WGBO-TV
Encyclopedia
WGBO-DT, channel 66, is the Univision
owned and operated station licensed
to Joliet, Illinois
, United States. Its studios are in Chicago
. WGBO offers a Spanish
programming format featuring news, talk shows, dramas, movies, and other Spanish-language programming.
cable TV shows during the day and Spectrum Subscription TV
by night. By 1982, the station ran Subscription TV almost 24/7, but by Fall 1983 Spectrum shared the same schedule with Chicago subscription rival ON-TV
.
WFBN continued this format until early 1984, when it dropped Spectrum in favor of music videos 24/7. By the fall of 1984, WFBN dropped the music videos and refilled the schedule with off-network classic sitcoms, dramas, movies, and religious shows. Grant Broadcasting bought WFBN in fall 1985 and changed its call letters to WGBO-TV in January 1986, adopting the moniker of "Super 66."
In January 1986, WGBO added a few more off-network sitcoms and a couple of kids shows. It also added a lot of westerns. The station also adopted a very slick on-air look, using CGI
graphics of near-network quality. This look was very similar to those adopted by sister stations WGBS-TV
in Philadelphia and WBFS-TV
in Miami. However, WGBO was run somewhat more cheaply than its two sisters and never really thrived. Grant had ambitions of turning his three stations into regional superstation
s.
Unfortunately, when WGBO tried to get more barter programming, it found the shelves were picked clean by WGN-TV
, WFLD
and WPWR-TV
. The bargain product was picked clean by WPWR. WGBO made virtually no headway against established independent stations and was not even able to compete against WPWR (even with all the low budget shows WPWR had along with lots of barter shows). There simply wasn't enough programming to go around, even in a market as large as Chicago.
By the end of 1986, Grant was so badly overextended that it filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. While the other two stations kept similar formats with fewer shows, WGBO added a lot of infomercials, religion, and other paid programs. WGBO did hold on to some entertainment shows. Ratings did not deteriorate, but they were very low to begin with.
In 1989, Grant was forced into receivership. Combined Broadcasting, a creditor-controlled company, took over the three stations. In the early 1990s, WGBO added some barter cartoons and sitcoms that other stations passed on or dropped previously. Finally, in 1994, in a group deal Combined Broadcasting sold WGBS (now WPSG
) and WBFS
to the Paramount Stations Group
(who sold its original Philadelphia station, WTXF-TV
, to News Corporation
), and WGBO to Univision. WCIU-TV
had been affiliated with Univision for many years, but still aired some English-language programming. When Univision asked it to drop those shows, WCIU refused, hence Univision's purchase of WGBO and WCIU's switch to general-market programming for the first time in its history. Combined Broadcasting filed for bankruptcy in 1997.
Univision took ownership of Channel 66 in January 1995. The station retained the WGBO call letters, but immediately switched to Spanish programming. WCIU picked up most of WGBO's general entertainment shows, but reruns of Beverly Hills, 90210
continued to run, in English, on Sunday nights for a few months after the Univision buyout.
, digital television receivers continue to display its virtual channel
as 66.1. On June 23, Univision replaced the -TV suffix with the -DT suffix in its legal call sign to conform to the company's practice (the legal call signs of all Univision-owned full-service television stations now end in -DT).
WGBO-DT is one of only two Chicago market full-power television stations (the other being WYCC
) which broadcast from the top of the John Hancock Center
. All of the other area stations broadcast from the top of the Willis Tower.
In December 2009, WGBO and sister station WXFT, along with most other Univision-owned stations, upgraded their main channels to transmit in 16:9
1080i
high definition
in preparation for the arrival of HD programming from Univision and TeleFutura, which occurred in 2010.
Weather
Sports
Reporters
Univision
Univision is a Spanish-language television network in the United States. It has the largest audience of Spanish language television viewers according to Nielsen ratings. Randy Falco, COO, has been in charge of the company since the departure of Univision Communications president and CEO Joe Uva...
owned and operated station licensed
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
to Joliet, Illinois
Joliet, Illinois
Joliet is a city in Will and Kendall Counties in the U.S. state of Illinois, located southwest of Chicago. It is the county seat of Will County. As of the 2010 census, the city was the fourth-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 147,433. It continues to be Illinois' fastest growing...
, United States. Its studios are in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. WGBO offers a Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
programming format featuring news, talk shows, dramas, movies, and other Spanish-language programming.
History
Channel 66 signed on in 1981 as WFBN, owned by Focus Broadcasting. Initially it ran Public-access televisionPublic-access television
Public-access television is a form of non-commercial mass media where ordinary people can create content television programming which is cablecast through cable TV specialty channels...
cable TV shows during the day and Spectrum Subscription TV
Spectrum (TV channel)
Spectrum was a subscription TV channel in the Chicago area that existed in the early 1980s. It was a direct competitor to ON-TV and operated in the same way. It was owned and operated by United Cable.-Usage:...
by night. By 1982, the station ran Subscription TV almost 24/7, but by Fall 1983 Spectrum shared the same schedule with Chicago subscription rival ON-TV
ON-TV
ON-TV, also known as National Subscription Television, was a subscription television service launched in 1977 by Oak Industries, Norman Lear's Chartwell Enterprises and Jerry Perenchio. Oak was a manufacturer of satellite and pay-TV decoders and equipment...
.
WFBN continued this format until early 1984, when it dropped Spectrum in favor of music videos 24/7. By the fall of 1984, WFBN dropped the music videos and refilled the schedule with off-network classic sitcoms, dramas, movies, and religious shows. Grant Broadcasting bought WFBN in fall 1985 and changed its call letters to WGBO-TV in January 1986, adopting the moniker of "Super 66."
In January 1986, WGBO added a few more off-network sitcoms and a couple of kids shows. It also added a lot of westerns. The station also adopted a very slick on-air look, using CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
graphics of near-network quality. This look was very similar to those adopted by sister stations WGBS-TV
WPSG
WPSG, channel 57, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WPSG is owned by the CBS Corporation and is the east coast flagship station for the CW Television Network, which is owned jointly by CBS and Time Warner...
in Philadelphia and WBFS-TV
WBFS-TV
WBFS-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for South Florida that is licensed to Miami. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Miramar. Owned by the CBS Corporation, the station is sister to CBS affiliate WFOR-TV and the two share...
in Miami. However, WGBO was run somewhat more cheaply than its two sisters and never really thrived. Grant had ambitions of turning his three stations into regional superstation
Superstation
Superstation in United States television can have several meanings. In its most precise meaning, a superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as "A television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite...
s.
Unfortunately, when WGBO tried to get more barter programming, it found the shelves were picked clean by WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
, WFLD
WFLD
WFLD, virtual channel 32 , is the Fox owned-and-operated television station, based in Chicago, Illinois; through its parent company News Corporation, the station is owned in a duopoly with area MyNetworkTV affiliate WPWR-TV...
and WPWR-TV
WPWR-TV
WPWR-TV, channel 50, is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station licensed to Gary, Indiana, and serving the Chicago, Illinois area. WPWR-TV is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network outlet WFLD-TV...
. The bargain product was picked clean by WPWR. WGBO made virtually no headway against established independent stations and was not even able to compete against WPWR (even with all the low budget shows WPWR had along with lots of barter shows). There simply wasn't enough programming to go around, even in a market as large as Chicago.
By the end of 1986, Grant was so badly overextended that it filed Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. While the other two stations kept similar formats with fewer shows, WGBO added a lot of infomercials, religion, and other paid programs. WGBO did hold on to some entertainment shows. Ratings did not deteriorate, but they were very low to begin with.
In 1989, Grant was forced into receivership. Combined Broadcasting, a creditor-controlled company, took over the three stations. In the early 1990s, WGBO added some barter cartoons and sitcoms that other stations passed on or dropped previously. Finally, in 1994, in a group deal Combined Broadcasting sold WGBS (now WPSG
WPSG
WPSG, channel 57, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WPSG is owned by the CBS Corporation and is the east coast flagship station for the CW Television Network, which is owned jointly by CBS and Time Warner...
) and WBFS
WBFS
WBFS, or Wii Backup File System, is a file system developed by Wii homebrew coders kwiirk and Waninkoko. It uses Waninkoko's cIOS and works by creating a WBFS partition on a SD or USB device. A Wii homebrew application may then be run to dump a Wii game to the partition...
to the Paramount Stations Group
Paramount Stations Group
Paramount Stations Group was a television broadcasting company that was renamed from the TVX Broadcast Group in 1991 after Paramount Pictures gained full ownership of the group. At the time, it owned several Fox affiliates and independent stations...
(who sold its original Philadelphia station, WTXF-TV
WTXF-TV
WTXF-TV, virtual channel 29 , is an owned-and-operated station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
, to News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
), and WGBO to Univision. WCIU-TV
WCIU-TV
WCIU-TV is an independent television station located in Chicago, Illinois. It operates on UHF digital channel 27 and is Chicago's oldest UHF station, signing on the air in 1964. WCIU-TV is the flagship station of Weigel Broadcasting, a locally-based broadcaster which has owned the station since...
had been affiliated with Univision for many years, but still aired some English-language programming. When Univision asked it to drop those shows, WCIU refused, hence Univision's purchase of WGBO and WCIU's switch to general-market programming for the first time in its history. Combined Broadcasting filed for bankruptcy in 1997.
Univision took ownership of Channel 66 in January 1995. The station retained the WGBO call letters, but immediately switched to Spanish programming. WCIU picked up most of WGBO's general entertainment shows, but reruns of Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210
Beverly Hills, 90210 is an American drama series that originally aired from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000 on Fox and was produced by Spelling Television in the United States, and subsequently on various networks around the world. It is the first series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise...
continued to run, in English, on Sunday nights for a few months after the Univision buyout.
Digital television
As part of the analog television shutdown and digital conversion was completed, WGBO shut down its analog transmitter on June 12, 2009. The station's digital broadcasts remained on channel 38, a frequency formerly used by the analog signal of Ion Television affiliate WCPX-TV. Through the use of PSIPProgram and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
, digital television receivers continue to display its virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
as 66.1. On June 23, Univision replaced the -TV suffix with the -DT suffix in its legal call sign to conform to the company's practice (the legal call signs of all Univision-owned full-service television stations now end in -DT).
WGBO-DT is one of only two Chicago market full-power television stations (the other being WYCC
WYCC
WYCC is a Public Broadcasting Service memebr public television in Chicago, Illinois which broadcasts over digital channel 21, also reached as 20.1, and two other digital channels, 20.2 and 20.3...
) which broadcast from the top of the John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center
John Hancock Center at 875 North Michigan Avenue in the Streeterville area of Chicago, Illinois, is a 100-story, 1,127-foot tall skyscraper, constructed under the supervision of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, with chief designer Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Khan...
. All of the other area stations broadcast from the top of the Willis Tower.
In December 2009, WGBO and sister station WXFT, along with most other Univision-owned stations, upgraded their main channels to transmit in 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
1080i
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
in preparation for the arrival of HD programming from Univision and TeleFutura, which occurred in 2010.
News operation
Upon affiliating with Univision in 1995, WGBO launched a newscast anchored by Elio Montenegro (formerly of CLTV News) and Edna Schmidt at 5 p.m. and Jorge Barbosa joining in at 10 p.m.Newscasts
Weekdays- Noticias Univision Chicago Primera Edicion - 5–6 a.m.
- Noticias Univision Chicago a las 5 PM - 5–5:30 p.m.
- Noticias Univision Chicago a las 10 PM - 10–10:30 p.m.
News team
Anchors- Jorge Barbosa - weeknights at 10 p.m.
- Brenda Carmona - weekday mornings Primera Edicion
- Paula Gomez - weekday mornings Primera Edicion
- Enrique Rodriguez - weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m.
Weather
- Ligia Granados - lead meteorologist; weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m.
- Maricela Vazquez - meteorologist; fill-in, also reporter
Sports
- Hector Lozano - lead sports anchor; weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m.
- Mariano Gielis - meteorologist; fill-in, also reporter
Reporters
- Maria de Lourdes Garcia - general assignment reporter
- Mariano Gielis - general assignment reporter; also fill-in sports anchor
- Ericka Maldonado - general assignment reporter
- Aureliano Salgado - general assignment reporter
- Maricela Vasquez - general assignment reporter; also fill-in weather anchor
Trivia
- In 1995 Oshkosh, WisconsinOshkosh, WisconsinAs of the census of 2000, there were 62,916 people, 24,082 households, and 13,654 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,662.2 people per square mile . There were 25,420 housing units at an average density of 1,075.6 per square mile...
radio station WVBOWVBOWVBO is an Oldies formatted radio station licensed to Winneconne, Wisconsin, that serves the Appleton-Oshkosh area. The station is owned by Cumulus Media.Prior to the current oldies format, 103.9 aired a Top 40 format as "Magic 104", WMGV...
asked WGBO for permission to use the call letters WGBO-FM for its planned Green BayGreen Bay, WisconsinGreen Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
simulcast (to stand for Green Bay OldiesOldiesOldies is a term commonly used to describe a radio format that concentrates on music from a period of about 15 to 55 years before the present day....
). WGBO refused, and the Green Bay station went on the air as WOGB instead. - WFBN-LP is currently the call for a low power station in RockfordRockford, IllinoisRockford is a mid-sized city located on both banks of the Rock River in far northern Illinois. Often referred to as "The Forest City", Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County, Illinois, USA. As reported in the 2010 U.S. census, the city was home to 152,871 people, the third most populated...
owned by Weigel BroadcastingWeigel BroadcastingWeigel Broadcasting is an American locally based television broadcasting company. The company is based in downtown Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV , at the apt address of 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood.- History :The company was founded by Chicago...
, owner of WCIU. The station previously aired WebFN, the successor to Stock Market Observer. This is especially ironic since WCIU and WGBO essentially traded programming in 1995 because WCIU refused to drop Stock Market Observer.