WFLD

WFLD, virtual channel 32 (UHF digital channel 24), is a Fox owned-and-operated television station licensed to Chicago, Illinois, United States. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation, as part of a duopoly with Gary, Indiana-licensed MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station WPWR-TV (channel 50). The two stations share studios at Michigan Plaza on North Michigan Avenue in the Chicago Loop, and transmitter facilities atop the Willis Tower on South Wacker Drive in the Loop business district. On cable, WFLD can be seen on Comcast Xfinity channel 12 in most parts of the Chicago area.

WFLD-TV

Chicago, Illinois
Branding	Fox 32 (general) Fox 32 News (newscasts)
Slogan	What Chicago is talking about (newscasts) We Are Fox 32 Chicago(general)
Channels	Digital: 31 (UHF)Virtual: 32 (UHF)
Affiliations	Fox
Owner	Fox Television Stations (Fox Television Stations, Inc.)
First air date	1971
Call letters' meaning	FieLD Communications (the station's founding owner)
Sister station(s)	WPWR-TV
Former callsigns	Analog: WFLD-TV (1971-1988) Digital: WFLD-DT (1999-2009)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 32 (1966–2009)
Former affiliations	Independent (1971-1986)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	475 m
Facility ID	22211
Transmitter coordinates	41°52′44″N 87°38′10″W
Website	www.fox32chicago.com

History

Field Communications ownership

The station first signed on the air on January 4, 1966, as an independent station. WFLD was founded by a joint venture of the parties that each competed individually for the license and construction permit to operate on UHF channel 32. Field Enterprises—owned by heirs of the Marshall Field'sdepartment store chain, and publishers of the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Daily News—was the station's majority partner (with a 50% interest) and was responsible for managing WFLD's day-to-day operations; they were led by veteran broadcasting executive Sterling C. (Red) Quinlan. The station originally operated from studio facilities located within the Marina Citycomplex on State Street. Channel 32 was christened the "Station of Tomorrow" by an April 1966 Sun-Times article because of its innovative technical developments in broadcasting its signal. It also broadcast news programming from the Sun-Times/Daily News newsroom. From the fall of 1967 to summer of 1970, WFLD aired the final hour of CBS' Saturday daytime schedule from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., in lieu of the network's owned-and-operated station WBBM-TV (channel 2).^{[citation needed]}

In March 1969, Field entered into an agreement to sell WFLD to New York City-based Metromedia for $10 million. At the time, the Field interests were concerned about running afoul of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s recent scrutiny of commonly owned multiple media outlets within the same market. The deal ultimately fell through nearly one year later in February 1970; following the collapse of the Metromedia purchase attempt, Field instead purchased the 50% share of WFLD that was held by its minority partners.^{[citation needed]}

WFLD was noteworthy for being the longtime home of the local B-movieprogram Svengoolie. There were two versions of the showcase: the original incarnation of the series began on the station on September 18, 1970, under the title Screaming Yellow Theatre, with local disc jockey Jerry G. Bishopdoing scary voices and later wearing a long green wig while portraying the character. Bishop became such a hit with viewers that the show was popularly called "Svengoolie" after his character (although the title of the program did not change), and this version lasted until late in the summer of 1973. The second version premiered on June 16, 1979, with Rich Koz as "Son of Svengoolie", and ran on channel 32 until January 25, 1986. The show was revived on WCIU-TV (channel 26) when it became an English-languageindependent station in December 1994, and has aired there locally ever since, and began to be broadcast nationally on MeTV in April 2011.

Field Enterprises sold controlling interest in WFLD to Kaiser Broadcasting in May 1972. When the deal was completed in July 1973, the two companies' new partnership resulted in WFLD joining Kaiser's stable of UHF independent stations in San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland and Detroit. In June 1977, Kaiser ended the partnership when it sold its share of the stations back to Field Enterprises. In addition to carrying the traditional fare of sitcoms, drama series, children's programs and first-run syndicated programs, the station also aired movies—initially European releases that were dubbed into English—and local public affairs programming during this period.^{[citation needed]}

To counterprogram against its more established VHF rivals, channel 32 offered older cartoons, older off-network sitcoms, documentaries, drama series, westerns and live sporting events; although, it easily trailed its biggest competitor, WGN-TV (channel 9, formerly a CW affiliate, now again as an independent station), in the ratings among Chicago's independent stations. The station broadcast daily from 10 a.m. to about 1 a.m. during the 1970s, except from September to December, when the station signed on at 7 a.m. Beginning in 1978, WFLD signed on daily before 6 a.m. In 1975, WFLD acquired the local syndication rights to The Brady Bunch and The Partridge Family; two years later in 1977, the station won the rights to a stronger slate of cartoons such as Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry, Popeye and The Flintstones.

Channel 32 strengthened its syndicated programming slate in 1979, when it acquired the local syndication rights to M*A*S*H, All in the Family, Happy Days and What's Happening!!. The station also acquired the rights to I Love Lucy that year, and later added Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman and Star Trek in 1982. WFLD began to beat WGN-TV in ratings as a result of its stronger programming acquisitions,^{[citation needed]} and the two stations continued to go head-to-head throughout the 1980s. WFLD scored no big ticket program acquisitions in 1980 or 1981; however, in 1982, the station won the local syndication rights to popular series such as Three's Company, Taxi and Mork and Mindy.^{[citation needed]}

Sale to Metromedia

In 1982, Field Enterprises began a sale of its five television stations on an individual basis—a process which continued into the following year—due to disagreements between brothers Marshall Field V and Frederick "Ted" Field on how to operate the company, which strained their working relationship. Incidentally, the year prior in 1981, the Field brothers sought a prospective buyer for WFLD in the event that the company would be put up for sale. While WFLD was the leading independent station in Chicago at the time^{[citation needed]}, most of the companies that were interested in buying WFLD were only willing to pay about half the amount that Field wanted for the station (at least $100 million, compared to the approximately $50 million that the most expensive UHF stations went for). In addition, most of the prospective companies were concerned that Tribune Broadcasting-owned WGN-TV could eventually overtake WFLD again in the local ratings. By mere coincidence given Field's previous aborted attempt to sell channel 32 to that group, the one company that showed interest in WFLD was Metromedia, owners of WNEW-TV (now WNYW) in New York City, which led the independent stations in that market and beat Tribune-owned WPIX in the ratings there.

Metromedia was ripe to compete against WGN, based on the group's success in competing against WPIX in the New York City market. In Chicago, Metromedia was given the right of first refusal to purchase WFLD. When Field began selling its stations, the company sold WFLD to Metromedia again—this time in a successfully completed deal for slightly over $100 million, a record price for a UHF station at the time. WFLD was the first of the stations that Field Communications sold when it began the liquidation process in September 1982 (with the final station to be sold—WKBD-TV in Detroit in January 1984) completing the deal for WFLD in March 1983. As a condition, Metromedia was forced by the FCC to divest radio station WMET (95.5 FM, now WCHI-FM), which it sold to Doubleday Broadcasting.

WFLD's programming slate changed slightly, but the station's on-air graphics and branding were abruptly changed to reflect the new ownership, with the station adopting "Metromedia 32" as its on-air brand (using a similar branding scheme that was used at new sister station WNEW). Still, the old Field-era logos were used on-air by accident on some occasions through the summer of 1983. Metromedia added several first-run syndicated programs that were not previously carried in the Chicago market—as the market had only two commercial independent stations at the time as WSNS-TV (channel 44, now a Telemundoowned-and-operated station) became a full-time affiliate of the ONTV subscription service the previous year—onto the station's schedule, particularly in prime time, like The Merv Griffin Show (which WFLD previously carried a few years prior, but subsequently moved to WSNS where it ran until that station became a full-time ONTV outlet). WFLD remained the top-rated independent station in Chicago throughout Metromedia's ownership of the station.^{[citation needed]}

As an Fox owned-and-operated station

In May 1985, Metromedia reached an agreement to sell WFLD-TV and its five sister independent stations—WNEW-TV in New York City, KTTV in Los Angeles, WTTG in Washington, D.C., KRLD-TV (now CW affiliate KDAF) in Dallas–Fort Worth and KRIV in Houston—to News Corporation, owned by Australian newspaper magnate Rupert Murdoch, for $2.55 billion (ABC affiliate WCVB-TV in Boston, the company's only network-affiliated station, was originally to be sold as well through the deal, but upon exercising a right of first refusal clause related to Metromedia's 1982 purchase of that station, it was spun off to the Hearst Corporation's television and radio station subsidiary, Hearst Broadcasting, for $450 million in a separate, concurrent deal).

That October, News Corporation—which had purchased a 50% interest in 20th Century Fox corporate parent TCF Holdings for $250 million in March 1985—announced its intentions to create a fourth television network that would use the resources of 20th Century Fox Television to both produce and distribute programming, intending to compete with ABC, CBS and NBC. The company formally announced the launch of the new network, the Fox Broadcasting Company, on May 7, 1986, with the former Metromedia stations serving as its nuclei. The purchase of the Metromedia stations was approved by the FCC and finalized on March 6, 1986, with News Corporation creating a new broadcasting unit, the Fox Television Stations, to oversee the six television stations in April 1986.

Consequently, through the purchase, WFLD became one of the charter owned-and-operated stations of the Fox Broadcasting Company when the network launched seven months later on October 9. Following the sale to Fox, the station—which began branding on-air as "Fox 32"—continued to compete aggressively in the market, acquiring off-network syndicated programs such as Family Ties and The Cosby Show for its schedule. The station also migrated its operations into its current facility at 205 North Michigan Avenue in 1986, while also expanding its news presence with the launch of its news department in August 1987. The station's continued to carry its cartoon block on weekday afternoons, and top-rated off-network sitcoms in the evening hours; it also added more first-run talk and court shows.

Although it was now part of a network, as was the case with other Fox stations during the network's early years, Channel 32, for all intents and purposes, continued to be programmed as a de facto independent station as Fox's initial programming consisted solely of a late-night talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers; even when Fox launched its prime time lineup in April 1987, the network only aired programs during that daypart on Saturday and Sundays early on; Fox would gradually debut additional nights of programming over the next six years until it adopted a seven-night-a-week schedule in September 1993. Until Fox began airing programming on a nightly basis, WFLD aired a movie at 7 p.m. (initially at 8 p.m. until 1988) on nights when network programs did not air. The afternoon and Saturday morning animation blocks were replaced by the network-supplied Fox Children's Network block (later known as Fox Kids) in September 1990. During the mid-1990s, WFLD continued to strengthen its programming schedule with acquisitions such as The Simpsons, Home Improvement (which later moved to rival station WGN-TV in September 2001), and Seinfeld (which eventually moved to sister station WPWR, and later to WCIU-TV).^{[citation needed]}

In 1997, after several years of being known on the air as "Fox 32" (although it began to visually de-emphasize references to channel 32 on-air in 1993), the station changed its on-air branding to "Fox Chicago". This was due to the perceived embarrassment of being on a UHF analog channel in the third-largest market in the United States, especially considering that The WB was carried on VHF station WGN-TV. For much of this period, WFLD was the only Fox owned-and-operated station that did not use the conventional "Fox (channel number)" branding standardization, even though most Chicagoans still referred to WFLD as "Fox 32" or "channel 32" (WFLD's Philadelphia sister station WTXF-TV utilized this same practice for nine years after Fox purchased that station from the Paramount Stations Group in 1994).

In June 2002, Fox Television Stations purchased UPN affiliate WPWR-TV (now a MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station) from Newsweb Corporation for $450 million; the deal created a duopoly with WFLD when it was finalized on August 21 of that year, with WPWR's operations subsequently being integrated into WFLD's facilities in downtown Chicago. When Fox ended the weekday editions of the Fox Kids block in January 2002, WFLD added more first-run reality and talk shows to its lineup. In January 2003, WFLD dropped the Fox Saturday morning cartoon block, by then outsourced by Fox to producer 4Kids Entertainment and subsequently rebranded 4Kids TV, which was moved to WPWR—where that station aired the Saturday block in the same timeslot until Fox discontinued 4Kids TV on December 27, 2008. WFLD was the first of Fox's six original owned-and-operated stations (that were owned prior to its purchase of the New World Communications stations) to drop Fox's Saturday children's programming, and one of the few non-New World Fox O&Os (the other being sister station KMSP-TV in Minneapolis) that currently does not run the Weekend Marketplace infomercial block, which airs on WPWR instead.^{[citation needed]}

In September 2006, WFLD relaunched its website, migrating it to the "MyFox" platform that was also rolled out to the other Fox-owned stations. The MyFox sites would be refreshed in 2009 using a new platform developed by Fox and LIN Media (spun off as EndPlay, which Fox owned an equity interest in). In April 2012, WorldNow began to operate the websites for Fox's O&Os. On November 12, 2012, the station dropped the "Fox Chicago" branding after 15 years, and began branding as "Fox 32" full-time for the first time since 1993.

On December 14, 2017, The Walt Disney Company, owner of ABC's owned-and-operated station WLS-TV (channel 7), announced its intent to buy WFLD's parent company, 21st Century Fox, for $66.1 billion; the sale, which closed on March 20, 2019, excluded WFLD and sister station WPWR-TV as well as the Fox network, the MyNetworkTV programming service, Fox News, Fox Sports 1, the Big Ten Network and the Fox Television Stations unit, which were all transferred to a new company called Fox Corporation.^{[citation needed]}

Digital television

Digital Channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
32.1	720p	16:9	WFLD	Main WFLD Programming/Fox
32.2	480p		Movies!	Movies!
32.3			Buzzr	Buzzr!
32.4			LightTV	Light TV

WFLD maintains a Mobile DTV feed (labelled "WFLD") over the mobile digital signal of sister station WPWR-TV, which carries the WFLD mobile simulcast in addition to that of its main channel on 50.1 (labelled "WPWR"). Broadcasting at 3.67 Mbit/s, WPWR's mobile digital feed is the highest bitrate for such a signal operated by any Chicago television station.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WFLD shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 32, at 11:59 p.m. on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 31. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 32.

WFLD was the only television station in the Chicago market that participated in the "Analog Nightlight" program until its analog transmitter atop the John Hancock Center was shut down permanently on June 26, 2009. The station's transmitter was upgraded to operate at a radiated power of 1 megawatt – the maximum amount of power legally allowed for a broadcast television transmitter by the FCC – in early 2009.

On April 13, 2017, it was revealed that the over-the-air spectrum of sister station WPWR-TV was sold in the FCC's spectrum reallocation auction for $160.7 million. WPWR-TV began sharing broadcast spectrum with WFLD effective June 11, 2018.

Programming

In addition to the Fox network schedule, syndicated programs broadcast on WFLD (as of September 2019) include Extra, The Wendy Williams Show, Dish Nation, TMZ on TV, The Real, 25 Words or Less, and The Dr. Oz Show.

Sports Programming

WFLD acquired the rights to broadcast Major League Baseball games from the Chicago White Sox in 1968, assuming the contract from WGN-TV. Under the initial deal, WFLD carried White Sox games until 1972, when the team returned to WGN through a joint arrangement with WSNS-TV that lasted through the 1980 season and exclusively during the 1981 season; WFLD reassumed Sox game rights in 1982, carrying most of the team's non-cable games. In October 1988, the station filed a lawsuit against the White Sox club to terminate its television contract with the team, which was set to last through 1991, accusing team owners Jerry Reinsdorf and Eddie Einhorn of "gutting and stripmining the[...] team of salary investment, player quality and fan goodwill" which resulted in a decline in viewership for the games and profit losses for the station on the contract (WFLD's profits from the telecasts slid from $1.5 million profit in 1985 to a loss of $1.4 million in 1988, resulting in the rights fees costing four times more than the accrued revenue; ratings during that three-year period also dropped from a 5.1 share in 1985 to a 1.7 in August 1988) as well as breached advertising agreements with the Chicagoland Dodge Dealers consortium. Following an out-of-court settlement between WFLD station management and the Sox, on September 14, 1989, the White Sox announced that it would move its local television broadcasts back to WGN-TV beginning with the 1990 season.

Since the network established its sports division in 1994, most sports events carried on channel 32 have been provided through Fox Sports. Through Fox's coverage of Major League Baseball, WFLD has televised two of the three World Series with Chicago teams which have occurred in the television era: the White Sox in 2005 and the Cubs in 2016, both ending in series victories for each team and ending lengthy droughts pre-dating even the Golden Age of Radio.

From 1985 to 1989, WFLD also aired NBA games featuring the Chicago Bulls. Through the same agreement that resulted in that station obtaining the White Sox rights, WGN-TV acquired broadcast rights to the Bulls as Reinsdorf (a Chicago-area attorney and real estate investor) owns both franchises.

Through Fox's primary rights to the National Football Conference (NFC), the station has aired most Chicago Bears games since the network acquired partial television rights to the National Football League (NFL) in 1994. On April 22, 2008, the Bears announced a deal with WFLD to become its official broadcast partner. Consequently, in addition to already carrying most regular season and select preseason games through Fox, it began airing preseason games through the team's syndication service as well as other Bears-related programming during the NFL season including the pre-game and post-game showsBears Gameday Live (on Sunday mornings) and Bears GameNight Live (which follows The Final Word on Sunday evenings). Other team-related programs were added through the deal including WFLD-produced secondary pre-game show Fox Kickoff Sunday (which debuted in 2010; not to be confused with Fox NFL Kickoff, which due to Bears Gameday Live, airs on WPWR instead) and the feature/interview program Inside the Bears (which debuted in 2013). On October 17, 2017, WFLD announced that it had renewed its Bears rights through the 2022 season. Since 2018, WFLD has, through Fox, also aired any Bears games that are part of the Thursday Night Football package.

News operation

WFLD presently broadcasts 56 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 10 hours each weekday and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to locally produced news programming, it is the second-highest news programming output of any station in the Chicago market, behind independent station WGN-TV (which runs 70½ hours of newscasts each week). Unlike most Fox affiliates in large markets, WFLD does not carry evening newscasts on weekends.

News department history

During much of its history under the ownership of Field Enterprises, WFLD's news programming consisted solely of 90-second news updates, branded as Newscope(later renamed Newscene in 1979), that aired during the station's daytime and evening programming; a 10:00 p.m. edition of the program consisted of five- to ten-minute locally produced inserts that served as a lead-out of the station's weeknight prime time movie presentations. During the overnight hours, the station also provided the Keyfax Nite-Owl teletext service, which provided news, weather, sports and entertainment stories fed by computer systems at the Chicago Sun-Times offices with data sent over a telephone line from an editorial office in Elk Grove Village. After Nite Owl was discontinued in 1982, WFLD began airing an hour-long simulcast of CNN Headline News during the overnight hours, as well as in the early afternoon on weekdays. Newscope was cancelled in 1982, shortly after Metromedia finalized its acquisition of the station.

Following the announcement that it would move the station to a new studio facility on Michigan Avenue, Fox Television Stations created an in-house news department for WFLD. The station debuted its first long-form newscasts on August 3, 1987, with the premiere of half-hour newscasts at 7 p.m. (touted as "the news that doesn't get home before you do") and 11 p.m., which aired Monday through Friday evenings; this was followed by the addition of half-hour 9 p.m. weekend editions on August 29. Originally anchored by Kris Long and Robin Robinson Brantley (the latter of whom would remain the station's lead anchor until November 2013), the two programs aired separately for a year until both newscasts were consolidated into a single half-hour program to compete with the 9:00 p.m. newscast on then-independent station WGN-TV in November 1987,at which time the weekend editions were also cancelled due to low ratings. The early newscast was moved back to 7 p.m. by the fall of 1988, and returned to 9 p.m. by the fall of 1989, in anticipation of Fox's expanding prime time schedule.

In September 1990, WFLD announced plans to launch a 24-hour local cable news channel, to have been named "Chicago Cable News", in conjunction with former WLS-TV and WMAQ-TV weathercaster John Coleman (who was tapped to serve as the channel's general manager) and local cable provider Tele-Communications Inc. (which sold its Chicago area systems to Comcast in 1999), for a tentative launch in January 1991. Although Chicago Cable News would have shared some video footage with WFLD, the channel planned to employ anchors and reporters separate from those seen on channel 32's newscasts. For unknown reasons, this concept never launched; incidentally, WGN-TV eventually launched a similar cable channel, Chicagoland Television (CLTV), in January 1993. In 1991, the station retitled its newscasts from Fox 32 News to Fox News Chicago (though it was largely referenced verbally as simply Fox News in report introductions and end tags).

WFLD scored a major coup^{[according to whom?]} in April 1993 when it persuaded longtime WBBM-TV anchor Walter Jacobson to take over as lead anchor of channel 32's 9 p.m. newscast; he also began providing taped commentaries and hosted a viewer mail segment for Good Day Chicago during its first years. Jacobson remained a main co-anchor of the 9 p.m. newscast until 2004, when he was replaced by Mark Suppelsa; Jacobson stayed at WFLD as host of Fox Chicago Sunday and a commentator for the evening newscast until his retirement in 2006 (he would subsequently come out of retirement to return to WBBM, where he remained until 2012). Largely due to Jacobson's influence, WFLD's newscasts have somewhat less of a tabloid feel than other Fox stations. However, they are much stylistically flashier than the Chicago market's other local television news programs.^{[citation needed]}

WFLD programmed news outside its established 9 p.m. slot for the first time on June 28, 1993, when it premiered a weekday morning newscast, Good Day Chicago. First anchored by Marianne Murciano, Darryl Dennard and David Rose, and formatted as a mix of news, commentary and lifestyle features, the show originally aired for three hours from 6 to 9 a.m., replacing a block of animated series that had previously aired that time period. In July 1999, WFLD launched a half-hour midday newscast at noon, while expanding its morning newscast – by that time, titled Fox Thing in the Morning – to four hours (starting at 5:00 a.m.).

On April 9, 2007, WFLD premiered a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast called The TEN, anchored by David Novarro and former WLS-TV and WBBM-TV anchor/reporter Lauren Cohn. The program (according to Robert Feder's April 18, 2007 column in the Chicago Sun-Times) beat CBS-owned WBBM-TV's 10 p.m. newscast on its second day on the air. Despite its early success against WBBM-TV, The TEN was overall never much of a factor in the ratings; towards the end of its run, it fell to a distant fifth behind established late-news competitors WBBM, WLS-TV and WMAQ-TV, and Family Guy reruns on WGN-TV. As a result, WFLD cancelled the program, with its last broadcast airing on September 21, 2009.

On January 12, 2009, WFLD and NBC-owned WMAQ-TV entered into a Local News Service agreement to share a news helicopter and pool video footage between the two stations. On May 10, 2009, WFLD became the last news-producing English-language station in the market to begin broadcasting its newscasts in high definition; however, remote field footage continues to be broadcast in 16:9 widescreen standard definition.

On July 5, 2016, WFLD launched an hour-long, weekday-only newscast at 5 p.m, becoming the fifteenth Fox-owned station and the fifth television station in Chicago to air a late-afternoon newscast; the program competes against with half-hour early evening news programs on established competitors WBBM-TV, WMAQ-TV and WLS-TV and the second hour of WGN-TV's Evening News block.

On March 30, 2017, WFLD announced that it would expand the length of Good Day Chicago to six hours, with the addition of a half-hour to the start of the program at 4 a.m.; ironically, when the expansion took place on April 10, WFLD became the third station in Chicago to expand its morning newscast into that time period (following WGN-TV, which began its expansion into the 4 a.m. hour in July 2011 and WMAQ-TV, which launched a 4:00 a.m. newscast in August 2015).

Ratings

The station has been one of Fox's weakest owned-and-operated stations for a number of years.^{[citation needed]} In recent Nielsen ratings sweeps periods, WFLD has been mired in last place among the five major stations' late-night (9 or 10 p.m.) newscasts.^{[citation needed]} As such, Chicago is one of the few markets in the country whose Fox station actually trails the same market's The CW-affiliated station (WGN-TV) in the local viewership ratings, from sign-on to sign-off.^{[citation needed]} This is primarily due to WGN-TV's relatively strong news department, local sports programming and higher-rated syndicated programming.^{[citation needed]}

In March 2011, Fox added brand new studio laptops. This and many other changes in anchors and minor studio renovations allows Fox to revamp their news department.

In the February 2011 Nielsen ratings sweeps period, WFLD's 9 p.m. newscast slid to a 2.3 rating, down more than a full rating point from a 3.4 during the February 2010 sweeps period. This is despite the pairing of co-anchor team Bob Sirott and Robin Robinson, suggesting that the pairing of the anchors has not been able to improve ratings. The station came in third place for its prime-time lead-in.

News/station presentation

Newscast umbrella titles

• News Scope (1966–1970)
• Channel 32 News Capsule (1970–1979)
• NewsTalk/Newscene (1979–1983)
• WFLD Evening News (1979–1983)
• The Nine O'Clock News (1983–1986)
• Fox 32 News (1986–1991 and 2012–present)
• Fox News Chicago (general title; 1991–2005 & 2006–2008)
• Fox Thing in the Morning (morning newscast; 1994–2001)
• Fox News in the Morning (morning newscast; 2001–2007)
• Fox Chicago News (2008–2012)

• Good Day Chicago (weekday mornings from 4:30-10 a.m.; 1991-1994 and 2007-present)
• The TEN (10 p.m. newscast; 2007-2009)

Newscast titles

• Fox 32 News - weekdays 12 p.m. and nightly at 9 p.m.
• Good Day Chicago - weekday mornings 4:30a-10 a.m.
• Fox Chicago Sunday - Sundays 8:30 a.m. (political affairs-centered program)

Station slogans

• In Chicago, The Choice Is Yours, on Channel 32 (1978–1983)
• In Chicago, The Kids' Choice Is, Channel 32 (1978-1983; during kids programming)
• Don't Let Fox 32 Weekends Pass You By (1987-1988; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• This is The Year This is Fox 32 (1988-1990; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• It's on Fox 32 (1990-1992; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• Everybody Knows It's on Fox 32 (1992-1993; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• Channel 32, 30 Years/Fox Chicago, 30 Years/Fox 32, 30 Years (1996–1997; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• Just One Fox 32 (1997-2002; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• Fox Chicago NOW (2002–2006)
• Local Coverage. First. (2005–2006)
• The Most Powerful Name in Local News (2006–2008)

• Fox Chicago: Asking THE Questions (2008–2010)
• So Fox Chicago (2009–2012; local version of Fox ad campaign)

Gallery

WFLD Channel 32 logo from 1966

WFLD Channel 32 - Strone logo from 1966

WFLD Channel 32 station ident from 1968

WFLD Channel 32 station ident from 1973

WFLD Channel 32 - Chicago Blackhawks Hockey open from Fall 1975

WFLD Channel 32 - Look At Us! ident from Early 1977

WFLD Channel 32 logo from 1978

WFLD Channel 32 station ident from 1978

WFLD Channel 32 - I Love Lucy - Today promo from 1980

WFLD Channel 32 - All In The Family Hour - Tonight promo from 1980

WFLD Channel 32 - Wonder Woman - Premieres promo for September 14, 1981

WFLD Channel 32 - Star Trek - Premieres promo for September 19, 1981

WFLD Channel 32 - M*A*S*H - Monday promo from 1982

WFLD Newscene 32 open from May 12, 1982

WFLD Channel 32 - Star Trek - Today promo from Early 1983

WFLD Channel 32 - Family Movie open from Early 1983

WFLD Channel 32 - Sports Presentation open/bumper from Spring 1983

WFLD Channel 32 - A Metromedia Station ident from Late 1983

WFLD Channel 32 - 32 Movie Club open from Late 1983

WFLD Channel 32 - 32 Movie Club - Sunday promo from Late 1983

WFLD Metromedia 32 station ident from 1984

WFLD Metromedia 32 - Emergency Broadcast System Test bumper from 1984

WFLD Metromedia 32 - Super Cartoon Sunrise Line-Up - Coming promo for Fall 1984

WFLD Metromedia 32 - Afternoon Fun Line-Up - Coming promo for Fall 1984

WFLD Metromedia 32 - Season's Greetings ident from Mid-Late December 1984

WFLD Channel 32 Movie open from 1985

WFLD Channel 32 Sunday Showcase open from 1985

WFLD Fox 32 ident from late Summer 1986

WFLD Fox 32 logo from late 1986

WFLD Fox 32 ident from late 1986

WFLD Fox 32 - Tron (1982) - Monday promo for November 17, 1986

WFLD Fox 32 logo from 1988

WFLD Fox 32 - Paid Programming bumper from 1990

WFLD Fox 32 ident from the early 1990's

WFLD Fox 32 logo from 1993

WFLD Fox 32 - Emergency Alert System Test bumper from 1996

WFLD Fox Chicago logo from 1997

WFLD Fox News Chicago 5AM open from 1998

WFLD Fox News Chicago 6AM open from 1998

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM open from 1998

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM - Up Next promo from 1998

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM - Coming Up bumper from 1998

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM - Tonight promo from 1998

WFLD Fox News Chicago Special Edition - Tonight promo for Sunday Night, January 31, 1999

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM Weekend - Tonight promo for March 28, 1999

WFLD Fox Chicago - Fox Tuesday Line-Up - All New Tonight promo from Mid-Spring 1999

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM Weeknight - Tonight ident for July 5, 1999

WFLD Fox News Chicago 11PM: Delay Edition open from July 13, 1999

WFLD Fox News Chicago 11PM: Delay Edition - Coming Up bumper from July 13, 1999

WFLD Fox News Chicago: Fox News In The Morning open from Early 2000

WFLD Fox Chicago - The Simpsons - Tonight promo from late July 2001

WFLD Fox Chicago - Seinfeld - Tonight ident from late July 2001

WFLD Fox News Chicago open from late 2001

WFLD Fox News Chicago: Fox News In The Morning open from 2004

WFLD Fox News Chicago open from 2004

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM Weekend - Next promo for April 9, 2005

WFLD Fox Chicago logo from late April 2006

WFLD Fox News Chicago logo from late April 2006

WFLD Fox News Chicago promo/id from late April 2006

WFLD Fox News Chicago 12PM open from late April 2006

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM open from late April 2006

WFLD Fox News Chicago - Live open from late April 2006

WFLD Fox News Chicago - First On Fox open from late April 2006

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM Weeknight open from November 6, 2006

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM Weeknight - Ahead bumper from November 6, 2006

WFLD Fox News Chicago 9PM Weeknight close from November 6, 2006

WFLD Fox News Chicago: Good Day Chicagop open from September 2007

WFLD Fox News Chicago 12PM Weekday open from December 24, 2007

WFLD Fox Chicago News 9PM open from Summer 2010

WFLD Fox Chicago News 9PM HD open from Summer 2011

WFLD Fox 32 logo from Mid-November 2012

WFLD Fox 32 News at 9PM open from November 2012

WFLD Fox 32 News 5PM Weeknight open from August 30, 2018

WFLD Fox 32 promo from late January 2020

WFLD Fox 32 News 9PM Weeknight open from January 24, 2020

WFLD Fox 32 News - Coronavirus Outbreak open from Spring 2020

WFLD Fox 32 News 9PM Weekend open from April 11, 2020

WFLD Fox 32 News: Good Day Chicago 7AM Weekday open from April 21, 2020

WFLD Fox 32 News First At 4PM open from August 2020

WFLD Fox 32 News First At 4PM Weekday open from August 3, 2020

WFLD Fox 32 News: Good Day Chicago Weekday - Weekday Mornings promo from Early-Mid January 2022

WFLD Fox 32 News: Good Day Chicago 9AM Weekday open from March 29, 2022

WFLD Fox 32 News 6PM Weeknight - Special Report: Breaking The Cycle - Friday promo for July 15, 2022

WFLD Fox 32 News: Good Day Chicago 4AM Weekday open from December 15, 2022

WFLD Fox 32 News: Good Day Chicago 6AM Weekday open from January 26, 2023

WFLD Fox 32 News 9PM Weeknight open from March 30, 2023

WFLD Fox 32 News 9PM Weekend open from June 10, 2023

WFLD Fox 32 News 9PM Weeknight open from August 1, 2023

News music packages

• FOX O&O News Package (1987–1991)
• Fox News Chicago Theme (1991–1992)
• FOX News Chicago News Package (1992–1994)
• WFLD News Theme (1992–1994)
• WFLD 1994 News Theme (1994–1995)
• FOX '95 (1995)
• First on FOX (1995–1997)
• WSVN 1998 News Package (1997–1999)
• WFLD 1999 News Theme (1998–2001)
• Streaming News (2001–2006)
• The Viper (2004–2006)
• FOX Affiliate News Theme (2006–2018)
• Beyond (2018-Present)

News team

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• Dawn Hasbrouck - weeknights 5, and 9 p.m. (Monday-Friday)
• Scott Schneider - Weeknights 5, and 9 p.m. (Monday-Friday)
• Sylvia Perez - anchor at 12pm & "First at Four"
• Anita Blanton - anchor on "Good Day Chicago"
• Terrence Lee - anchor on "First at Four"
• Brian Jackson - anchor on "Good Day Chicago"
• Natalie Bomke - anchor/reporter
• Anthony Ponce - anchor on "Good Day Chicago"
• Elizabeth Matthews - weekend morning anchor "Good Day Chicago" also reporter
• Dane Placko - weekend anchor and reporter

Weather Team

• Mark Strehl (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend mornings "Good Day Chicago"
• Mike Caplan - meteorologist; weekday mornings "Good Day Chicago"
• Kaitlin Cody - meteorologist; weekdays
• Emily Wahls - Chief Meteorologist; weeknights
• Tim McGill - Meteorologist

Sports team

• Lou Canellis - sports director/primary anchor; Sunday-Thursday at 9 p.m., & host of The Final Word, Bears GameDay Live and Bears GameNight Live
• Cassie Carlson - sports anchor
• Tina Nguyen - sports anchor/reporter
• Marc Silverman - sports anchor (per diem)

Traffic

• TBD

Reporters

• Tia Ewing - general assignment reporter/Fill-in Anchor
• Casey Chronis - general assignment reporter
• Jake Hamilton - entertainment reporter
• Joanie Lum - general assignment reporter
• Dane Placko - investigative reporter; also co-host of Fox Chicago Sunday & weekend fill-in anchor
• Nate Rodgers - general assignment reporter
• Roseanne Tellez - reporter on "Good Day Chicago"

Contributors

• Roe Conn - "The Connversation"
• Karen Conti - legal analyst
• Mona Khanna - medical contributor
• Thom Serafin - political analyst
• Brian Urlacher - The Final Word

Former on-air staff

• Bryesha Adams - Traffic Reporter for "Good Day Chicago" (2021-2023)
• Michelle Alegria - Traffic Reporter for "Good Day Chicago" (2018-2021)
• Lisa Argen - weather (1993–1995; now with KGO-TV in San Francisco)
• Cathy Ballou - morning weather anchor (?–?)
• Renee Banot - reporter (per diem) (2008; later at WITI-TV in Milwaukee; now at Twelve TV in Minneapolis)
• Steve Baron - fill-in meteorologist/senior web producer of myFoxChicago.com (2006–2009, now VP of Interactive Content with Local TV)
• Mike Barz - morning news anchor (2007–2009; later at WISH-TV in Indianapolis)
• Ron Beattie - announcer (1978–1980)
• Bill Bellis (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 9 p.m. & Thursday-Friday at Noon (2011-2021; now at KSNV in Las Vegas)
• Chris Boden - fill-in sports anchor/reporter (per diem) (2004–2007; now at WGN-TV)
• Dolores Cannizzaro - reporter
• Jill Carlson - weekend sports anchor/reporter (1999–2010)
• Lilia Chacon - reporter (1989–2010, now Director of Public Relations for the Chicago Treasurer)
• Kori Chambers - anchor for "Good Day Chicago" (2008-2013; now at WPIX in New York)
• Steve Chamraz - reporter (per diem) (2008–2011; now at WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee)
• Lisa Chavarria - reporter (2012-2017; now at WMAQ-TV)
• Del Clark - announcer (?–?)
• Lauren Cohn - reporter/medical reporter (2000–2004); anchor/reporter (2007–2010; later at WTXF-TV in Philadelphia)
• Jack Conaty - political editor/Fox Chicago Sunday co-host (1987–2009)
• Anna Davlantes - "Good Day Chicago" anchor (2009-2013)
• John Dempsey - reporter
• Rick DiMaio - morning meteorologist (1995–2001); chief meteorologist (2001–2007; later at WBBM-TV); meteorologist (per diem) (2010–2011)
• Dan Dobrowolski - meteorologist (late 1980's-early 1990's)
• Maurice DuBois - anchor/reporter (1994–1997; now at WCBS-TV in New York)
• Jon Duncanson - morning anchor (1995–1998; later at WBBM-TV; now President of Aviana Productions)
• Patrick Elwood - anchor/reporter (1999-2013; now at WGN-TV)
• Evan Fitzgerald - sports anchor/reporter (2015-2017)
• Mike Flannery - political editor; also co-host of Fox Chicago Sunday (2010-2023; retired)
• Amy Freeze - chief meteorologist (2007–2011; now at Fox Weather)
• Brittany Garzillo - reporter
• Michelle Gielan - reporter/substitute anchor (2005–2008; later at CBS News)
• Jeff Goldblatt - anchor (2008–2010; later at WMAQ-TV)
• Sylvia Gomez - weekend anchor/reporter (1996–1997; later at WBBM-TV; now runs Aviana Productions)
• Rhonda Guess - general assignment reporter (1995–1997)
• Jeff Hagedorn - sports anchor/reporter
• Tamron Hall - morning anchor/reporter (1997–2007; later at MSNBC; now host of the Tamron Hall Show)
• Byron Harlan - weekend anchor/reporter (1997–2010; now an Investment Advisor at MetLife)
• Alexa Helms - anchor/reporter (2014-2015)
• Jeff Herndon - Weeknight anchor (2013-2017; now at KSNW in Wichita)
• Darlene Hill - Anchor/Reporter (1994-2017), later at WCMH-TV
• Jonathan Hoenig - morning financial analyst (2000–2002; now at Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network)
• Walter Jacobson - anchor/reporter/Perspectives host (1993–2006; later back at WBBM-TV; retired)
• Jan Jeffcoat - weekday anchor (2007-2012), later at WUSA and WJLA-TV, Now host of Sinclair Broadcast Group's "The National Desk"
• Dan Jiggetts - sports anchor
• Laura Jones - weekend anchor/family and health reporter (1994–1999)
• Sheryl Kahn - reporter (1989–1994)
• Anne Kavanaugh - morning reporter (1987–2009; now runs Media Pros 24/7)
• Bud Kelly - announcer (?–1977)
• Jon Kelly - morning anchor (2013-2015)
• Dr, Prerna Mona Khanna "Dr. Mona - medical contributor
• Kelly Kraft - reporter (per diem) (2006–2009; later Director of Communications for Governor Quinn's Office of Management and Budget)
• Sarah Kustok - weekend sports anchor/reporter (per diem) (2008, now at YES Network)
• Charlie LeDuff
• Mike Leiderman - sports anchor
• Michelle Leigh - morning meteorologist (2001–2006)
• Rick Leventhal - fill-in anchor/reporter (later at Fox News)
• Tisha Lewis - reporter (2011-2015; now at WTTG in Washington D.C.)
• Kris Long - anchor (1987–1993; later at KPSP-LD in Palm Springs)
• Nancy Loo - afternoon anchor/reporter (2001–2010; later at WGN-TV, now at NewsNation)
• Kevin McCarty - reporter
• Corey McPherrin - weeknights 5, and 9 p.m. (Sunday-Thursday) (Monday-Friday) (retired)
• Melody Mendez - morning anchor (2013-2015)
• Jenny Milkowski - Traffic anchor for "Good Day Chicago" (2015-2018; later at KFMB-TV and KUSI in San Diego)
• Brant Miller - meteorologist (1989–1991; now at WMAQ-TV)
• Dionne Miller - sports anchor (2012-2014; now at WLS-TV)
• Ellen Millier
• Johnny Morris - sports anchor/commentator (1994–1998; retired)
• Marianne Murciano - morning/noon anchor (1994–2000) evening anchor fill-in (2010)
• Jon Najarian (Dr. J) - financial analyst (now with MSNBC)
• Kristen Nicole - anchor/reporter (2016-2019)
• David Novarro - morning anchor (2000–2010; now at WABC-TV in New York)
• Anita Padilla - Reporter, later morning anchor (2007-2023; retired)
• Brittney Payton (2018-2021)
• Nancy Pender - weekend anchor/reporter (1997–2010)
• Shae Peppler - sports anchor/reporter (2019)
• Michael Pomeranz - anchor/reporter (1997–2000; now at Bally Sports San Diego)
• Michelle Relerford (2007; now at WMAQ-TV)
• Robin Robinson - 9 p.m. anchor (1987-2013)
• Richard Roeper - lifestyle commentator and movie critic (1994–2001)
• Andy Roesgen - reporter (per diem) (2006–2009, 2010, now a Chicago correspondent for NBC News)
• David Rose - morning anchor (1993–1995; now at KCPQ-TV in Seattle)
• Mark Saxenmeyer - special assignment reporter (1994–2010; later at KSTP-TV in Minneapolis/St. Paul)
• Kerry Sayers - sports anchor/reporter (per diem)
• Steve Perez Schill - evening weather anchor (1995–2001; later at KMIR-TV in Palm Springs)
• Sally Schulze - Anchor/Reporter (2017-2022)
• Amy Scott - entertainment reporter (1992–1996)
• Danielle Serino - consumer reporter (2001–2006; later at WOIO in Cleveland)
• Kaitlin Sharkey - sports anchor/reporter (2020-2022; now at WGN-TV)
• Margaret Shortridge - family/health reporter (2000–2009)
• Bob Sirott - Anchor of Fox Thing in The Morning (1994-2000), later 9 p.m. anchor (2010-2013; now at WGN Radio)
• George Smith - morning anchor (2015-2018)
• Scott Smith - reporter
• Sondra Solarte - traffic reporter for "Good Day Chicago" (2005-2015)
• Chris Sowers - weekend meterologist (2008–2010; now at WPVI in Philadelphia)
• Tammie Souza (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekends at 9 p.m. and Monday-Wednesday at noon, (now at KYW-TV in Philadelphia)
• AJ Sterling - reporter (per diem) (2004–2008)
• Mark Suppelsa - afternoon/evening anchor (2003–2008; later at WGN-TV; retired)
• Kevin Tomich - reporter (per diem) (2006–2009; now Sales Account Executive for Six Flags Great America)
• Darian Trotter - reporter (2007–2009; later at WDIV-TV in Detroit)
• Mike Tsolinas - meteorologist (1992–1995; later at KTNV in Las Vegas; deceased)
• Dakarai Turner (2017-2019; now at WISH-TV in Indianapolis)
• Al Vaughters - reporter (1990–1994; later at WIVB-TV in Buffalo)
• David Viggiano - entertainment reporter (2000–2009; now runs Media Pros 24/7 and at Radar Online)
• Harry Volkman - weekend meteorologist (1996–2004; deceased)
• Tom Waddle - host of "The Final Word" and "FOX Kickoff Sunday." (1996-2013; now at WMVP)
• Amara Walker - anchor/reporter (2012-2013; now at CNN)
• Craig Wall - Political Reporter/Anchor (1996-2017; now at WLS-TV)
• Rafer Weigel - Anchor/Reporter (2017-2019)
• Sheila White - weekday mornings traffic (1997–2005)
• Tera Williams - reporter (2006–2010; later at WJAX-TV and WFOX-TV in Jacksonville)
• Bruce Wolf - morning sports anchor (1987–2006; later at WMAQ-TV)
• Larry Yellen - anchor/reporter and legal analyst (1993-2019; retired)
• Joe Zone - sports anchor/reporter (1993–1996; now sports director at WFSB in Hartford)
• Bill Zwecker - entertainment reporter

References

1. ^ This was not the first time for either company regarding WFLD. Field had attempted to sell the station to Metromedia as early as 1969, per: "METROMEDIA TO ADD CHICAGO TV STATION" (The New York Times, March 5, 1969).
2. ^ TV Guide Chicago Issue #1798
3. ^ TV Guide Chicago Issue #1853
4. ^ TV Guide Chicago Issue #1902
5. ^ http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/call_hist.pl?Facility_id=22211&Callsign=WFLD
6. ^ [1]
7. ^ "Fox, NBC Share Chicago Chopper". http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/162072-Fox_NBC_Share_Chicago_Chopper.php. Retrieved 2009-01-12.
8. ^ WFLD To Eliminate 10PM Newscast; "The Office" Reruns Debut In September, Chicago Tribune, July 10, 2009
9. ^ Johnson-Sullivan anchor duo paying off for WBBM-Channel 2, Chicago Sun-Times, March 4, 2011.

• Station History (2006). MyFoxChicago.com.

External links

• Fox32Chicago.com - Official WFLD-TV Website
• My50Chicago.com - Official WPWR-TV Website
• WFLD's Morning News Website
• Fox Weather Watch - Live Radar and Ten Day trend Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WFLD
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WFLD-TV