Suppelsa and Sanders

It looks like Mark Suppelsa’s move to Tribune-owned CW affiliate WGN-TV is all but a certainty, while handling Steve Sanders’ situation could be dicey, according to this article from Robert Feder in today’s Sun-Times. WGN is expected to sign Suppelsa to a contract after June 17, the day WFLD’s option to match any offer a competitor may have expires. If […]

WLS sweeps May, but WMAQ shines in demos at 10

Staying on the subject of local news, it was a good May book for all of Chicago’s news outlets -(second item) despite the fact the networks lost audience share due to the after-effects of the recent writer’s strike with something for everyone to crow about: ABC-owned WLS-TV’s newscasts won the May sweeps in households (second item) – however, NBC-owned WMAQ-TV […]

WLS-TV to host another special on youth violence

ABC-owned WLS-TV will host another summit on youth violence this Thursday. The station plans to air Stop the Violence: Conflicts and Solutions in HD at 6:30 p.m. The special is being hosted by Ron Magers and Cheryl Burton, and is being joined by reporters Charles Thomas and Paul Meincke. WLS aired a similar special last spring after 16 year-old Blair […]

WLS-TV’s Cheryl Burton attacked downtown

And the violence is spreading to the Loop as well – WLS-TV reporter Cheyrl Burton was attacked along with five other people as a mentally ill man was wondering around the Loop, striking people with his fist randomly. Police have the person in custody.

WLS-TV wins TV Week award

In the magazine’s TV Managers of the year, Midwest division -apparently, being number one for 22 years (as well as capitalizing on your competitors’ mistakes – and there are a lot of them) doesn’t hurt, either. And yours truly thinks this is obviously the right choice. Dominant ABC affiliates in Philadelphia (WPVI-TV), Dallas (WFAA-TV), and Atlanta (WSB-TV) and NBC affiliate […]

Local stations’ sweeps numbers hit by writers’ strike

Affiliates – who depend on their network’s prime-time programs to draw viewers to their late newscasts – suffered ratings declines during the just-concluded February sweeps as the writer’s strike forced the networks into reruns and were forced to air less-appealing reality shows. Judging by the few markets available for review, NBC affiliates seemed to be affected less, thanks to a […]

WGN pulls upset in the mornings

The CW may be tanking, but Tribune’s WGN-TV is thriving – its morning show ranked number one in the daypart (second item), besting ABC-owned WLS-TV in the recently concluded February book from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. – though it tied WLS at 6 a.m. Meanwhile, not even the presence of American Idol and the Super Bowl has helped Fox-owned […]

WLS-TV hit with fine from FCC

As well as every other ABC affiliate in the Central and Mountain time zone for airing a episode of NYPD Blue on Feb. 25, 2003 that contained partial nudity. The fine being proposed is $1.4 million. Only two ABC O&Os (WLS and KTRK-TV in Houston) are named in the action, since the rest of the O&Os fall in the Pacific […]

WLS goes NextGen

ABC-owned WLS-TV here in Chicago has a new feature on its website you can use to keep track of the Presidential Candidates. WLS (Channel 7) is using the NextGenPolitics feature so users can interact with candidates , not only in the Presidential race, but soon local races as well, including the hotly contested State Attorney’s race. Only problem is the […]

"I wanted to be on the news"

That’s what the driver of the van said after he crashed it into WLS-TV’s studios on Sunday night during the station’s newscast. He has been charged with criminal damage to property over $100,000. Man, that phrase is so 1976. Son, have you ever heard of YouTube?

Minivan crashes into WLS-TV’s studios – during a newscast!

A van crashes into WLS-TV’s studios – three minutes into the station’s 10 p.m. newscast. Notice what the ticker says on the photo to the left. Ironic, isn’t it? Tonight’s top story… Is right here at the station! A minivan crashed right into our studio… right when we are on the air! A minivan crashed into the studios of ABC-owned […]

News and notes

– The game between the Chicago Bears and Washington Redskins that aired on WPWR-TV last Thursday night from the NFL Network averaged a 16.6 rating – the highest number on that station since at least 1994, when WPWR aired the final episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. But it’s not so good for the Bears: The 16.6 rating and […]

John H. Idler to head WTVD

Current WLS-TV vice president and general sales manager John H. Idler has been promoted to president and general manager of WTVD in Raleigh-Durham, N.C. Idler succeeds Bernie Prazenica, who was promoted to the same positions in Philadelphia at WPVI. WLS, WPVI and WTVD are owned and operated by Disney/ABC. WTVD is a solid number two in the Raleigh-Durham market, behind […]

WLS-TV relaunches website

WLS, and other ABC owned-and-operated stations, including top-rated outlets WABC-TV in New York, KABC-TV in Los Angeles, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia and KTRK-TV Houston relaunched their websites over the weekend, with large Flash video players and added more video to make their websites “more like a TV newscast”. Check out WLS’ new website here. (Thought: I like the new site. It’s […]