An End to TV Station’s Independent Streak?

CHICAGO — It was 1965, and Chicago’s WCIU-TV Channel 26 was teetering on the edge of extinction.

The independent station couldn’t pay its bills. Employees had to plug a nickel into a pay phone to make a call. Because the station had no money for programming, all viewers could watch was a test pattern and, later, a live shot of a bird in a slowly revolving cage.

That year, entrepreneur Howard Shapiro assumed control of the fledgling station. He would eventually employ a time-tested business strategy -- location, location, location -- by catering to Chicago’s underserved ethnic groups, from Lithuanians and Filipinos to the burgeoning African American community. Along the way, the station established groundbreaking shows, including livestock market reports, “A Black’s View of the News” and the afternoon dance show “Soul Train.”

Now, all these years later, WCIU’s survival as a family-owned independent station is threatened once again -- just as it is becoming a player in the local ratings wars.

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday is expected to vote on a proposal to relax ownership rules for broadcasters, allowing companies to own up to three TV stations in large markets such as Chicago and Los Angeles. Media companies have been pushing for the changes because they say they need to own more stations to thrive in the cluttered, competitive 300-channel TV universe.

If the rules are changed, as expected, WCIU could find itself a takeover target of a media conglomerate, such as Viacom Inc., Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. or Chicago-based Tribune Co., which publishes the Los Angeles Times.

Critics say that any loosening of the rules will doom the already endangered species of independents, which operate without the benefit of network affiliation. They contend that powerful corporate parents will install managers more interested in serving up profits with cookie-cutter programming than in serving the community.

For now, WCIU’s Shapiro downplays such speculation. The 77-year-old Chicago native, who wears his oversized plastic-rimmed glasses on his furrowed forehead, says he’s been turning down offers since 1969.

“This is our home,” Shapiro says. “Some of the people who are working here have been here since we started. It’s like family, and we’ve had lots of interesting adventures over the years.” He adds, “We’ve never regretted keeping it.... But there’s no guarantee that we won’t sell.”

WCIU nearly failed at the start.

Although the station’s founder, John Weigel, received the FCC license for the UHF station and put together a group of investors, he didn’t have the resources to last a year. Enter Shapiro.

The turning point for the station came in 1967, when Shapiro, who bought out the other investors, decided to capitalize on WCIU’s perch in the towering Chicago Board of Trade Building. Because the station was operating on a shoestring, he ordered a camera wheeled to the trading floor. They began broadcasting “The Stock Market Observer,” with live business news five days a week, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

“It was a way to fill up a lot of time and get some revenue,” Shapiro says.

Within a few years, “The Stock Market Observer” had a near-cult following. And with commercial spots going for $60 for 30 seconds, the show helped the station erase its deficit, and, Shapiro said, it hasn’t incurred any debt since.

While other network stations aired “Peyton Place,” “Petticoat Junction” and “Laugh-In,” in color, WCIU turned to the neighborhoods of Chicago for its programming. Still broadcasting in black and white, the station reached out to African American, Greek, Italian, Latino, Lithuanian and Polish audiences, with everything from dramas to consumer advice. There also was “Polka Party,” “Hellenic Theater,” chinchilla races and bullfights from Mexico.

Dean Richards fondly remembers how every Sunday, his grandmother would turn on Bobby Pappadimas’ Greek show.

“He was this little man who would play 45s on the air, scratchy recordings, and sometimes if he didn’t have any guests, he would just show pictures of Greece -- the Pantheon, the Acropolis, the Pantheon again,” recalled Richards, 49, who worked for two summers as a cameraman at WCIU during the 1970s.

“The shows were incredibly cheesy. They were literally slapped together with Scotch tape,” said Richards, now the entertainment critic for Tribune’s WGN radio and WGN television station in Chicago. “But in so many ways, the station was the heartbeat of Chicago, reflecting its ethnic makeup.”

By the late 1960s, WCIU was producing its own shows, including “A Black’s View of the News,” “Black’s Pre-School Fun” and “Black History Playoffs,” a quiz show with Chicago high school students as contestants. Legendary Chicago Bears halfback Gayle Sayers hosted a local variety show when his pro-football career ended.

In 1970, radio news announcer Don Cornelius pitched the idea of an hourlong afternoon dance show. Although he had no advertisers lined up, Cornelius assured Shapiro that “full sponsorship was just around the corner.” So WCIU dedicated time on its schedule -- weekdays at 4:30 p.m. -- and one of its small studios for “Soul Train,” which became a Chicago institution and then a cultural icon after the show was syndicated.

“We have always tried to involve the community,” Shapiro said . “Because nobody else served it ... and it would produce some revenue.”

By the 1980s, looking to capitalize on the city’s growing Latino market, the station became the Chicago affiliate for a Spanish-language network that eventually evolved into Univision Communications Inc., now the nation’s dominant Spanish-language network. Shapiro, meanwhile, built other stations in Chicago, South Bend, Ind., and Milwaukee, all operating under the mantle of Weigel Broadcasting Co.

WCIU reached a crossroads in 1994.

Los Angeles mogul A. Jerrold Perenchio wanted his Univision network to own its station in Chicago, the nation’s third-largest TV market, rather than rely on WCIU, which was broadcasting its shows during prime time.

Shapiro refused to sell. So Univision bought its own station, leaving WCIU with a huge gap in its schedule. Shapiro hired a new station manager, Neal Sabin, who predicted they could prosper with a mix of daytime court shows, syndicated shows and sitcoms aimed at black audiences, such as “The Steve Harvey Show” and “The Wayne Brady Show.” With much urging, Sabin persuaded Shapiro to retire the market news show, ending its 30-year run.

The strategy worked.

Nine years ago, WCIU was little more than an asterisk in Nielsen Media Research ratings books. Now, the station frequently averages more than 325,000 viewers in some time slots and often comes in second place -- occasionally first -- among all Chicago stations in the afternoon. The improved ratings have brought in bigger advertisers and annual revenue of about $35 million. The station moved into its own building near Chicago’s Sears Tower, and its staff has grown in recent years from about 30 employees to more than 200.

This week, WCIU outbid the Fox-owned stations in Chicago to run syndicated episodes of the popular “The Bernie Mac Show.” In the fall, it will try to broaden its reach with other established shows such as “King of Queens” and “Becker.”

Sports programming also has helped elevate the stature and ratings of WCIU, which uses the slogan “U’z Got It.”

An agreement three years ago with Tribune allows WCIU rights to broadcast Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls games when they conflict with WB shows on the Tribune-owned station.

The station is still a little quirky. It broadcasts a Saturday afternoon horror matinee hosted by a local personality who calls himself “Svengoolie,” and two hours of Three Stooges on Saturday nights dubbed “StoogeApalooza.” A recent casting call for promotional spots featuring area dogs, “Dog-On TV,” attracted more than 60 hounds.

“They’re not doing this at NBC,” Sabin said. “This place has always been a Chicago original. The rules of the business don’t apply here.”

But the rules are changing.

On Monday, FCC commissioners probably will lift a cap that bars any company from owning TV stations reaching more than 35% of U.S. homes with TVs. The commission is expected to raise the cap to 45%, which could lead to more media consolidation.

Instead of buying stations in small cities, media giants are interested in owning multiple stations in a market to achieve operating efficiencies. And that makes big-city independents such as WCIU vulnerable.

“If local ownership is lost, then there will also be a loss of local public service,” said Joseph Angiotti, chairman of the broadcasting program at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism in Chicago.

That loss probably would be felt at the Chicago Public Schools district. WCIU and its sister station, WFBT-TV Channel 23, produce two shows for the district, a weekly afternoon “Homework Show” and “Sports Edition.” The company loses money on the shows.

“Large media companies wouldn’t even bother with us,” said David Finney, director of TV services for Chicago Public Schools. The difference, he said, are the owners of WCIU.

“Their roots are here. They still live here, and they employ people here, and so they are more inclined to give something back to the community,” Finney said.

“But if a station is owned by some giant media company, then the New York office or the L.A. office will be calling the shots. You just don’t know whether you’ll get that same kind of commitment.”