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WCIU's 50th Anniversary.


CircleSeven

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On February 6, 1964, John Weigel signed on what would be "Chicago's 1st UHF station", WCIU-TV.

 

On Friday, Weigel Broadcasting's Vice Chairman Neal Sabin went on You & Me This Morning and mentioned that milestone (although they'd mentioned that the anniversary was on February 9 (not the 6th)). Of course Sabin was responsible for making WCIU as a general market station, after Univision moved to WGBO, and brought in "The U" branding on December 31, 1994 (which it will hit 20 Years later this year). What also shocking that Weigel Broadcasting is one of the few oldest locally-owned broadcasting companies in the country.

 

I strongly wished it would be more of a fanfare of this milestone, but I am thrilled that they'd even made this kind of a mention at all. I do commend Sabin for everything he has done with Channel 26 and the Me-TV franchise.

____________________________________

 

While I'm at the topic of WCIU, I was kind of stunned last month when I heard what appears to be a very different voiceover on Channel 26. Yes, a couple of weeks ago, on one those dog promos (the ones you see at the top/bottom of every hour with the call sign insiginia), it was Richard Malmos VO at all. It sounded like this voiceover was hired at the station to do these VOs (and you know how I feel about these Johnny-Come-Lately voiceovers over familiar VOs, and this one is a prime example), instead of a professional VO. The new VO is also voiced show promos on 26, plus

on South Bend's WBND 57. If I never liked Dave Kampel's VO on Channel 9 and Fox 32, I sure as hell don't like this new VO. He doesn't sound good at all.

 

They were still some VOs that feature Malmos, and he's still VO some new promos for Me-TV (along with local VO Carol Gallagher), but it's really hard not to hear Malmos fully as he's basically been "The Voice of The U" for over 19 years.

 

Here's a suggestion. If they do want a new VO, why not hire Chicago Transit Authority VO Lee Crooks to do VOs for the station. I'm not saying he would be a really great choice, but I think he's a bit underrated. I don't think it would be too much of a conflict of interest. Other than that, I don't see why they want to follow most of the other stations in town and bring a new "younger-sounding" voice to the fray, after using a highly familiar, more authoritive voice

. This overgrowning trend of hiring these younger-sounding VOs in the city pisses me the hell off to the fullest!!!.

 

This is yet another episode of If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It. Change Ain't Always Good. Don't mess with formula that's been working well in your favor for a long time.

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Lee Crooks (didn't know his name til now) would be a fantastic idea, especially since The U recently updated their syndie promo graphics, making the shows appear like they're on one of the downtown commuter routes. You know what I'm talking about, those graphics that would say something like "Frasier, Tonight at 9, on The U".

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On February 6, 1964, John Weigel signed on what would be "Chicago's 1st UHF station", WCIU-TV.

 

On Friday, Weigel Broadcasting's Vice Chairman Neal Sabin went on You & Me This Morning and mentioned that milestone (although they'd mentioned that the anniversary was on February 9 (not the 6th)). Of course Sabin was responsible for making WCIU as a general market station, after Univision moved to WGBO, and brought in "The U" branding on December 31, 1994 (which it will hit 20 Years later this year). What also shocking that Weigel Broadcasting is one of the few oldest locally-owned broadcasting companies in the country.

 

I strongly wished it would be more of a fanfare of this milestone, but I am thrilled that they'd even made this kind of a mention at all. I do commend Sabin for everything he has done with Channel 26 and the Me-TV franchise.

____________________________________

 

While I'm at the topic of WCIU, I was kind of stunned last month when I heard what appears to be a very different voiceover on Channel 26. Yes, a couple of weeks ago, on one those dog promos (the ones you see at the top/bottom of every hour with the call sign insiginia), it was Richard Malmos VO at all. It sounded like this voiceover was hired at the station to do these VOs (and you know how I feel about these Johnny-Come-Lately voiceovers over familiar VOs, and this one is a prime example), instead of a professional VO. The new VO is also voiced show promos on 26, plus

on South Bend's WBND 57. If I never liked Dave Kampel's VO on Channel 9 and Fox 32, I sure as hell don't like this new VO. He doesn't sound good at all.

 

They were still some VOs that feature Malmos, and he's still VO some new promos for Me-TV (along with local VO Carol Gallagher), but it's really hard not to hear Malmos fully as he's basically been "The Voice of The U" for over 19 years.

 

Here's a suggestion. If they do want a new VO, why not hire Chicago Transit Authority VO Lee Crooks to do VOs for the station. I'm not saying he would be a really great choice, but I think he's a bit underrated. I don't think it would be too much of a conflict of interest. Other than that, I don't see why they want to follow most of the other stations in town and bring a new "younger-sounding" voice to the fray, after using a highly familiar, more authoritive voice

. This overgrowning trend of hiring these younger-sounding VOs in the city pisses me the hell off to the fullest!!!.

 

This is yet another episode of If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It. Change Ain't Always Good. Don't mess with formula that's been working well in your favor for a long time.

 

I doubt WCIU changing their VO would make or break them.

 

Congrats for 50 years, though.

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I doubt WCIU changing their VO would make or break them.

Whether if its makes them or breaks them (which it probably wouldn't matter in either case), familiarity is key, and if you lose that, what you have left? That's what I meant. Malmos is synoynomous to the station's brand. Not this young, piece of shit VO, that probably got randomly picked as we was strolling down Halsted Street and being told to "read this liner please".

 

 

Lee Crooks (didn't know his name til now) would be a fantastic idea, especially since The U recently updated their syndie promo graphics, making the shows appear like they're on one of the downtown commuter routes. You know what I'm talking about, those graphics that would say something like "Frasier, Tonight at 9, on The U".

 

Yeah the one with the likeness of the CTA rapid transit system with the color-coded lines, and with the signs that have the shows name and time, in a graphic like those are street signs, each have those kinds of stops which denotes the block of programming they show on WCIU (i.e. "Talk Town", "Court House", "Hot Spot", "Comedy Stop") That's probably one of the most creative things I've seen this station done. And they've done several creative things for their promos over the years.

 

I dunno how Sabin and his crew do it, but they've always been creative with their promos. Hell, those promos that air on MeTV, have became one of the hallmarks of that network itself.

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  • 4 months later...

As WCIU celebrates 20 years of "The U" in December, Chicago Tribune wrote a nice piece about Weigel's Vice Chairman Neal Sabin and his 20 years at WCIU, and his long career in the Chicago media.

 

Okay I didn't mentioned this at the time, but CRM stated back in February that WCIU's new VO is actor Dustin James Leighton.

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  • 5 months later...

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