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WMAQ-TV (NBC 5) is the NBC owned & operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. The station transmits from atop the Sears Tower while its studios are located in the NBC Tower in downtown Chicago. It also has a street-level windowed studio known as Studio 5 on N. Michigan Avenue.

History

The station signed on in 1948 as WNBQ. Eight years later, it became the first station to broadcast all of its programs in color. Though NBC had long owned WMAQ-AM, it didn't change the TV station's call letters to match until 1964.

It operated from the Merchandise Mart before moving to the NBC Tower in 1989.

The Jerry Springer Controversy

WMAQ achieved notoriety in 1997 when the station, in an effort to boost its newscast ratings, hired Jerry Springer as a commentator. At the same time, the station adopted a more tabloid news format by bringing in Joel Cheatwood. Cheatwood was known for establishing fast-paced tabloid newscasts at WSVN in Miami and WHDH in Boston.

Though Springer was once a newscaster in Cincinnati, Ohio, his association with his infamous talk show (which was broadcast from WMAQ's studios at the time) led to the belief that the newscast was being dumbed down. There were a handful of Springer supporters. Nevertheless, the incident triggered a lot of negative publicity, both locally and nationally. The station's longtime anchor team, Carol Marin and Ron Magers, resigned in protest and the station saw a drop in its ratings. Springer only made two commentaries before being let go, and station management later admitted it made a mistake in hiring him.

Magers wound up at rival WLS-TV, where he still is today. Marin joined rival WBBM-TV while contributing reports at CBS before coming back to WMAQ in 2004 as a special correspondent.

References

• Johnson, Steve (July/August 1997). How Low Can TV News Go?. Columbia Journalism Review.
• Broadcasting in Chicago: 1921-1989

External Links

• WMAQ NBC 5 Web Site
• WMAQ General Information at WNBC.com
• Template:TVQ

• NBC network affiliates