WLS-TV: Encyclopedia - WLS-TV

WLS-TV

WLS-TV, "ABC7 Chicago" is the owned-and-operated ABC station in Chicago. It transmits from the Sears Tower in downtown Chicago.

WLS-TV - 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.

In 1953, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, the former theater division of Paramount Pictures. UPT owned CBS affiliate WBKB-TV, but the new ABC could not keep both. 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, while the old WBKB's management moved to channel 7. The station became WLS-TV in 1968, after WLS-AM, which ABC had owned since 1959.

WLS-TV - 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 recently updated the on-air look for their newscasts.[1]

WLS-TV - News Personalities

WLS-TV - Current Anchors

• Ron Magers - News Anchor - 5pm and 10pm
• Kathy Brock - News Anchor - 6pm and 10pm
• Alan Krashesky - News Anchor - 4pm and 6pm
• Cheryl Burton - News Anchor - 5pm
• Linda Yu - News Anchor - 11am and 4pm
• Sylvia Perez - News Anchor - 11am
• Hosea Sanders - News Anchor - Morning
• Judy Hsu - News Anchor - Morning
• Jerry Taft - Meteorologist - 5pm, 6pm, and 10pm
• Mike Caplan - Weather Anchor - 4pm
• Tracy Butler - Meteorologist - Morning and 11am
• Mark Giangreco - Sports Anchor - 5pm and 10pm
• Jim Rose - Sports Anchor - 4pm and 6pm

WLS-TV - Other Current Staff

• Harry Porterfield - Reporter

CC Boggiano - News Operations Manager

WLS-TV - Past Personalities

• Andy Avalos
• Diann Burns
• Mary Ann Childers
• Joel Daly
• John Drury
• Fahey Flynn
• Dick Johnson
• Floyd Kalber
• Jim Rosenfield
• Tim Weigel

WLS-TV - Other locally produced programs

• 190 North - local affairs and special interests program named after the station's studio address at 190 North State Street in downtown Chicago
• The Oprah Winfrey Show - originally created by WLS-TV
• Ebert & Roeper - film review program

See also

• WLS (AM)
• Circle 7 logo

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "WLS-TV", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki