WBBM-TV
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Chicago, Illinois United States |
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| Branding |
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| Slogan | Original Reporting (newscasts) |
| Channels |
Digital: 12 (VHF) Virtual: 2 () |
| Translators |
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| Affiliations | |
| Owner |
CBS Corporation (CBS Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| Founded |
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| First air date | September 6, 1946 |
| Call letters' meaning |
World's Best Battery Maker Derived from sister station WBBM radio |
| Sister station(s) | |
| Former callsigns | WBKB (1946–1953) |
| Former channel number(s) |
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| Former affiliations |
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| Transmitter power | 8 kW |
| Height | 497 m (1,631 ft) |
| Facility ID | 9617 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°52′44″N 87°38′8″W / 41.87889°N 87.63556°WCoordinates: 41°52′44″N 87°38′8″W / 41.87889°N 87.63556°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | chicago |
WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 (VHF digital channel 12), is a CBS owned-and-operated television station located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. The station is owned by the CBS Television Stations subsidiary of CBS Corporation. WBBM-TV maintains studio and office facilities located on West Washington Street as part of the development at Block 37 in the Loop district, and its transmitter is located atop the Willis Tower on South Wacker Drive.
WBBM-TV traces its history to 1940 when Balaban and Katz, a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures, signed on experimental station W9XBK, the first all-electronic television facility in Chicago. Balaban and Katz was already well known for owning several movie theaters in the Chicago area. In order to establish the station, the company hired television pioneer William C. "Bill" Eddy away from RCA's experimental station W2XBS in New York City. When World War II began, Eddy used the W9XBK facilities as a prototype school for training Navy electronics technicians. While operating the Navy school, Eddy continued to lead W9XBK and wrote a book that defined commercial television for many years.
On September 6, 1946, the station received a commercial license as WBKB (for Balaban and Katz Broadcasting) on VHF channel 4, becoming the first commercial station located outside the Eastern Time Zone; it was also the sixth TV station in the United States. WBKB aired some of the earliest CBS programs, including the 1947 debut of Junior Jamboree (later renamed Kukla, Fran and Ollie after it moved to NBC in 1948). Channel 4 originally operated as an independent station, since at the time it was not clear that it would be an affiliate of the CBS television network; eventually, WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee became the first television station west of the Eastern Time Zone to affiliate with a major network. One of the station's early highlights was its telecast of the National Football League's championship game between the Chicago Cardinals and the Philadelphia Eagles on December 28, 1947.
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