WCIU-TV

Coordinates: 41°52′44.1″N 87°38′10.2″W / 41.878917°N 87.636167°W / 41.878917; -87.636167
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

WCIU-TV


kW
HAAT473 m (1,552 ft)
Transmitter coordinates41°52′44.1″N 87°38′10.2″W / 41.878917°N 87.636167°W / 41.878917; -87.636167
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wciu.com/cw26

WCIU-TV (channel 26) is a

independent outlet WMEU-CD (channel 48) and MeTV/Heroes & Icons flagship WWME-CD (channel 23). The stations share studios on Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood, while WCIU-TV's transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower in the Chicago Loop
.

WCIU-TV is the largest CW affiliate by market size that is not owned or operated by Nexstar Media Group, which owns 75% of the network.

History

Early history

Founded by John J. Weigel (the father of late Chicago sportscaster Tim Weigel),[2] the station first signed on the air on February 6, 1964, as Chicago's first UHF station. It has been owned by Weigel Broadcasting since its inception. WCIU has spent much of its history carrying multi-ethnic entertainment programming. At its sign-on, channel 26 operated as an independent station; the call letters stand for "Chicago Independent UHF". A minority stake was held by businessman Howard Shapiro, who founded appliance store chain C.E.T. (Chicago Engineers for Television). Shapiro and his brother Gene took over Weigel Broadcasting and WCIU in 1966.[3]

From the late 1960s until 1985, WCIU carried

paid programming
and various other ethnically-oriented shows.

From 1966 to 1970, the station aired Kiddie A-Go-Go, a children's

African American music program Soul Train, hosted by its creator (and then-WCIU station employee) Don Cornelius. The show later entered into national syndication and moved production to Los Angeles the following year, although WCIU continued to produce a local version of Soul Train exclusively for the Chicago market until 1976, initially and simultaneously with the Los Angeles-based version, with Cornelius himself as host, succeeded by Clinton Ghent, the main producer under Cornelius.[6][7]

After WXXW (channel 20, allocation later occupied by PBS member station WYCC)—the second-to-last television station in the market that continued to broadcast in black-and-white—went dark in 1974, channel 26 remained the only television station in Chicago that still broadcast its programming in monochrome. Just prior to the Christmas season of 1974, the station installed and tested color transmission equipment, which broadcast on a low-power relay station located in Lincoln Park. In November 1974, the color and black-and-white signals traded transmitter facilities for the remainder of the holiday season; on December 31, 1974, the translator was taken offline as channel 26 started to broadcast in color full-time.

In the summer of 1985, the SIN affiliation moved to

WFBN-LD) in Rockford, Illinois (which was converted into a simulcast of sister station WYTU-LD (channel 63) in Milwaukee in August 2012, to provide Telemundo programming into the Rockford market, as WSNS provides weak to rimshot signal coverage to that area; Telemundo eventually moved to the station's second subchannel to accommodate TouchVision, followed by H&I currently), and W12BK (channel 69, now MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYS-LD) in South Bend, Indiana
.

On October 13, 1988, WSNS-TV announced that it would switch its affiliation to Telemundo after that station's affiliation agreement with Univision concluded on December 31; two months later on December 16, WCIU—whose contract with Telemundo was set to expire the following month—signed an affiliation agreement with Univision, returning the station to that network after two years. The two stations switched affiliations on January 10, 1989.[8][9]

Return to full-time independence

Former logo, from 2008 to 2017. The "U" in the logo was used since December 31, 1994.

In 1993, Univision asked WCIU to drop all of its English-language programming, including Stock Market Observer, and carry the network's programming full-time. WCIU refused, which led Univision to purchase then-

WGBO-TV (channel 66) from Combined Broadcasting for $35 million on January 10, 1994, with the intent of moving its programming there the following January. That summer, Howard Shapiro hired Neal Sabin—former program director at WPWR-TV (channel 50)—as WCIU's vice president and general manager, who decided to remake WCIU into a conventional English-language general entertainment independent station. Univision assumed ownership of WGBO in August 1994, but was forced to run that station as an independent station for five months afterward as WCIU's affiliation contract with Univision did not expire until the end of the year.[10] On December 31, 1994, WCIU switched to English-language general entertainment programming full-time and rebranded as "The U".[11][12][13][14][15][16] In the spring of 1995, WCIU and low-powered sister station W23AT (channel 23, later WFBT-CA; now WWME-CD) moved their operations from the Chicago Board of Trade building into a 64,000-square-foot (5,946 m2) studio facility at 30 North Halsted Street in Chicago's Near West Side community.[17]

Upon the conversion, channel 26 picked up most of WGBO's syndicated programming inventory, along with newly purchased shows that were not carried by any of the other Chicago stations; it also moved its remaining ethnic programming to WFBT.

sci-fi movie showcase Svengoolie, which had previously run in the market on WFLD (channel 32) in two different incarnations between 1970 and that station's conversion into a Fox owned-and-operated station in 1986; Rich Koz—who reprised the role he previously played in WFLD's Son of Svengoolie for WCIU's revival of the showcase—also co-hosted the station's New Year's Eve relaunch celebration on December 31, 1994, alongside controversial talk show host Morton Downey Jr. (who himself hosted a short-lived talk show on the station, Downey, which briefly aired nationally on CNBC later in 1995) and served as one of the "U'z Guys," a group of hosts for various blocks of the station's programming.[3][16]
Initially, the station continued to run the Stock Market Observer from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and entertainment programming in all other weekday timeslots and throughout much of the broadcast day on weekends. WCIU then added a weekday block of children's programs from 7 to 9 a.m. in March 1995.

On February 19, 1995, WCIU signed a multi-year agreement with

White Sox and Bulls evening games.[18][19]

In order to make room for the Kids' WB block, the full Stock Market Observer broadcast moved to WFBT-CA, on September 9. The weekday business news programming was then reduced to a 3½-hour block from 8:30 a.m. to noon, a move panned by some viewers; although it cited that Weigel had "no intention of killing" the program, Sabin cited the program's niche format and limited ratings and revenue for the block's shift to WFBT, in order for channel 26 to carry more profitable entertainment programming.

in 2000.

By the late 1990s, WCIU began adding more recent sitcoms; the station began to add more syndicated first-run

reality shows onto its daytime lineup in 2000. In September 2001, WCIU dropped the morning children's block, reducing children's programming to the afternoon hours. In September 2004, the station dropped the Kids' WB weekday and Saturday blocks, which moved to WGN-TV, resulting in that station clearing the entire WB network schedule for the first time. Classic sitcoms gradually disappeared from WCIU's schedule between 2001 and 2004 (some of these programs would find their way onto WFBT when it began running a classic television programming block called "MeTV", which would become that station's full-time format under the callsign WWME-CA on January 1, 2005). Early in 2005, the business news format was scaled back to include only the existing syndicated program First Business, which Weigel had assumed production responsibilities for in 2003 after WebFN went bankrupt.[23] That program continued until the end of 2014 under Weigel ownership, and the Chicago Board Options Exchange took over responsibilities for the program as Business First AM; it continues to air in Chicago on CN100 and the Total Living Network
.

Switch to The CW

On April 18, 2019, Weigel Broadcasting signed an agreement with

high school sports championships of the Illinois High School Association.[28] Channel 26 is the third station in Chicago to affiliate with The CW, after WGN-TV (2006–2016) and WPWR-TV (2016–2019). Weigel already had experience running a CW affiliate, as it owns WCWW-LD
in the adjacent South Bend market.

Like WPWR (which is under a channel sharing agreement with sister station WFLD), WCIU carries its main channel at 720p, below The CW's default 1080i resolution, due to running several standard definition subchannels, along with The U in 720p.

Second return to independence

On May 1, 2024, it was announced that The CW would return to WGN-TV in September and WCIU-TV will revert to independent status.[29]

Programming

Local programming

WCIU-TV has broadcast many locally produced programs over the years; among them include Ultrascope (a program sponsored by

Three Stooges shorts with Rich Koz, 2003–2010),[30] Soul Train (1970–1976, local version only; nationally syndicated version from Los Angeles was seen from 1971 to 2006, locally on WBBM-TV and later, WGN-TV),[30] The Bob Lewandowski Show, (1964–1995), Outdoor Sportsman (1978–1985; originally aired on WSNS-TV, it was produced and hosted by local outdoorsman Joe Wyer), Stock Market Observer (1968–2000), WebFN (2000–2003, replaced the Stock Market Observer), Kiddie-A-Go-Go (1964–1967), Western Theatre with Two Ton Baker (1964–1965), Marty Faye Show, The Chicago Party (c. 1982), Eddie Korosa's Polka Party (c. 1978) and First Business (a business news program which Weigel took over production in 2003, replacing WebFN, and syndicated nationally through MGM Television until 2014).[23]

Current local programs seen on WCIU include the horror/sci-fi film showcase Svengoolie (which is syndicated to MeTV and other Weigel stations), religious program Rock of Ages and the children's program Green Screen Adventures (which also syndicated to MeTV, This TV and other Weigel stations).[31]

In 2022, WCIU became the home of the Chicago Thanksgiving Parade, after the parade had been relegated to low-power television in 2021.[32]

Sports programming

On July 8, 1999, WGN-TV and WCIU-TV entered into a programming arrangement involving sports coverage, which allowed channel 26 to carry select Chicago Bulls basketball and White Sox baseball games, and a handful of Cubs baseball games that are produced by and contracted to air on WGN-TV, due to that station's network affiliation contracts (with The CW and previously The WB) that limit the number of programming preemptions that WGN-TV is allowed on an annual basis, and rights restrictions enforced by the

NBA which limited the number of Bulls telecasts aired on WGN's national superstation feed WGN America—prior to that channel's removal of WGN-produced programs upon its conversion into a basic cable channel in December 2014—to fifteen games per season.[33][34][35][36][37]

Sports broadcasts on WCIU were previously branded under the "BullsNet", "HawksNet", "CubsNet" and "SoxNet" banners until 2010, when they were rebranded under the umbrella title

Blackhawks, Bulls and Cubs games televised on WCIU began to be syndicated to local stations in central Illinois and Iowa through the "WGN Sports Network" service. Prior to this, select Bulls games aired by WCIU and WGN had been simulcast to many of these same stations. In April 2006, WCIU began broadcasting White Sox, Cubs and Bulls home games in high definition, with away games following suit in April 2008. In February 2015, Weigel Broadcasting discontinued its agreement with Tribune Broadcasting to carry Cubs and White Sox telecasts produced by WGN, so as to not have the game broadcasts conflict with the WLS-TV-produced prime time newscast on WCIU (with WPWR-TV taking over as an overflow feed for WGN).[38]

From

sixth-season finale of Bachelor in Paradise for the same evening. This was no longer an issue to any Chicago broadcast station beginning in 2020 with the move of all Chicago professional sports locally to NBC Sports Chicago and Marquee Sports Network (outside network telecasts and the Bears).[39]

The station refused carriage of the 2023 LIV Golf season after the controversial golf league contracted with The CW (now majority-owned by Nexstar Media Group) to carry their tournaments; in Chicago, it airs on Nexstar's WGN-TV instead, though Weigel does carry it on WCWW-LD in South Bend, making it likely that existing programming commitments (including to the Illinois High School Association) and a strong weekend syndication schedule led Weigel to decline the coverage. WCIU has also declined to air The CW's coverage of Atlantic Coast Conference football and men's basketball games.[citation needed]

Newscasts

A Black's View of the News

Alongside the Stock Market Observer, WCIU's first standalone local news programming effort debuted in 1968, when it launched a half-hour weeknight 10 p.m. newscast titled A Black's View of the News, a program focusing on news and commentary relevant to Chicago's African American community. The program—which served as a launching pad for eventual Soul Train host Don Cornelius—was canceled in 1982.[30]

You and Me This Morning

In September 2009, WCIU debuted You and Me This Morning, a weekday

inserts of varying length interspersed within what otherwise was a three-hour block of syndicated programming on WCIU and classic television series on WWME-CA from 6 to 8 a.m.[40][41] Although it trails behind the WGN Morning News on WGN-TV and Good Day Chicago on WFLD (as well as the national morning programs on WMAQ-TV, WLS-TV and WBBM-TV that the second hour of the program also competes against) in the ratings, viewership for the program has increased since its debut; in particular, its ratings doubled from an average of 40,000 viewers in May 2012 to 73,000 in May 2014. You & Me This Morning expanded into a full three-hour program (running from 6 to 9 a.m.) on September 8, 2014.[42][43][44][45]

Newscasts from WLS-TV

On December 14, 2014, WCIU entered into a news share agreement with ABC owned-and-operated station WLS-TV to produce a weeknight-only 7 p.m. newscast for channel 26. Titled ABC 7

Fresno).[46][47] On July 29, 2019, WCIU-TV and WLS-TV jointly announced that the newscast would end on August 30, a move related to WCIU's affiliation with The CW.[48]

On June 14, 2017, WCIU announced that it would launch The Jam, a new morning show that would replace You and Me This Morning in the 6 to 8 a.m. timeslot that summer at a date to be determined. The program—which the station's head of programming and creative, Steve Bailey, described would "promise[...] to be bold and unfiltered"—will feature a mix of local and national news headlines (as well as opinions on the featured stories by its hosts), entertainment and pop culture news, and weather forecasts. The program's concept is based in part on The Daily Buzz, a syndicated morning news program that ran from 2002 to 2015, which Bailey (who joined Weigel Broadcasting in October 2016, after serving as director of programming and affiliate marketing at Media General) had previously worked as the program's vice president of marketing and promotions.[49][50]

Notable former on-air staff

  • Cheryl Burton – weeknight anchor (January 12, 2015 – August 30, 2019; remained with WLS-TV as 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. anchor)
  • Jim Rose – sports anchor (January 12, 2015 – August 30, 2019; remained with WLS-TV as sports anchor)
  • Jerry Taft – chief meteorologist (deceased)
  • Linda Yu – weeknight anchor (January 12, 2015 – April 5, 2016; remained with WLS-TV as 4 p.m. anchor until her retirement in November 2016)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is

multiplexed
:

Subchannels of WCIU-TV[51][52]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
26.1 720p
16:9
CW26 The CWIndependent (eff. 9/1/2024)
26.2 The U WMEU-CD (Independent)[53][54]
26.3 480i MeTV MeTV (WWME-CD)
26.4 HEROES Heroes & Icons
26.5 STORY Story Television
26.6 CATCHY Catchy Comedy
26.7
4:3
MeTV Toons (soon)
  Simulcast of subchannels of another station

Subchannel history

In July 2008, Weigel Broadcasting announced the creation of This TV, a national subchannel network operated as a joint venture between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Weigel.[55] This TV officially launched with WCIU as its flagship station (airing on digital subchannel 26.5) on November 1, 2008.[56] This TV moved to the third digital subchannel of WGN-TV on November 1, 2013, as a result of the May 13, 2013, announcement that WGN owner Tribune Broadcasting would acquire Weigel's 50% ownership interest in This TV.[57][58] Bounce TV (which was already carried on WWME-CD 23.2) began to occupy This TV's former subchannel, moving from WWME 23.2 to WCIU 26.5.

On December 1, 2010, WCIU dropped its ethnic programming service FBT on digital subchannel 26.6 and replaced it a simulcast of the station's main channel. Two weeks later on December 15, the 26.6 subchannel was dropped and its programming was shifted to digital channel 26.2 (replacing a simulcast of sister station WWME-CA, which moved to WCIU digital subchannel 26.3) where it continued to simulcast most of WCIU's main programming. In addition, virtual channel 48.1 was discontinued (to be later used by the digital signal of

WMEU-CA) while 23.1 reverted to being the virtual channel
number for WWME-CA (23.2 was also discontinued at that time; it has since been restored, and now serves as an affiliate of Heroes & Icons).

On January 4, 2011, MGM and Weigel Broadcasting announced plans to turn the MeTV format that originated on sister station WWME-CA into a national network.[59][60] The national MeTV service launched on WWME and WCIU digital subchannel 26.3 on December 15, 2010.

The following day on January 5, digital subchannel 26.2 was relaunched with its own general entertainment format, branded as "The U Too"–a nod to the main channel's longtime branding, "The U."

standard definition widescreen
). Currently, WWME-CA's analog signal simulcasts Heroes & Icons as aired on digital subchannel 26.4.

On May 4, 2021, Weigel announced that WCIU-DT5 would become the inaugural affiliate of MeTV spinoff MeTV Plus upon its launch on the 15th of the month; Bounce TV was reported to move their Chicago affiliate to a subchannel of WCPX at that time. The channel is set to air a variety of sitcoms and drama series, similar to the original setup of past spinoff MeToo, and is believed to be Weigel's answer to Rewind TV, a planned Antenna TV spinoff network planned for launch by Nexstar Media Group that September.[63]

Analog-to-digital conversion

On June 12, 2009, the date of the federally mandated switch from analog to digital television for full-power stations, WCIU-TV shut down its analog signal. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 27,[64] using virtual channel 26.

From June 13, 2009, to January 9, 2011, WCIU-TV's main programming was simulcast on sister station WWME-CA (channel 23) to provide a nightlight service as the low-power station continued to operate an analog signal. From June 13 to July 12, 2009, the station ran newscasts from WMAQ-TV (channel 5) and WGN-TV for viewers that either were not ready for the digital transition or had problems receiving WGN and WMAQ's signals after the June 12 digital transition.[65] WWME-CA continued to operate an analog signal on UHF channel 23.

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External links