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WCIU-TV is an independent television station, based in Chicago, Illinois. It operates on UHF channel 26 and is Chicago's oldest UHF station, signing on the air in 1964.

The station is owned by Weigel Broadcasting, a locally-based broadcaster that also owns stations in Milwaukee (CBS affilliate WDJT and two low power stations, independent station WMLW and Telemundo affilliate WYTU) and South Bend, Indiana (two low power stations, ABC affilliate WBND and WB affilliate WMWB). Weigel also owns WWME-CA, channel 23, a low powered station.

WCIU's digital channel features multicasting of three standard definition digital channels. The first one airs WCIU's regular schedule; the second channel airs "ME TV" from low-powered analog channel 23 (WWME-CA), which has a "classic TV" format similar to TV Land's; the third channel features business news.

History

WCIU spent much of its history carrying multi-ethnic entertainment, and once carried the Telemundo and Univision networks before those networks bought other competing UHF stations. Channel 26 was the birthplace of the ground-breaking African-American music program Soul Train, hosted by its creator (and then-WCIU station employee) Don Cornelius. The show later moved into national syndication and to Los Angeles by the late 1970s. The show is currently seen on WGN-TV, and has been part of the station's Saturday daytime lineup for over two decades. Currently, WCIU is the home of the long-running locally produced show Svengoolie.

From the late 1960s to 1985, WCIU ran religious shows in the early morning. From about 8 AM to about 4 or 5 PM, it ran Business News, which is locally produced. After 5 PM on the weekdays, the station ran Spanish entertainment programming from The Spanish International Network (now Univision). On weekends, WCIU ran a blend of religious shows, ethnic brokered shows, and Spanish programming. Beginning in the summer of 1985, SIN (now Univision) moved to Channel 44. WCIU picked up Net Span, which would become Telemundo, shortly after. By the late 1980s, Univision returned to WCIU.

In 1994, WGBO was sold to Univision, and Univision programming moved to Channel 66. In 1995, WCIU began to broadcast general entertainment programming, taking most of the leftover programming from WGBO. Initially, the station ran business news until 5 PM and entertainment programming afterwards and on weekends. WCIU then added a 7-9 AM weekday kids block by March 1995. In the fall of 1995, the station added an afternoon kids block from Kids WB which WGN-TV opted not to run. The business news was pulled back to 9 AM to noon on the weekdays, and a couple years later it would move to their low power station on Channel 23.

The syndicated shows initially consisted of classic sitcoms from the 1960s and 1970s as well as old movies. Eventually more recent sitcoms was added such as first run syndicated fare such as talk shows, court shows, and reality shows. WCIU also carries selected telecasts of the Chicago Cubs, White Sox, and Bulls, produced by WGN-TV.

By 2001, WCIU dropped the afternoon kids block and kept WB Kids in the morning. In 2003, the station dropped Kids WB, which moved to WGN-TV. Today WCIU focuses on more recent sitcoms, talk shows, court shows, and newsmagazines.

Early in 2005, the business news format on Channel 23 was moved to one of WCIU's digital channels. Channel 23 became WWME and now carries classic sitcoms that WCIU owned, yet has no room for on its schedule. WWME-CA is known as ME TV and runs classic sitcoms that it recently acquired. WWME-CA runs more classic sitcoms than any station on the air with programs that have not aired in many places for years. WCIU also bean sydicating South Park, a sitcom known notoriously for its obscene and gross humour. The show however has been edited from its cable TV-MA to a TV-14 rating.

External links

• Official Site
• Template:TVQ

• Independent television stations