WGBO-TV

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WGBO-TV 66 is the Univision owned and operated station licensed to Joliet, Illinois. Its studios are in Chicago. WGBO offers a Spanish programming format featuring news, talk shows, dramas, movies, and other first rate Spanish programming.

[edit] History

Channel 66 signed on in 1981 as WFBN-TV, owned by Focus Broadcasting. Initially it ran local access shows during the day and Spectrum Subscription TV by night. By 1982, the station ran Subscription TV almost 24/7, but by Fall 1983 Spectrum shared the same schedule with Chicago subscription rival ON-TV.

WFBN continued this format until early 1984, when it dropped Spectrum in favor of music videos 24/7. By the fall of 1984, WFBN dropped the music videos and refilled the schedule with off-network classic sitcoms, dramas, movies, and religious shows. Grant Broadcasting bought WFBN in fall 1985 and changed its call letters to WGBO-TV in January of 1986, adopting the moniker of "Super 66."

In January 1986, WGBO added a few more off-network sitcoms and a couple of kids shows. It also added a lot of westerns. The station also adopted a very slick on-air look, using CGI graphics of near-network quality. Sister stations WGBS-TV in Philadelphia and WBFS-TV in Miami adopted a similar look, even though it was run somewhat more cheaply than its two sisters. Grant had ambitions of turning his three stations into regional superstations.

Unfortunately, when WGBO tried to get more barter programming, it found the shelves were picked clean by WGN-TV, WFLD and WPWR-TV. The bargain product was picked clean by WPWR. Ratings were always very low on this station and did not go up under Grant's ownership. Grant also could not compete against the two established independent stations and was not even able to compete against WPWR (even with all the low budget shows WPWR had along with lots of barter shows). There simply wasn't enough programming to go around, even in a market as large as Chicago.

By the end of 1986, Grant was so badly overextended that it filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. While the other two stations kept similar formats with fewer shows, WGBO added a lot of infomercials, religion, and other paid programs. WGBO did hold on to some entertainment shows. Ratings did not deteriorate, but they were very low to begin with.

In 1989, WGBO (along with its sister stations) went into receivership. A group of creditors called Combined Broadcasting took over the stations. In the early 1990s, WGBO added some barter cartoons and sitcoms that other stations passed on or dropped previously. Finally, in 1994, in a group deal Combined Broadcasting sold WGBS (now WPSG and WBFS to the Paramount Stations Group (who sold its original Philadelphia station, WTXF-TV, to News Corporation), and WGBO to Univision. WCIU-TV had been affiliated with Univision for many years, but still aired some English-language programming. When Univision asked it to drop those shows, WCIU refused, hence Univision's purchase of WGBO and WCIU's switch to general-market programming for the first time in its history.

Univision took ownership of Channel 66 in January 1995. The station retained the WGBO call letters, but immediately switched to Spanish programming. WCIU picked up most of WGBO's general entertainment shows, but reruns of "Beverly Hills 90210" continued to run, in English, on Sunday nights for a few months after the Univision buyout.

[edit] Newscasts

• Noticias Univision Chicago Primera Edicion (Mondays thru Fridays)
• Noticias Univision Chicago a las 5 PM (Mondays thru Fridays 5:00 PM-5:30 PM)
• Noticias Univision Chicago a las 10 PM (Mondays thru Fridays 10:00 PM-10:30 PM)

[edit] News Team

Anchors

• Brenda Carmona
• Jorge Barbosa
• Paula Gomez
• Enrique Rodriguez

Weather

• Ligia Granados
• Maricela Vazquez (also Reporter)

Sports

• Hector Lozano
• Mariano Gielis (also Reporter)

Reporters

• Aureliano Salgado
• Maria de Lourdes Garcia
• Maricela Vasquez (also Weatheranchor)
• Ericka Maldonado
• Mariano Gielis (also Sportsanchor)

[edit] Trivia

• In 1995 Oshkosh, Wisconsin radio station WVBO asked WGBO for permission to use the call letters WGBO-FM for its planned Green Bay simulcast. WGBO refused, and the Green Bay station went on the air as WOGB instead.

• WFBN is currently the call for a low power station in Rockford, IL owned by Weigel Broadcasting, owner of WCIU. The station previously aired WebFn, the succesor to Stock Market Observer. This is especially ironic since WCIU and WGBO essentially traded programming in 1995 because WCIU refused to drop Stock Market Observer.

[edit] Former Logos

[edit] External links

• Query the FCC's TV station database for WGBO-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WGBO-TV

[edit] References