsnet Chicago)
- Andy Shaw - political reporter (1983-2009, now Executive
Director at Better Government Association)
- Jack Smith - reporter
(1970-1976)
- Joe Templeton - anchor (1964 - 1967)
- Paul Udell - anchor 4:30 The Eyewitness Newsmagazine
(1980-1982)
- James Ward - restaurant/food critic
(1985-2005, deceased)
- Tim Weigel - sports anchor/short time
anchorman (1977-1994, deceased)
- Oprah Winfrey - anchor/host of
A.M. Chicago, which evolved into her current
program (1984-1988)
- Robb Weller - A.M.
Chicago host (1980-1983)
- Larry Yellen -
reporter/producer (1982-1993 now at WFLD-TV)
|
Other WLS-TV produced programs
- 190 North - local life style program named after the
station's studio address at 190 N. State St. in the Loop - began
broadcasting in HD on Sunday, May 6, 2007
- Sundays 10:35 p.m., reruns Saturdays 11:05 p.m. (airs later
during the fall season)
- Chicagoing - local public affairs program
- Sundays 11 a.m. (11:30 a.m. during the fall season)
- The Chicago Huddle - local sports program about the
Chicago Bears hosted by Ryan Chiaverini
- Sundays 10:30 a.m. (during football season)
- Let's Dish, for the Live Well HD Network
- Shown locally on Channel 7.2.
Syndicated programming produced in Chicago
News directors
News/Station Presentation
Newscast titles
- Channel 7 Eyewitness News (late 1960s-1996)
- ABC7 News (1996-present)
Station slogans
- Still The One on Channel 7 (1977-1980; customized
version of the ABC campaign)
- You and Me, and Channel 7 (1980-1981; customized
version of the ABC campaign)
- 7's On Your Side (1980-1983)
- Now is the Time, Channel 7 is the Place (1981-1982;
customized version of the ABC campaign)
- 7's On The Move (1984-1985)
- You'll Love It (1985-1986; local version of the ABC
fall campaign)
- Chicago's #1 News (late 1980s-present)
- People Make the Difference (2000-present)
- Your News. Your Way. (2008-present)
News Music Packages
Station Oddities
WLS-TV airs
Jimmy Kimmel
Live! in a one-hour delay at 12:07 a.m. instead of 11:07
p.m. due to airing the re-broadcast of
The Oprah Winfrey Show after
Nightline.
See also
References
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
