In connection with the out-of-court settlement between WFLD station management and the White Sox, through the same agreement signed on September 14, 1989 that resulted in that station also re-acquiring the local television rights to the Sox, the Bulls (which Reinsdorf as part of Chicago Professional Sports Limited Partnership, a 23-member majority shareholder group that acquired portions of its 56% share of the team from shares owned by, among others, the estate of longtime owner Arthur M. Wirtz and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner bought in March 1985 for an estimated $9.2 million) announced that it would move its local television broadcasts back to WGN-TV under a five-year deal, beginning with the 198990 season. Hale, Bob - Retired from radio. The one exception is the Chicago Bears, who, like other NFL franchises, are bound by network broadcasting contracts by the National Football League for the most part, though most teams license some of their preseason games for regional over-the-air broadcast through in-house syndication units; although the Bears' cable-originated games have occasionally aired on WGN-TV by arrangement with ESPN under NFL provisions pertaining to national cable telecasts within a franchise's home market. [6] Jack Brickhouse, the longtime sports directorand later, vice president of sports programmingfor the WGN television and radio stations, handled play-by-play announcing duties for the home games of both teams until 1967, and continued to call Cubs games until his retirement from broadcasting in 1981. Steve Crocker, who worked as a news anchor and reporter for more than 30 years at WBBM 780-AM/WCFS 105.9-FM, died March 17 in Asheville, North Carolina. [70][71] The new restriction spurred a conspiracy and antitrust lawsuit that was filed by the Bulls (one of two NBA teams that voted against the proposal, along with the New Jersey Nets, then broadcasting over Secaucus, New Jersey-based superstation WWOR-TV) and Tribune Broadcasting with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois on October 16, 1990, alleging that the league rules would harm the Bulls, their fans and WGN and that Stern's proposal was aimed at "phas[ing] out such superstations telecasts entirely in increments of five games each year over the next five years." (Televised Blackhawks road games were subsequently carried on WFLD from 1975 to 1978, and then shifted to WSNS-TV from 1978 to 1980. Allison Payne, a Detroit native and former longtime TV anchor in Chicago who crisscrossed the globe for various stories and won nine Emmys, died earlier this month after a series of health. The station's coverage of Little League Baseball games during the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s was noted for the innovation of the center field camera angle now commonplace in baseball coverage. The decision to move most of the White Sox's game telecasts to over-the-air pay television led to his decision to switch team play-by-play allegiances, as the limited exposure that the Sox would experience as a result of having the majority of games available over Sportsvision (which required a set-top descrambler box to receive the signal) would limit the team's television accessibility. King was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, near Comiskey Park. [106][107][108] Subsequently, on February 13, the Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group (which was sued by Tribune for breach of contract in August 2018, after Sinclair's various attempts to use loopholes around FCC rules to acquire all of Tribune's broadcasting properties created regulatory hurdles in the former's acquisition of the company and Tribune's resulting termination of the attempted merger) announced of the formation of the Marquee Sports Network, a regional sports network planned for launch in the Spring of 2020 that would serve as the exclusive home of the Cubs' regional game telecasts. In 1998, King was honored with a Regional Emmy for his coverage of the Chicago Bulls basketball team.[11]. Now a world traveler. Graye, Tom - Formerly Program Director and morning personality at KQXT-FM in San Antonio, Texas. The angles were later used for Cubs game coverage and was quickly adopted for local and national baseball telecasts by other professional and collegiate broadcasters.[49]. Try $2.15 billion", "Ricketts Family Completes Purchase of Cubs From Tribune Company (So What Does That Mean? [65][66][67][68], In 1982, the NBA instituted limits on the number of basketball games that teams could license to designated superstations such as WGN-TV that reached at least 5% of American cable households (not counting carriage within their home market), applying only to games that would conflict with those airing on the NBA's national cable partners, ESPN or USA Network, while allowing them to continue carrying up to 41 games per season under existing NBA local broadcast rules. In December 1980, Channel 9 signed a partial broadcasting agreement with White Sox, which confined its game telecasts to the team's road gamesa reduced schedule of 60 gamesfor the 1981 season. Lauren Magiera is a popular American sports anchor and reporter from Chicago, who worked with WGN News from April 2016 to April 2022. (Ironically, two seasons later, the Cubs underwent a major turnaround and had its strongest season in decades, going on to win its first World Series championship since 1908; WGN America would air the Cubs' 2016 World Series victory parade on November 4 of that year. On March 30, 2008, the Blackhawks announced three-year broadcasting agreements with Channel 9 and Comcast SportsNet Chicago that would allow both broadcasters to carry a divided schedule of the team's home and away games beginning with the 200809 season. [114][115] WGN-TV's final sports telecast involving one of the four legacy professional sports franchises that the station has been involved with during its history was the second game of a White SoxDetroit Tigers doubleheader at Guaranteed Rate Field on September 28, 2019. In August 1966, WGN-TV signed an agreement with the Chicago Bulls to broadcast games involving the upstart NBA franchise under a five-year agreement beginning with the 196667 season, beginning with an initial slate of up to twelve away games for the team's inaugural season. Self 2 episodes, 2018 . The parties also agreed to replace the NBA's superstation tax with a revenue sharing model, under which the NBA would collect 50% of all advertising revenue accrued from the national WGN telecasts. The life and times of inspirational and pioneering Allison Payne, former WGN news anchor Allison Payne had not visited Chicago-area homes for more than a decade, but she was such a. "Finding solace in memories: Filling book with reflections on wife a labor of love for WGN's King". TV Limits Ruled Illegal", "WGN-TV/NBA headed back to court in 6-year-old case", "Appeals Court Reverses Call on Bulls Telecasts", "WGN to Televise 35 Bulls Games--To Local Audience Only", "No Bulls; Cable TV can't carry Chicago games", "TCI move not so super for superstations", "Networks on chopping block; TCI makes mincemeat of programmers' lineups", "TCI Will Retain WGN in Madison, The Superstation Will Be Available in Five States", "WGN Looks to Soar After Difficult Period", "The Bulls Storm the Court(room): Chicago Professional Sports Limited Partnership v. The National Basketball Association", "Baseball Asks FCC for Local Exclusivity Against Superstations", "NCTA, Superstations Take Swing at Baseball's Exclusivity Protection Pitch", "TV SPORTS; Chicago (Not in Standings) Now in First", "Judge Backs Up Cubs in Dispute Against Baseball", "Too Many Small-Market Owners Are Being Shortsighted", "Vincent Quits; May Be Last Baseball Czar", "NBC Sports Chicago Announces New Pact With White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks", "NBC Sports Chicago announces multiyear deal with the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks", "While Cubs prepare to launch Marquee, Hawks, Bulls & Sox return to NBCSCH", "The Cubs are starting a new TV channel in 2020. Tribune representatives accused Vincent using the issue as part of his and some team owners animosity toward superstations to deflect from management or performance-related problems within their baseball clubs, though the Cubs denied Vincent's claim that its opposition to the move had mainly to do with the "scheduling difficulties that will be experienced by [] WGN-TV." First utilized by the station in 1951, during Little League games held at Thillens Stadium, the angle which allowed for clear views of pitch movement, action between the pitcher and the batter, and more effective close-ups than were capable with the then-standard overhead shot from behind-the-plate at upper deck was used for those telecasts due to the smaller size of the stadium and the lack of a suitable place to place a camera behind the plate. The ranks of Chicago's women sports anchors are noticeably smaller today. [117][118][119] The deal left WGN-TV without sports programming for the first time in the station's 74-year history; however, WGN-TV plans to carry events from LIV Golf starting on February 25, 2023 as part of a time-brokerage deal with Nexstar; although the deal was signed with the CW, WCIU agreed to cede rights to the Chicago market due to cross-ownership. ), After he inherited the team from his father following the elder Wirtz's death in September 2007, Rocky Wirtz decided to end the longstanding embargo on local home game telecasts. )", "Cubs exercise option to end WGN-TV contract after next season", "Cubs reach deal with WGN-TV for remaining 45 broadcasts", "WGN-TV to Air White Sox Day, Night Games", "Chicago White Sox will move over to UHF in 1968", "White Sox History: The story of SportsVision", "Drysdale, Harrelson team up for White Sox", "White Sox, Bulls Leave Channel 32 for Channel 9", "Jerry Reinsdorf, who heads the new ownership group of", "Blackhawks to Televise All Games, Join 20th Century", "WGN, Comcast Deals Make History for Hawks", "Chicago Fire reach a multiyear deal with WGN to televise games", "Back to play-by-play, WGN to air Chicago Fire soccer broadcasts", "WGN to Simulcast Monday Night's Bears Game", "The 'Center Field Shot' began at a Chicago Little League game", "ChicagoLand TV Brings Cubs to Local Cable", "Cubs Will Make a Trade: CLTV Games to WGN", "The Times Are a Changin' . [7] The book centers on the story of King's late wife and childhood sweetheart Maggie Smith, who was diagnosed with hearing loss at the age of four, and whom he referred to as "an awkward tomboy with hearing aid wires tangled in her dress at the play lot" and later "a blossoming beauty." )[28], Dissatisfied with the licensing fees it was receiving for the WGN telecasts, however, Reinsdorf and Einhorn (the latter being a former president of CBS Sports and founder of the defunct TVS Television Network syndicated sports service) decided to move the White Sox's telecasts to Sportsvision, a joint venture between the ReinsdorfEinhorn partnership and Fred Eychaner, owner of upstart independent WPWR-TV (channel 60, now a MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated station on channel 50) through parent Metrowest Corporation.