WLS-TV
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| WLS-TV | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Chicago, Illinois | |
| Branding | ABC7 Chicago |
| Slogan | People Make the Difference |
| Channels | 7 (VHF) analog, 52 (UHF) digital |
| Affiliations | ABC |
| Owner | Disney/ABC |
| Founded | September 17, 1948 |
| Call letters meaning | World's Largest Store (reflecting its sister radio station's past ownership by Sears) |
| Former callsigns | WENR-TV (1948-53) & WBKB (1953-68) |
| Former affiliations | none |
| Transmitter Power | 55 kW/515.1 m (analog) 153.6 kW/514 m (digital) |
| Website | www.abc7chicago.com |
WLS-TV, officially branded as ABC7 Chicago, is a United States television station in Chicago, Illinois owned and operated by the American Broadcasting Company, known nationwide as ABC. ABC7 Chicago produces its broadcasts at 190 North State Street in The Loop and transmits its signal from the Sears Tower. The WLS-TV call letters stand for "World's Largest Store," recognizing its past affiliation with Sears on radio.
Contents |
[edit] History
The station first went on the air 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 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. As a result, WBKB was sold to CBS and renamed WBBM-TV CBS 2, while WENR was renamed WBKB-TV. The old WBKB's talent stayed at WBBM, while the old WBKB's call letters and management moved to channel 7. The station became WLS-TV in 1968, after WLS-AM, which ABC had owned since 1959.
Today, the WBKB calls are used by a CBS affiliate in Alpena, Michigan.
WLS's digital signal, which is currently on UHF channel 52, is tentatively scheduled to move to the station's current analog channel assignment (VHF channel 7) when the FCC completes the move to digital on February 17, 2009. [1] This will make WLS one of two stations in the Chicago market that will be on VHF at that time (the other being WBBM, which will move to channel 11).
WLS is the only ABC-owned station not to air Live with Regis and Kelly, which is produced by New York sister station WABC-TV, due to WLS being the flagship (and original) station for Oprah, which airs first in the nation (and occasionally live) on Channel 7 in the 9am time slot usually ceded to Regis and Kelly. Instead, it airs on CW affiliate WGN (Channel 9) at 9am.
[edit] Logos
Since 1968, WLS and sister station KGO-TV were among the earliest ABC O&Os to use the Circle 7 logo.
 WENR-TV logo from 1948 to 1953 |
 WBKB logo from 1958 to 1962 |
 WBKB logo from 1962 to 1968 (one of the earliest known images of the Circle 7 logo) |
 WLS-TV logo from 1968 to 1982 |
 WLS-TV ident from 1982 to 1983 |
 WLS-TV ident from 1983 to 1996 |
 WLS-TV's opening for Eyewitness News used from 1984 to 1995 |
 The Present ABC 7 logo, used since 1996 |
[edit] 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 late 1960s until the early 1980s. For much of the 1970s and 1980s, it waged a spirited battle for second place in the Chicago news ratings with WMAQ-TV.
In 1983, two big changes came to WLS. First, it 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. The other was the hiring of Bill Applegate as news director. Those two changes bore fruit in March 1986, when it passed longtime leader WBBM-TV 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. Applegate left for WABC soon afterwards and took that station from third to first as well.
Other changes that contributed to WLS-TV's success were the re-hiring of anchorman John Drury, who had previously worked at WLS, WBBM and WGN-TV and the hiring of 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 May 2005, ABC 7 News had a rating of 11.4 and 19 share, beating out rivals WMAQ (9.5/15), WFLD-TV (which airs a rerun of The Simpsons) (5.6/9) and WBBM (5.1/8).
As of 1995, the station currently calls itself "ABC7 News," even though it still uses the same basic format from its Eyewitness News days. Their current news music package is News Series 2000 Plus, also by Gari. It also updated the on-air look for their newscasts in July 2005.
The new ABC7 State Street Studio officially debuted Monday, April 10, 2006, on ABC7 News This Morning from 5-7am. ABC7 began broadcasting all its newscasts from the new studio on Saturday, April 8, 2006, on ABC7 News at 5pm. ABC7's State Street Studio is located at 190 North State Street in Chicago. [2]
ABC7 began promoting and using Chopper 7 HD over the weekend of April 29-30, 2006. WLS-TV's G.M. Emily Barr says the station plans on doing HD newscasts sometime in late 2007.
WLS's website has a link for live streaming video of "ABC 7 News Now", which offers live local and national weather updated from AccuWeather. Local news headlines and updates are also provided. The format of "ABC 7 News Now" is similar to NBC Weather Plus. WSVN, WFMZ-TV, WPVI-TV, and WABC-TV also offer similar live video services by AccuWeather.
[edit] ABC7 News Broadcasts
Weekdays
- ABC7 News This Morning - 5-7am
- news anchors: Hosea Sanders and Judy Hsu; weather: Tracy Butler; traffic: Roz Varon
- ABC7 News at 11AM - 11am-12pm
- news anchors: Linda Yu and Sylvia Perez; weather: Tracy Butler
- ABC7 News at 4PM - 4-5pm
- news anchors: Alan Krashesky and Linda Yu; healthbeat: Sylvia Perez; weather: Mike Caplan; sports: Jim Rose
- ABC7 News at 5PM - 5-5:30pm
- news anchors: Ron Magers and Cheryl Burton; weather: Jerry Taft; sports: Mark Giangreco
- ABC7 News at 6PM - 6-6:30pm
- news anchors: Alan Krashesky and Kathy Brock; weather: Jerry Taft; sports: Jim Rose
- ABC7 News at 10PM - 10-10:35pm
- news anchors: Ron Magers, Kathy Brock and Cheryl Burton; weather: Jerry Taft; sports: Mark Giangreco
Weekends
- ABC7 News Saturday Morning - 6-7am
- news anchors: Kevin Roy and Stacey Baca; weather: Mark Bishop
- ABC7 News Sunday Morning - 6-7am and 8-9:30am
- news anchors: Kevin Roy and Stacey Baca; weather: Phil Schwarz
- ABC7 News at 5PM - 5-5:30pm
- news anchors: Karen Jordan and Ravi Baichwal; weather: Phil Schwarz; sports: Jeff Blanzy
- ABC7 News at 10PM - 10-10:35pm
- news anchors: Karen Jordan and Ravi Baichwal; weather: Phil Schwarz; sports: Jeff Blanzy
[edit] ABC7 News Bios
[edit] Current ABC7 News Anchors
- Stacey Baca - weekend mornings Saturday 6am; Sunday 6am and 8am
- Ravi Baichwal - weekends 5pm and 10pm
- Kathy Brock - weeknights 6pm and 10pm
- Cheryl Burton - weeknights 5pm and 10pm
- Judy Hsu - weekday mornings 5am
- Karen Jordan - weekends 5pm and 10pm
- Alan Krashesky - weekday afternoons/weeknights 4pm and 6pm, News Views Host Sunday 9am
- Ron Magers - weeknights 5pm and 10pm
- Sylvia Perez - weekday mornings/afternoons 11am and 4pm Healthbeat Reporter
- Kevin Roy - weekend mornings Saturday 6am; Sunday 6am and 8am
- Hosea Sanders - weekday mornings 5am
- Roz Varon - weekday mornings 5am Traffic
- Linda Yu - weekday mornings/afternoons 11am and 4pm
[edit] ABC7 Weather Team
The station's weather radar is called "MetroVision7."
- Jerry Taft - Chief Meteorologist - weeknights 5pm, 6pm, and 10pm
- Tracy Butler - Meteorologist - weekday mornings 5am and 11am
- Mike Caplan - Weather Anchor - weekday afternoons 4pm
- Phil Schwarz - Weekend Meteorologist - 5pm and 10pm; Sunday 6am and 8am
- Mark Bishop - Weekend Meteorologist - Saturday 6am
[edit] ABC7 Sports Team
- Mark Giangreco - Sports Anchor - weekdays 5pm and 10pm
- Jim Rose - Sports Anchor - weekdays 4pm and 6pm
- Jeff Blanzy - Weekend Sports Anchor - weekends 5pm and 10pm
- Ryan Chiaverini - Sports Reporter
[edit] ABC7 Local Programs
- Bill Campbell - Chicagoing Host
- Janet Davies - 190 North Host and Entertainment Reporter
- Theresa Gutierrez - The ñ Beat Host and Reporter
- Harry Porterfield - People, Places, & Things Host and Features Reporter
[edit] ABC7 Reporters
- Michelle Alegria - Features Reporter
- Ben Bradley - Reporter
- Joel Daly - Legal Contributor
- Steve Dolinksy - Food Reporter "Hungry Hound" Wednesdays and Fridays 11am; Fridays 10pm
- Michelle Gallardo - Reporter
- John Garcia- Reporter
- Chuck Goudie - Investigative Reporter
- Evelyn Holmes - Reporter
- Leah Hope - Reporter
- Frank Mathie - Features Reporter
- Paul Meincke - Reporter
- Karen Meyer - Reporter
- Dan Ponce - Reporter
- Sarah Schulte - Reporter
- Andy Shaw - Political Reporter
- Charles Thomas - Reporter
[edit] Past personalities
- Andy Avalos
- Jim Avila
- Diann Burns
- Mary Ann Childers
- John Coleman
- Joel Daly
- John Drury
- John Edwards
- Fahey Flynn
- Dick Johnson
- Rob Johnson
- Floyd Kalber
- Brad Palmer
- Jim Rosenfield
- Gene Siskel
- James Ward
- Tim Weigel
- Robb Weller
[edit] Other locally produced programs
- 190 North - local entertainment program named after the station's studio address at 190 N. State St. in the Loop
- airs Sundays 10:35pm and reruns Saturdays 11:05pm
- The Oprah Winfrey Show - originally created by WLS-TV
- airs weekdays 9am and reruns weeknights 11:05pm
- Ebert & Roeper - nationally syndicated film review program
- airs Saturdays 10:35pm and reruns Sundays 10:30am
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- ABC7Chicago.com - WLS-TV Web site
- ABC7ToGo.com - WLS-TV Wireless Web site
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WLS-TV
| Broadcast television in the Chicago market (Nielsen DMA #3) | ||
|---|---|---|
|
WBBM 2 (CBS) - W04CQ 4 (Silent) - WMAQ 5 (NBC) - WLS 7 (ABC) - WGN 9 (The CW) (The Tube on DT2) - WTTW 11 (PBS, Create on DT.2) - WOCK-CA 13 (Azteca América) - W13BQ 13 (DW) - W18AT 18 / W54BK 54 (LeSEA) - WYCC 20 (PBS) - W64CQ 22 (TBN) - WWME-CA 23 (Ind) - WHVI-LP 24 (LeSEA) - WCIU 26 (Ind) - WSPY-LP 30 (A1) - WFLD 32 (Fox) - WEDE-CA 34 (Ind) - WWTO 35 (TBN) - WCPX 38 (i) - WOCH-CA 41 (Ind) - WSNS 44 (TEL) - WFBT-CA 48 (Ind) - WPWR 50 (MNTV) - W54BE 54 (Edu. Ind) - WLFM-LP 55 (Ind) - WYIN 56 (PBS) - WXFT 60 (TFT) - WCHU-LP 61 (MTV3) - WJYS 62 (Ind) - WGBO 66 (UNI) |
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| Local cable television channels | ||
