WTTW’s Ponce welcomes 7 p.m. rival: ‘We wish the new program well’

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Phil Ponce

Phil Ponce

How big is the audience for local news at 7 p.m. in Chicago? We’re about to find out.

It’s been more than 25 years since a commercial station here courted news viewers on the cusp of prime time. In 1987, Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32 inaugurated its news operation with a newscast at 7 p.m. (promoted as "the news that doesn't get home before you do”). By 1989, Fox 32 News had shuffled off to 9 p.m.

Now it’s WCIU-Channel 26’s turn. On Tuesday, Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, owner of The U, announced plans to air a one-hour newscast at 7 p.m. Monday through Friday in partnership with ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7. Under a licensing agreement with a revenue-sharing component, ABC 7 will produce the newscast for Weigel, starting January 12.

Billed as “ABC 7 Eyewitness News on WCIU, The U” and anchored by Linda Yu and Hosea Sanders, the new show won’t just be competing for entertainment viewers. It also will be up against “Chicago Tonight,” the flagship nightly news program of WTTW-Channel 11. Now in its 30th year on the public television station, “Chicago Tonight” airs at 7 p.m. Monday through Thursday. (“Chicago Tonight: The Week in Review” airs at 7 p.m. Fridays.)

Nielsen figures for December show WTTW with a 1.2 rating (or 42,408 households) for “Chicago Tonight” — 20 percent higher than The U’s 1.0 rating (or 35,340 households) for “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne,” which now airs from 7 to 8 p.m. Among viewers between 25 and 54, the numbers are much smaller, but The U has a slight edge at that hour.

Through a spokeswoman for parent company Window to the World Communications, WTTW management declined to comment on the impending competition. But Phil Ponce, the gracious and genial veteran host of “Chicago Tonight,” said he welcomed the news.

“More news programming is always good,” Ponce said. “It sets the foundation for the analysis we do on ‘Chicago Tonight.’ We wish the new program well and plan to keep giving viewers the best possible news analysis they can find on no other station, as well as our unique coverage of Chicago arts and culture.”