WCIU-TV (channel 26) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ea ...

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, United States, affiliated with

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

. It is the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the ...

television property of locally based

Weigel Broadcasting Weigel Broadcasting Co. is an American television broadcasting company based in Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV (Channel 26), at 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood. It currently owns 25 television ...

, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to two low-power stations:

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

outlet WMEU-CD (channel 48) and

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...

Heroes & Icons Heroes & Icons (H&I) is an American digital broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Usually carried on the digital subchannels of its affiliated television station in most markets, the network airs classic television series fr ...

flagship WWME-CD (channel 23). The stations share studios on

Halsted Street Halsted Street is a major north-south street in the U.S. city of Chicago, Illinois. Location In Chicago's grid system, Halsted Street marks 800 West, west of State Street, from Grace Street (3800 N) in Lakeview south to the city limits at ...

in the

Greektown Greektown is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Greeks or people of Greek ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. History The oldest Greek dominated neighborhood outside of Greece were probably the Fener in Istanb ...

neighborhood, while WCIU-TV's transmitter is located atop the

Willis Tower The Willis Tower (originally the Sears Tower) is a 108- story, skyscraper in the Loop community area of Chicago in Illinois, United States. Designed by architect Bruce Graham and engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM ...

in the

Chicago Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

. WCIU-TV is the largest CW affiliate by market size that is not owned or operated by

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...

, which owns 75% of the network.

History

Early history

Founded by John J. Weigel (the father of late Chicago sportscaster

Tim Weigel John Timothy Weigel (March 4, 1945 – June 17, 2001), known professionally as Tim Weigel, was a Chicago broadcaster who spent most of his career as a television sports anchor and reporter. Early life and education Weigel grew up in Gurnee, Illi ...

), the station first signed on the air on February 6, 1964, and has been owned by Weigel Broadcasting since its inception. WCIU has spent much of its history carrying

multi-ethnic Mixed race people are people of more than one race or ethnicity. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mixed race people in a variety of contexts, including ''multiethnic'', ''polyethnic'', occasionally ''bi-eth ...

entertainment programming. At its sign-on, channel 26 operated as an

independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...

. Local businessman Howard Shapiro, who founded appliance store chain C.E.T. (Chicago Engineers for Television) with his brother Gene Shapiro, and held a minority interest in the station, took over Weigel Broadcasting and WCIU in 1966. From the late 1960s until 1985, WCIU carried religious programs during the early morning hours. The station ran ''The Stock Market Observer''—a business news block similar in format to the present-day cable channel

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk s ...

—from about 8:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each weekday; the service broadcast from the trading floor of the

Chicago Board of Trade The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), established on April 3, 1848, is one of the world's oldest futures and options exchanges. On July 12, 2007, the CBOT merged with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) to form CME Group. CBOT and three other exch ...

, with WCIU originally maintaining studio facilities at the top floor of the

Chicago Board of Trade Building The Chicago Board of Trade Building is a 44-story, Art Deco skyscraper located in the Chicago Loop, standing at the foot of the LaSalle Street canyon. Built in 1930 for the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), it has served as the primary trading ...

on West Jackson Boulevard. After 5:00 p.m. each weekday, the station ran

Spanish language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a global language with more than 500 million native speakers, mainly in the ...

entertainment programming—including controversial

bullfighting Bullfighting is a physical contest that involves a bullfighter attempting to subdue, immobilize, or kill a bull, usually according to a set of rules, guidelines, or cultural expectations. There are several variations, including some forms w ...

matches—from the Spanish International Network (the forerunner to

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and include ...

). During the weekend, WCIU ran a blend of religious programs, Spanish language programs, paid programming and various other ethnically-oriented shows. From 1966 to 1970, the station aired ''Kiddie A-Go-Go'', a children's

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move ...

and dance program which was hosted by

Elaine Mulqueen Elaine Mulqueen (January 27, 1932 – May 22, 2012) was an American children's television host and personality in Chicago, Illinois.The Four Seasons and

New Colony Six New Colony Six (sometimes abbreviated as NC6) is an American garage and later soft rock band from Chicago, formed in 1964. Original members were Ray Graffia, Jr. (vocals), who was born March 28, 1946; Chic James (drums); Pat McBride (harmonica) ...

. In 1970, channel 26 became the birthplace of the groundbreaking

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

music program ''

Soul Train ''Soul Train'' is an American musical variety television show. It aired in syndication from October 2, 1971, to March 25, 2006. Across its 35-year history the show primarily featured performances by R&B, soul, and hip hop artists. The series ...

'', hosted by its creator (and then-WCIU station employee)

Don Cornelius Donald Cortez Cornelius (September 27, 1936 – February 1, 2012) was an American television show host and producer widely known as the creator of the nationally syndicated dance and music show ''Soul Train'', which he hosted from 1971 until 1993 ...

. The show later entered into national

syndication Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

and moved production to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

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. 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 Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

—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 Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

transmission equipment, which broadcast on a low-power relay station located in

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...

. 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

WSNS-TV WSNS-TV (channel 44) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alongside NBC outlet WMAQ- ...

(channel 44); WCIU, meanwhile, became affiliated part-time with NetSpan—which would eventually evolve into

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

—shortly thereafter. Later in the 1980s, Weigel Broadcasting expanded coverage of WCIU-TV to areas of western Illinois,

northwest Indiana Northwest Indiana, nicknamed The Region after the Calumet Region, comprises Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton and Jasper counties in Indiana. This region neighbors Lake Michigan and is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. According to the 2020 ...

and

southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

through

translator stations Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

. In 1983, the station signed on W55AS (channel 55, now WBME-CD on channel 41) to relay WCIU's programming into the

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

market. In 1987, WCIU launched two additional translators, W33AR (channel 33, now WFBN-LD) in

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

(which was converted into a simulcast of sister station

WYTU-LD WYTU-LD (channel 63) is a low-power television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language Telemundo network. Owned by Weigel Broadcasting (as the company's only Telemundo affiliate), it is sister to CBS ...

(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 TouchVision was an American digital broadcast and internet Video on demand television network that was owned by Think Televisual. The service provided rolling news coverage that was distributed to television, mobile and tablet platforms. TouchVi ...

, followed by H&I currently) and W12BK (channel 69, now

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

affiliate

WMYS-LD WMYS-LD (channel 69) is a low-power television station in South Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting (as the company's only MyNetworkTV affiliate), and is sister to ABC affiliate WBND-LD ...

) in

South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total of 103,453 residents and is the fourt ...

. 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.

Return to full-time independence

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-

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

independent station 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 A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

, who decided to remake WCIU into a 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. On December 31, 1994, WCIU switched to an English language general entertainment format full-time and rebranded as "The U". In the spring of 1995, WCIU and low-powered

sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...

W23AT (channel 23, later WFBT-CA; now WWME-CD) moved their operations from the Chicago Board of Trade building into a studio facility at 30 North Halsted Street in Chicago's Near West Side community. 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. Channel 26's programming began to feature mostly classic

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

s and

drama series In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-ge ...

(such as ''

The Munsters ''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monsterEpisodes referring to the fact that Herman is Frankenstein's monster include #55, "Just Anoth ...

'', ''

Gilligan's Island ''Gilligan's Island'' is an American sitcom created and produced by Sherwood Schwartz. The show's ensemble cast features Bob Denver, Alan Hale Jr., Jim Backus, Natalie Schafer, Tina Louise, Russell Johnson and Dawn Wells. It aired for th ...

'', ''

Hogan's Heroes ''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom set in a Nazi German prisoner-of-war (POW) camp during World War II. It ran for 168 episodes (six seasons) from September 17, 1965, to April 4, 1971, on the CBS network, the longest broadcast ...

'', ''

The Rockford Files ''The Rockford Files'' is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network from September 13, 1974 to January 10, 1980, and remains in syndication. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investiga ...

'' and '' Leave It to Beaver''). The station also revived the horror/ sci-fi movie showcase '' Svengoolie'', which had previously run in the market on

WFLD WFLD (channel 32) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Gary, Indiana–licensed MyNetworkTV ...

(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. Sean Morton Downey Jr. (December 9, 1932 – March 12, 2001) was an American television talk show host and actor who pioneered the " trash TV" format in the late-1980s on his program '' The Morton Downey Jr. Show''. Early life Downey's parents ...

(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. 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 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. in March 1995. On February 19, 1995, WCIU signed a multi-year agreement with

The WB The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

to carry the network's children's program block,

Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The W ...

, upon its debut on September 9, 1995. The WB's primary affiliate in the market,

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

(channel 9), opted not to carry the block and continued to run its morning newscast and an afternoon sitcom block in the time slots where Kids' WB would normally air on other WB affiliates (ironically, WGN's

superstation ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television sign ...

feed for cable providers outside of the Chicago area and satellite providers nationwide carried Kids' WB programming, in addition to The WB's prime time schedule). The agreement also allowed WCIU to carry WB prime time programming in the event that WGN-TV chose to preempt it in order to air Cubs,

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

and

Bulls Bulls may refer to: *The plural of bull, an adult male bovine *Bulls, New Zealand, a small town in the Rangitikei District Sports *Bucking bull, used in the sport of bull riding * Bulls (rugby union), a South African rugby union franchise operated ...

evening games. 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 12:00 p.m., 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, the program was rebranded as "WebFN", a joint venture between Weigel and

Bridge Information Systems Bridge Information Systems was a financial news and data provider that was acquired by Reuters Group in September 2001.(9 April 2001)Reuters eyes Bridge ''CNN Money'' History The origins of Bridge date to 1974, when the original company was found ...

(which also aired on Milwaukee sister station WMLW-CA)."WebFN" would eventually feature several anchors formerly employed with WMAQ radio (670 AM) after that station was replaced by

sports talk Sports radio (or sports talk radio) is a radio format devoted entirely to discussion and broadcasting of sporting events. A widespread programming genre that has a narrow audience appeal, sports radio is characterized by an often- boisterous on-ai ...

outlet

WSCR WSCR (670 AM) – branded as 670 The Score – is a commercial sports radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, servicing the Chicago metropolitan area and much of surrounding Northern Illinois, Northwest Indiana and parts of the Milwa ...

in 2000. By the late 1990s, WCIU began adding more recent sitcoms; the station began to add more syndicated first-run talk and

reality shows Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

onto its daytime lineup in 2000. In September 2002, WCIU dropped the afternoon children's block, reducing children's programming to the morning 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 "

Me-TV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...

", 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 ''First Business'' (full name First Business News) was a nationally syndicated financial news and analysis television program, produced by First Business Network LLC, a subsidiary of Weigel Broadcasting, in Chicago. Anchor Angela Miles, report ...

'', which Weigel had assumed production responsibilities for in 2003 after WebFN went bankrupt. That program continued until the end of 2014 under Weigel ownership, and the

Chicago Board Options Exchange The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), located at 433 West Van Buren Street in Chicago, is the largest U.S. options exchange with an annual trading volume of around 1.27 billion at the end of 2014. CBOE offers options on over 2,200 compani ...

took over responsibilities for the program as ''Business First AM''; it continues to air in Chicago on

CN100 The Comcast Network (TCN) was an American cable television network owned by the Comcast Corporation, through NBCUniversal; it was carried mostly on Comcast cable systems in four states and 20 television markets in the Eastern U.S. from New Jer ...

and the

Total Living Network Total Living Network (''TLN'') is a religious broadcasting channel based in Aurora, Illinois. TLN operates two feeds, one for the Chicago metropolitan area and carried mainly on Comcast/Xfinity digital cable systems in that area with a schedul ...

Switch to The CW

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

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...

through which WCIU-TV would take over as

's Chicago-area affiliate on September 1, replacing WPWR-TV, which had been carrying the network's programming since September 1, 2016. To accommodate the CW prime time lineup, WCIU moved its evening lineup of syndicated programs to WMEU-CD/WCIU-DT2. WMEU-CD/WCIU-DT2, which has been known as "The U Too", took the branding of "The U" on September 1. The new "The U" will also become the new home of the major

high school sports Amateur sports are sports in which participants engage largely or entirely without remuneration. The distinction is made between amateur sporting participants and professional sporting participants, who are paid for the time they spend competing ...

championships of the

Illinois High School Association The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is an association that regulates competition of interscholastic sports and some interscholastic activities at the high school level for the state of Illinois. It is a charter member of the National Fe ...

. 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 WCWW-LD (channel 25) is a low-power television station in South Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting alongside two other low-power stations: ABC affiliate WBND-LD (channel 57) and MyNetwork ...

in the adjacent South Bend, Indiana market. Like WPWR (which is under a channel sharing agreement with sister station WFLD), WCIU carries its main channel at

720p 720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcas ...

, below The CW's default

1080i 1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the scree ...

resolution, due to running several standard definition subchannels, along with The U in 720p.

Programming

Syndicated programming

Syndicated programs broadcast on WCIU-TV include '' Hot Bench'', '' The Drew Barrymore Show'' (which is also aired in the market on CBS owned-and-operated station

WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington ...

), ''

The People's Court ''The People's Court'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set. Within the court show genre, it is the first of all arbitration-based reality sty ...

'', ''Protection Court'', '' Tamron Hall'', ''

Judge Jerry ''Judge Jerry'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by Jerry Springer, who previously hosted ''Jerry Springer'' from 1991 to 2018. The series began its run in first-run syndication on September 9, 2019, and was dist ...

'', '' The Steve Wilkos Show'', ''

2 Broke Girls ''2 Broke Girls'' (stylized ''2 Broke Girl$'') is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 2011, to April 17, 2017. The series was produced for Warner Bros. Television and created by Michael Patrick King and Whitney Cum ...

'', ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as a fictionalized version of himself and ...

'', ''

Bob's Burgers ''Bob's Burgers'' is an American adult animated sitcom created by Loren Bouchard that premiered on Fox on January 9, 2011. The show centers on the Belcher family—parents Bob and Linda and their three children, Tina, Gene, and Louise—wh ...

'', and ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...

'', and the station serves as the Chicago affiliate for

Gray Television Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...

's Sunday morning talk show ''Full Court Press with Greta van Susteren''. WCIU-TV serves as the flagship station for ''Judge Mathis'', which is taped in Chicago at the NBC Tower (which primarily serves as the studio facilities for NBC owned-and-operated station WMAQ-TV and Telemundo O&O WSNS-TV). WCIU-DT2/WMEU-CD carries the Litton Entertainment-syndicated block Litton Entertainment#Go Time, Go Time on Saturday morning to comply with FCC E/I, educational programming requirements, through a group distribution deal with Weigel Broadcasting's stations; the main signal carries ''One Magnificent Morning'' from the CW for its E/I fulfillment.

Local programming

The station has broadcast many locally produced programs over the years; among them include ''Ultrascope'' (a program sponsored by Sears that was used to sell UHF-capable televisions and boxes within their Chicago area stores, and featured a format similar to Music Choice featuring a clock/album cover display and album audio which aired daily from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.), ''Ted and the Angel'' (a talk show hosted by Ted Weber and Angel Tompkins from 1967 to 1968, which was nominated for a Regional Emmy Award in its first year; Weber later hosted two other WCIU programs, ''Ted Weber In Old Town'' and ''The C.E.T. Amateur Hour''). ''The Homework Show'' (1995–2006), ''U Dance with B96'' (an ''American Bandstand''-style music/dance show hosted by DJs from WBBM-FM, 1995–1997), ''Stooge-A-Palooza'' (a showcase of Three Stooges shorts with Rich Koz, 2003–2010), ''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), ''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). 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). In 2022, WCIU became the home of the Chicago Thanksgiving Parade, after the parade had been relegated to low-power television in 2021.

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 National Basketball Association, 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. 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 ''WGN Sports on The U''. In 2011, all White Sox, Chicago Blackhawks, 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). From 2010 Chicago Bears season, 2010 until 2016 Chicago Bears season, 2016, WCIU has served as a local over-the-air broadcaster of National Football League, NFL games involving the Chicago Bears that are televised by ESPN's ''Monday Night Football''. WLS-TV (channel 7), WCIU's news partner, is an owned-and-operated station of American Broadcasting Company, ABC (itself a sister network to ESPN through ABC parent The Walt Disney Company's majority ownership of the cable network), but has chosen to exercise its right of first refusal to carry ''MNF'' games, deferring most games aired since 2010 in order to air ''Dancing with the Stars (American TV series), Dancing with the Stars'' (due to the program's popularity and the structure of its live voting requirements) during that program's fall season. It also carried a Cubs game in lieu of WLS-TV in mid-September 2019 (when The CW was still in its summer season), as ABC unexpectedly scheduled the Bachelor in Paradise (season 6), 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).

Newscasts

Alongside the ''Stock Market Observer'', WCIU's first standalone local news programming effort debuted in 1968, when it launched a half-hour weeknight 10:00 p.m. newscast titled ''A Black's View of the News'', a program focusing on news relevant to Chicago's African American community and commentary. The program—which served as a launching pad for eventual ''Soul Train'' host Don Cornelius—was canceled in 1982. In September 2009, WCIU debuted ''You and Me This Morning'', a weekday breakfast television#United States, morning program featuring a broad mix of entertainment news, lifestyle features and weather forecasts. The program—which effectively maintains a lighter format, which does not incorporate conventional general news segments—originally aired in the form of locally produced interstitial program, 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 6:00 to 8:00 a.m. 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 Today (American TV program), WMAQ-TV, Good Morning America, WLS-TV and CBS This Morning, 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 6:00 to 9:00 a.m.) on September 8, 2014. On December 14, 2014, WCIU entered into a news share agreement with ABC owned-and-operated station WLS-TV to produce a weeknight-only 7:00 p.m. newscast for channel 26. Titled ''ABC 7 Eyewitness News at 7:00 on The U'', the program debuted on January 12, 2015 as the third prime time newscast among the Chicago market's commercial television stations, behind the longer established in-house 9:00 p.m. newscasts on WGN-TV and Fox owned-and-operated station WFLD (channel 32). With the news share agreement, WLS-TV became the fifth ABC-owned station to produce a newscast for a separately owned station in its home market (along with existing programs produced by ABC O&Os in WTVD, Raleigh, WPVI-TV, Philadelphia, KGO-TV, San Francisco and KABC-TV, Los Angeles for WLFL, WPHL-TV, KOFY-TV and KDOC-TV in the respective markets, and a since-cancelled newscast produced by KFSN-TV for KAIL in Fresno, California, Fresno). 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. 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 6:00 to 8:00 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.

Notable former on-air staff

* Cheryl Burton – weeknight anchor (January 12, 2015 – August 30, 2019; remained with WLS-TV as 5:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. anchor) * Jim Rose (sports 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 4:00 p.m. anchor until her retirement in November 2016)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is Multiplex (TV), multiplexed:

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. This TV officially launched with WCIU as its flagship station (airing on digital subchannel 26.5) on November 1, 2008. 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. 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, PSIP channel 48.1 was discontinued (to be later used by the digital signal of WMEU-CD, 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. 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." The service features some time-shifted programming from WCIU's main channel, including some syndicated programs not seen in the Chicago market prior to the format conversion. It also broadcast a handful of DePaul University, DePaul DePaul Blue Demons men's basketball, Blue Demons and other college basketball, basketball games from the "old" Big East Conference (1979–2013), Big East Conference; "The U Too" currently serves as the over-the-air broadcaster of Women's National Basketball Association, WNBA games from the Chicago Sky and American Hockey League, AHL ice hockey, hockey games from the Chicago Wolves. From January 10, 2011 to September 2013, The U Too subchannel was also simulcast on the analog signal of WWME-CA until The U Too began broadcasting in high-definition television, high definition on WMEU-CD channel 48.1 (the 26.2 version of the U Too signal remains in 16:9 standard-definition television, 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

that September.

Analog-to-digital conversion

On June 12, 2009, the date of the Digital television transition in the United States, 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.CDBS Print
/ref> However, through the use of Program and System Information Protocol, PSIP, digital television receivers are displaying WCIU-TV's virtual channel as 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 Short-term Analog Flash and Emergency Readiness Act, 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. WWME-CA continued to operate an analog signal on UHF channel 23.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wciu-Tv Weigel Broadcasting The CW affiliates MeTV affiliates Bounce TV affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1964 Television stations in Chicago, CIU-TV Soul Train 1964 establishments in Illinois Story Television affiliates