WMAQ-TV
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| WMAQ-TV | |
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| Chicago, Illinois | |
| Branding | NBC 5 Chicago |
| Channels | Analog: 5 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | NBC |
| Owner | NBC Universal (NBC Telemundo License Company) |
| Founded | October 8, 1948 |
| Call letters’ meaning | We Must Answer Questions (derived from former sister station WMAQ radio) |
| Sister station(s) | WSNS-TV |
| Former callsigns | WNBQ (1948-1964) |
| Transmitter Power | 20 kW (analog) 350 kW (digital) |
| Height | 494 m (analog) 508 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 47905 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.nbc5.com |
WMAQ-TV, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Chicago, Illinois. WMAQ-TV's main studios and offices are located within the NBC Tower in the Streeterville neighborhood, with an auxiliary street-level studio on the Magnificent Mile, and its transmitter is atop the Sears Tower. WMAQ-TV is a sister station to WSNS-TV (channel 44), affiliated with the Spanish-language network Telemundo, which is also owned by NBC Universal.
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[edit] History
The station officially signed on October 8, 1948, as WNBQ, the last of Chicago's four commercial VHF stations to launch, and the third of the five original NBC owned-and-operated stations, ten months ahead of WNBK (now WKYC-TV) in Cleveland. Eight years later, it became the first station in the world to broadcast all of its programs in color. Though NBC had long owned WMAQ radio (670 AM, now WSCR), it did not change the TV station's call letters to WMAQ-TV until 1964. The calls of its sister radio station were initially assigned by the government, but went on to form the phrase "We Must Ask Questions," which the radio station took on as its motto in the 1920s.
WMAQ-TV gained fame for its newscasts during the 1960s, anchored by Floyd Kalber, John Palmer, Jim Ruddle, and Jorie Lueloff, with weatherman Harry Volkman (later of WBBM-TV, WGN-TV and WFLD), sports reporters Johnny Morris and Greg Gumbel, and commentator Len O'Connor. In 1975, Jane Pauley, later of NBC's Today Show, briefly co-anchored WMAQ-TV's 10 p.m. news with Kalber. The station operated from the Merchandise Mart before moving to the NBC Tower in 1989.
The station was not only a launching pad for Pauley, but also for a few other personalities before they went national as well, including CBS sportscaster Greg Gumbel, CNN Headline News morning anchor Robin Meade, Inside Edition host Deborah Norville, Maury Povich and The Insider host Pat O'Brien.
On January 14, 2008, WMAQ-TV became the second television station in Chicago to broadcast their news in high definition.
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Jerry Springer
WMAQ achieved notoriety in 1997 when the station, in an effort to boost its newscast ratings, hired Jerry Springer as a commentator.[1] At the same time, the station adopted a more tabloid news format by bringing in Joel Cheatwood. Previously, Cheatwood was known for establishing fast-paced tabloid newscasts at WSVN in Miami and WHDH-TV in Boston.
Though Springer was once a two-term mayor of Cincinnati before becoming a news anchor for that city's NBC affiliate WLWT, his association with his infamous talk show (which was, and is, broadcast from WMAQ's NBC Tower studios, and is now distributed by NBC Universal) led to the belief that the newscast was being dumbed down. There were a handful of Springer supporters; nevertheless, the incident triggered a lot of negative publicity, both locally and nationally. The station's well-respected longtime anchor team, Carol Marin and Ron Magers, resigned in protest. News broadcasts at that time originated from a studio that opened onto the station's newsroom. As Marin signed off her last newscast, station personnel stood en masse in the newsroom behind her in a symbolic show of support for her decision to resign. The station saw a drop in its ratings. Springer only made two commentaries before being let go, and station management later called his hiring a mistake.
Magers wound up at rival WLS-TV, where he still is today. Marin joined rival WBBM-TV while contributing reports at CBS before returning to WMAQ in 2004 as a special correspondent.
[edit] Amy Jacobson
On July 10, 2007, Amy Jacobson negotiated her exit with WMAQ, after being videotaped in a bikini with her two sons at the home of Craig Stebic. Craig's wife Lisa was missing and had not been found as of that date. The incident raised the issue whether Jacobson crossed a journalistic ethical line in being friendly with a subject of the story. Jacobson reported at WMAQ for the previous 10 years.[2] The video of her at Craig Stebic's home was either taken by or given to WBBM-TV, which has the entire six minute video on their website.
[edit] Digital television
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
| Subchannel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 5.1 / 29.1 | main WMAQ-TV/NBC programming |
| 5.2 / 29.2 | NBC Weather Plus |
[edit] Analog-to-digital conversion
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 [3], WMAQ-TV will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 29.[4] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WMAQ-TV's virtual channel as 5.
[edit] Current personalities
- Anchors
- Marion Brooks - weekdays 4:30 p.m.
- Anna Davlantes - weekend evenings
- Rob Elgas - Weekday mornings
- Ellee Pai Hong - Saturday and Sunday mornings
- Allison Rosati - weeknights 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00 p.m.
- Zoraida Sambolin - weekday mornings
- Warner Saunders - weeknights 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00 p.m.
- Bob Sirott - weekdays 4:30 p.m.
- Rob Stafford - weekend evenings
- Matt Rodewald- Weekday morning Traffic
- Reporters
- Mary Ann Ahern
- Renee Ferguson (investigative}
- Lauren Jiggetts
- Dick Johnson
- Nesita Kwan (health and science)
- Carol Marin (politics)
- Natalie Martinez
- Art Norman (features)
- Lisa Parker (investigative)
- Alex Perez
- Anthony Ponce
- Phil Rogers
- LeeAnn Trotter (entertainment)
- Kim Vatis
- Charlie Wojciechowski (technology)
- Sharon Wright
- Weather
- Andy Avalos - weekday mornings
- Brant Miller - chief meteorologist/weeknights
- Pete Sack - subsitute meteorologist
- Ginger Zee - weekends
- Sports
- Mike Adamle - weekdays
- Paula Faris - weekends
- Peggy Kusinski - sports reporter, also Chicago Bears Beat reporter
- Bruce Wolf - weekends
[edit] Notable alumni
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[edit] Newscast titles
- NBC News Night Report (1960s)
- NewsCenter 5 (1970s-Early 1980s)
- Channel 5 News (Mid 1980s-1997)
- NewsChannel 5 (1997-1998)
- NBC 5 Chicago News (1998-2000)
- NBC 5 News (2000-present)
[edit] References
- ^ Johnson, Steve (July/August 1997). How Low Can TV News Go?. Columbia Journalism Review.
- ^ Rosenthal, Phil (2007-07-10). Jacobson out at WMAQ. Chicago Tribune. Retrieved on 2007-07-10.
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
- ^ http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101233071&formid=387&fac_num=47905
[edit] External links
- WMAQ-TV Website
- WMAQ Wireless
- WMAQ General Information at NBC5.com
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WMAQ
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