WLS-TV
Encyclopedia : W : WL : WLS : WLS-TV
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. Broadcasting from studio facilities at 190 North State Sreet in The Loop, ABC7 Chicago transmits from the Sears Tower. The WLS-TV call letters stand for "World's Largest Store," recognizing its past affiliation with Sears on radio.
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. The station would be one of the original ABC-owned stations on channel 7 alongside WABC-TV in New York City, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, KGO-TV in San Francisco and WXYZ in Detroit.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.
Logos
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 who airs a rerun of The Simpsons(5.6/9) and WBBM(5.1/8).
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. [link]
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 simular to NBC Weather Plus. WSVN, WFMZ-TV, WPVI-TV, and WABC-TV also offer simular live video services by AccuWeather.
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 and Kathy Brock with 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: Rob Johnson and Karen Jordan; weather: Phil Schwarz; sports: Jeff Blanzy
- ABC7 News at 10PM - 10-10:35pm
- *news anchors: Rob Johnson and Karen Jordan; weather: Phil Schwarz; sports: Jeff Blanzy
ABC7 News Bios
Current ABC7 News Anchors
- Cheryl Burton - News Anchor - 5pm and 10pm
- Kathy Brock - News Anchor - 6pm and 10pm
- Alan Krashesky - News Anchor - 4pm and 6pm, News Views Host Sunday 9am
- Ron Magers - News Anchor - 5pm and 10pm
- Linda Yu - News Anchor - 11am and 4pm
- Sylvia Perez - News Anchor - 11am and 4pm Healthbeat Reporter
- Hosea Sanders - News Anchor - 5am
- Judy Hsu - News Anchor - 5am
- Roz Varon - Traffic 5am
- Rob Johnson - Weekend Anchor - 5pm and 10pm
- Karen Jordan - Weekend Anchor - 5pm and 10pm
- Kevin Roy - Weekend Morning Anchor - Saturday 6am; Sunday 6am and 8am
- Stacey Baca - Weekend Morning Anchor - Saturday 6am; Sunday 6am and 8am
ABC7 Weather Team
The station's weather radar is called "MetroVision7."- Jerry Taft - Chief Meteorologist - 5pm, 6pm, and 10pm
- Tracy Butler - Meteorologist - 5am and 11am
- Mike Caplan - Weather Anchor - 4pm
- Phil Schwarz - Weekend Meteorologist - 5pm and 10pm; Sunday 6am and 8am
- Mark Bishop - Weekend Meteorologist - Saturday 6am
ABC7 Sports Team
- Mark Giangreco - Sports Anchor - 5pm and 10pm
- Jim Rose - Sports Anchor - 4pm and 6pm
- Jeff Blanzy - Weekend Sports Anchor - 5pm and 10pm
- Ryan Chiaverini - Sports Reporter
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
ABC7 Reporters
- 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
Past personalities
- Andy Avalos
- Diann Burns
- Mary Ann Childers
- John Coleman
- Joel Daly
- John Drury
- John Edwards
- Fahey Flynn
- Dick Johnson
- Floyd Kalber
- Brad Palmer
- Jim Rosenfield
- James Ward
- Tim Weigel
- Robb Weller
- Jim Avila
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
See also
References
- [The Bob & Kay Show (WENR-TV). Chicago Television].
- [WLS-TV station history (2005). ABC7Chicago.com].
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 | ||