{"id":2277,"date":"2014-02-10T14:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-02-10T20:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=2277"},"modified":"2014-02-10T20:06:31","modified_gmt":"2014-02-11T02:06:31","slug":"wciu-celebrates-50-years-of-firsts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2014\/02\/10\/wciu-celebrates-50-years-of-firsts\/","title":{"rendered":"WCIU celebrates 50 years of firsts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"WCIU<\/a>

<\/a> WCIU logo (2014)<\/p><\/div>\n

Fifty years ago this week, Chicagoans lucky enough to receive snowy signals on their makeshift UHF tuners got their first glimpse of WCIU-Channel 26<\/a> (whose call letters stand for \u201cChicago\u2019s First UHF\u201d).<\/p>\n

In addition to time-brokered ethnic and foreign language programming, initial offerings on the new broadcast outlet included old movies, local wrestling matches, bloody bullfights from Mexico and reruns of the 1950s sitcom \u201cAmos \u2019n Andy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WCIU<\/a>

WCIU logo (1964)<\/p><\/div>\n

It was an inauspicious beginning for the station founded by broadcast veteran John Weigel<\/a> (father of famed sportscaster Tim Weigel) and acquired a few years later by majority stockholder Howard Shapiro, <\/a>whose family still owns and operates parent company Weigel Broadcasting.<\/p>\n

It would take another 10 years before Channel 26 began broadcasting in color. And another 30 years before it replaced its foreign language (mainly Spanish) lineup and moved to general market programming, rebranding itself as \u201cThe U.\u201d Its longest running show, \u201cThe Stock Market Observer,\u201d aired live seven hours a day from studios in the Chicago Board of Trade from 1967 to 2000.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been terrific to see the evolution of the station that stayed Chicago roots-based, locally owned,\u201d Neal Sabin, vice chairman of Weigel Broadcasting, said in an interview<\/a> on \u201cYou and Me This Morning.\u201d \u201cSo many television stations have been sold to other people now and giant corporations. This is still a family business, and I think we\u2019re all kind of family here. It\u2019s a small, entrepreneurial kind of atmosphere. It\u2019s always been that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Neal<\/a>

Neal Sabin<\/p><\/div>\n

Recalling the station\u2019s formative years as the home of \u201cSoul Train,\u201d \u201cRed Hot & Blue\u201d and \u201cA Black\u2019s View of the News,\u201d and as well as an outlet for Greek, Polish, Italian and a dozen other ethnic groups, Sabin said the key has been serving communities that weren\u2019t reflected elsewhere on television.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the station first went on the air, there were very few people who could see UHF television, because in 1964 that was the first year the FCC mandated that TVs had to be able to get UHF,\u201d he said. \u201cSo this station struggled for a long, long time. And one of the ways it survived was by serving all these different communities and zigging when other people zagged. Twenty years ago, when we became The U, we kind of said, you know, we need to be a little more general market and appeal to everybody, yet we\u2019ve got to maintain that feel of difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Norman<\/a>

Norman Shapiro<\/p><\/div>\n

In keeping with the publicity-shy personality of Sabin\u2019s boss, Weigel Broadcasting chairman Norman Shapiro, don\u2019t expect much fanfare on WCIU's 50th anniversary. There's no banner about the milestone on the station's website. No press releases have been issued. Not even an Eli's cheesecake for the occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not big on patting ourselves on the back so much,\u201d Sabin told morning co-hosts Melissa Forman and Jeanne Sparrow. \u201cWe\u2019d kind of like to talk about the communities we\u2019ve served for the last 50 years and who we\u2019re talking with now on your show everyday.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fifty years ago this week, Chicagoans lucky enough to receive snowy signals on their makeshift UHF tuners got their first glimpse of WCIU-Channel 26 (whose call letters stand for \u201cChicago\u2019s First UHF\u201d). In addition to time-brokered ethnic and foreign language programming, initial offerings on the new broadcast outlet included old movies, local wrestling matches, bloody... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2277"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2291,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2277\/revisions\/2291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}