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WBBM-TV

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WBBM-TV, officially branded as CBS2 Chicago, is a United States television station in Chicago, Illinois owned and operated by the Columbia Broadcasting System and present-day CBS. Currently broadcasting from 630 North McClurg Court in downtown Chicago near The Loop, WBBM-TV transmits from the John Hancock Center. It is expected to move into new office and broadcasting facilities in The Loop at 108 North State Street. WBBM-TV call letters stand for "World's Best Battery Maker," recognizing a former owner of sister station WBBM Radio.

Contents

History

WBBM traces its history to 1940, when Balaban & Katz, a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures, opened experimental station W9XBK. Balaban & Katz was already well known for owning several theaters in Chicago. On July 1, 1946, it received a commercial license as WBKB-TV (meaning Balaban and Katz Broadcasting) on channel 4, the first commercial station outside the Eastern Time Zone, airing some of the earlist CBS programing. Six years later, it became Chicago's CBS O&O. Balaban & Katz was renamed United Paramount Theatres (UPT) in 1950 after Paramount was forced to divest it.

In 1953, UPT merged with ABC, who already owned WENR-TV on channel 7. ABC couldn't keep both stations, so it decided to keep WENR and sell WBKB to CBS for $6.75 million. On February 12, one day after the merger took effect, a complex deal took place. WBKB-TV was renamed WBBM-TV (after WBBM-AM 780, which CBS has owned since 1929), while WENR-TV was renamed WBKB-TV (which became WLS in 1968). The talent stayed on channel 4 while the management moved to channel 7. As a condition of the merger, WBBM moved to channel 2 on July 5 to eliminate interference with WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which was moving from channel 3 to channel 4 to eliminate interference with WKZO-TV (now WWMT-TV) in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1956, WBBM-AM-FM-TV moved to a renovated arena on North McClurg Court, where the stations remain to this day. The WBKB-TV call letters currently reside on channel 11 in Alpena, Michigan, which is also a CBS affiliate.

On April 6, 2005, the station announced that it had reached an agreement to move its facilities to the vacant "Block 37" near the Daley Center in downtown Chicago. The new facility will be an all-digital HD facility with a street-level windowed studio, similar to that of sister station KYW-TV in Philadelphia. On January 18, 2006, the station has announced that it has purchased new Sony XDCAM HD optical-disk cameras and recorders for news acquisition, which will be delivered in March 2006. CBS Corporation has announced that the station will launch its newscasts in HDTV once it moves to its new facilities in the "Block 37" studio, which is slated to occur around fall to Christmas of 2007.

Logos

Image:Wbbm70s.jpg|WBBM-TV logo from 1970 to 1975 Image:Wbbm75.jpg|WBBM-TV logo from 1975 to 1986 Image:Wbbm76.jpg|Alternate WBBM-TV logo from 1976 to 1977 (This variant contains Casimir Pulaski in the inset, as this was the Bicentennial year and he was a Revolutionary War hero) Image:Wbbm86.jpg|WBBM-TV logo from 1986 to 1987 Image:Wbbm88.jpg|WBBM-TV logo from 1987 to 1991 Image:Wbbm91.jpg|WBBM-TV logo for a brief period in 1991 Image:Wbbm92.jpg|WBBM-TV logo from 1991 to 1994 Image:Wbbm94.jpg|WBBM-TV logo from 1994 to 1997 Image:Wbbm2000.jpg|WBBM-TV logo from 1997 to 2001 Image:Wbbm2001.jpg|WBBM-TV logo from 2001 to 2002 Image:Wbbmcbs2.png|The Present CBS 2 logo, used since 2002

Slogans

News operations

In the late 1970s, WBBM surged past WLS-TV for first place in the Chicago news race. It became one of the most respected local news operations in the country and was considered a bastion of serious journalism. Led by anchors Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson, weatherman John Coughlin and sports director Johnny Morris, WBBM dominated the news ratings in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Kurtis and Jacobson were first teamed together in 1973 by general manager Robert Wussler and news director Van Gordon Sauter, who introduced a hard-news format and began using the newsroom as the set for all newscasts. Kurtis became known for his "Focus Unit" in-depth reports, Jacobson for his "Perspective" commentaries. Among the others who were known for their work with WBBM-TV in this period were film critic Gene Siskel, police and crime reporter John "Bulldog" Drummond, women and consumer issues reporter Susan Anderson, feature reporter Bob Wallace, investigative reporter Pam Zekman, medical reporter Roger Field, political reporter Mike Flannery and reporter/weekend news anchor Mike Parker. Bob Sirott and Phil Ponce, later hosts of the WTTW program Chicago Tonight, were also reporters for WBBM-TV during this period. Zekman, Flannery and Parker are still on WBBM-TV, and Drummond also still contributes occasional reports.

In 1982, Kurtis left WBBM-TV to anchor the CBS Morning News in New York and was replaced by Don Craig, formerly of WMAQ-TV. When Kurtis returned three years later, he was teamed with Craig for the hour-long 6 p.m. news, and Harry Porterfield, who had been the co-anchor of that newscast for several years, was demoted to a weekend shift. Porterfield later left for WLS, but the Rev. Jesse Jackson began a boycott of WBBM-TV after Porterfield, who is African-American, was demoted. WBBM-TV later hired African-American news anchorman Lester Holt, later of MSNBC to replace Porterfield. Kurtis left WBBM permanently in 1996.

In March 1986, WLS, which had been a strong third for many years, overtook WBBM for the lead. In 1990, WBBM hired Bill Applegate, who had taken WLS to first place, as general manager. Applegate took Jacobson off the anchor desk (Jacobson eventually left for WFLD in 1993) and made the newscasts much flashier than they had previously been. It was enough for a rebound to a first-place tie with WLS by 1993. The momentum did not last, however, and by the mid-1990s WBBM had crashed to last place. For most of the next decade, WLS and WMAQ fought it out for first, while WBBM's once-proud news division often trailed syndicated reruns on WFLD.

The station has gone through several different on-air branding schemes—from its longtime brand of Channel 2 News to 2 News, News 2 Chicago, The News on CBS 2 Chicago, and finally the present CBS 2 News. A good example of this is in 2002, when the station eliminated its year-old computer-intensive graphics and "newsplex" studio in favor of a simpler studio and corresponding graphics set.

Since 2002, however, WBBM has recovered some of its former glory. That year, it signed Diann Burns, who had recently departed from WLS, and hired Antonio Mora from Good Morning America. Burns and Mora became WBBM's new main anchor team. In January 2006, WBBM passed WMAQ for second place at 5 p.m.. While still far behind WLS, it was WBBM's best finish at 5 p.m. in 13 years. It is still in last place at 10 p.m., but was the only late newscast to gain audience share in the first month of the new year. WBBM also finished second sign-on to sign-off (from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m.), leapfrogging from fourth for its best monthly performance in 23 years.

The 10 p.m. news experiment

The most notable of many changes WBBM has made to its news operation occurred in 2000, when it revamped its 10 p.m. newscast by ditching the traditional news format in favor of in-depth "hard news" features, a staple of its glory days. Anchored by Carol Marin, former longtime anchor at WMAQ, the newscast was hailed as a return to quality in-depth journalism in the best CBS tradition at a time when tabloid journalism and "soft news" were becoming the norm in broadcast news. However, plummeting ratings led to the newscast's cancellation in October after being on the air for only nine months.

WBBM's 10 PM weekday newscast anchors, 2006.
Enlarge
WBBM's 10 PM weekday newscast anchors, 2006.

Newscast lineup

Weekdays Saturdays Sundays

Station trivia

As WBKB, it played an indirect role in the demise of the DuMont Television Network. Paramount owned a stake in DuMont, and the FCC considered WBKB a DuMont owned and operated station even though WGN-TV was Chicago's DuMont affiliate. Paramount also owned KTLA in Los Angeles. As DuMont already owned WABD (now WNYW-TV) in New York, WTTG in Washington and WDTV in Pittsburgh, the FCC's decision meant DuMont couldn't acquire any more stations. Ironically, due to a series of mergers over the years, the former WDTV, now KDKA-TV, is also a CBS owned and operated station (O&O).

In 1960, WBBM was the site of the first televised presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

In 1975, Chicago jingle composer Dick Marx wrote a theme for WBBM based on an old folk song, I Love Chicago, Chicago My Home. This theme, known simply as Channel 2 News, became very popular in Chicago during WBBM's glory days. WBBM has used this theme and several variations on it for all but six years since then. The tune has also been adopted by several other stations across the country, mostly CBS stations. It has become the de facto official music for CBS's O&Os. Since 2002, WBBM has used an updated version called The Enforcer by Frank Gari. It was especially written for the station, and was previously used from 1994 to 1997, and from 2000 to 2001. It is a synthesized version of the original theme.

WBBM was an inspiration (along with Philadelphia's WPVI-TV) for the fictional KBBL-TV from the cartoon television series The Simpsons. Ironically, in the May 2005 sweeps ratings, WBBM's 10 p.m. newscast finished behind re-runs of The Simpsons on WFLD-TV for fourth place in the timeslot.

WBBM-TV's investigative reporter Pam Zekman and police reporter John Drumond both appeared in the 1993 film The Fugitive.

WBBM is one of few CBS-owned stations to air Guiding Light at 9 a.m. instead of the recommended time slot at 2 p.m.. Sometime ago the station started to move the soap opera to the earlier time slot, and would air today's episode on a one-day delay. That is, until CBS executives noticed WBBM and other affiliates doing this and decided to do two feeds of airing the soap opera the same day for the stations including WBBM.

The station's radar is called "CBS 2 Live DopplerTrak".

Along with other CBS O&O stations, WBBM-TV offers a web only newscast called "CBS 2 At Your Desk", shown weekdays. It is anchored by weekend anchor and traffic reporter Susan Carlson. There is also a Northwest Herald edition of "News At Your Desk".

Personalities

Current anchors

Other current staff

Past personalities

References

External links

Terrestrial television>Broadcast television in the Chicago market  [(Nielsen DMA #3)]
WBBM 2 (CBS) - W04CQ 4 (ANC) - WMAQ 5 (NBC) - WLS 7 (ABC) - WGN 9 (The WB/The CW) (The Tube on DT2) - WTTW 11 (PBS) - WOCK-CA 13 (MTV2) - W13BQ 13 (DW) - W18AT 18 / W54BK 54 (LeSEA) - WYCC 20 (PBS) - WWME-CA 23 (Ind) - W24AW 24 (LeSEA) - WCIU 26 (Ind) - WSPY-LP 30 (A1) - WFLD 32 (Fox) - WWTO 35 (TBN) - WCPX 38 (i) - WOCH-CA 41 (Ind) - WSNS 44 (TEL) - WFBT-CA 48 (Ind) - WPWR 50 (UPN/My Network TV) - W54BE 54 (edu.) - WYIN 56 (PBS) - WXFT 60 (TFT) - WJYS 62 (Ind) - W64CQ 64 (TBN) - WGBO 66 (UNI)
Local cable television channels
CLTV -  Comcast SportsNet Chicago -  Superstation WGN
CBS Network Affiliates in the state of Illinois
WBBM 2 () - WCIA 3 () - WHBF 4 () - WIFR 23 () - WMBD 31 ()
See also: , , , , , and Stations in Illinois

CBS Corporation
Corporate Directors: David R. Andelman | Joseph A. Califano, Jr. | William S. Cohen | Philippe P. Dauman | Charles K. Gifford | Bruce S. Gordon | Leslie Moonves | Shari Redstone | Sumner Redstone | Ann N. Reese | Judith A. Sprieser | Robert D. Walter
Broadcast radio stations owned by CBS Radio
Radio Networks: CBS Radio Network | Free FM | Jack FM (most US stations) | Westwood One
Misc. Assets: CBS Consumer Products | CBS Digital Media | CBS Outdoor | Simon & Schuster | Westinghouse Electric Corporation
Broadcast Television Networks: CBS | UPN (to be The CW in 9/2006, co-owned with Time Warner)
Television Production and Distribution: Big Ticket Entertainment | CBS Paramount Domestic Television | CBS Paramount Television | CBS Studio Center | CBS Television City | King World | Spelling Entertainment Group
CBS Owned & Operated Television Stations: KCBS | KCNC | KDKA | KEYE | KOVR | KPIX | KTVT | KUTV | KYW | WBBM | WBZ | WCBS | WCCO | WFOR | WFRV/WJMN | WJZ | WWJ
UPN Owned & Operated Television Stations: KBCW1 | KMAX1 | KSTW1 | KTXA3 | WBFS2 | WGNT1 | WKBD1 | WLWC1 | WPCW1 | WPSG1 | WSBK3 | WTOG1 | WTVX1 | WUPA1 | WUPL2
Other Television Stations: KCAL | WBXI | WTCN2 | WWHB
Cable Television Networks: Showtime Networks | College Sports TV
1Will Become The CW Television Network>The CW Owned and Operated Television Stations on September 18, 2006
2Will become affiliates of Fox Broadcasting Company>Fox's My Network TV in September 2006
3Will become Independent station>independent stations on September 18, 2006 Annual Revenue: 
.54 billion USD (2005) | Employees: Unknown at this time. | Stock Symbol: NYSE: [CBS] | Website: [www.cbscorporation.com]

 

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