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WGBO-DT
WGBO-DT (channel 66) is a television station licensed to Joliet, Illinois, United States, serving as the Chicago-area outlet for the Spanish-language network Univision. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Aurora-licensed UniMás station WXFT-DT (channel 60). The two stations share studios at 541 North Fairbanks Court in the Streeterville neighborhood; WGBO-DT's transmitter is located atop the John Hancock Center.
WGBO was established as WFBN in 1981 and primarily aired subscription television (STV) programming from the Spectrum service. After a consolidation in the Chicago STV market in 1984, the station converted to a more typical independent station. It was owned by the Grant Broadcasting System from 1986 to 1988, during which time it was the least successful station in the company's portfolio. Combined Broadcasting, the consortium of creditors formed in the wake of Grant's bankruptcy, sold the station to Univision in 1994, giving the network its first full-time outlet in Chicago in six years. Since 1995, WGBO has been Chicago's Univision station and has also produced Spanish-language local newscasts.
In 1979, four firms applied for construction permits to build television stations on Joliet's channel 66. Three of them had the same idea. American Television and Communications Corporation (ATC) was the division of Time Inc. that owned subscription television service Preview. Channel 66 of Illinois was owned by Clint Murchison, who owned Subscription Television of America. Focus Broadcasting Company, a company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, was the third applicant; it, too, sought STV, having secured a lease for technology and programming of the Wometco Home Theater service operating in the New York area. A fourth bid was received from Lago Grande Television Company.
The four bidders agreed on a settlement under which Focus was granted the construction permit on July 22, 1980. ATC and Lago Grande's bids were dismissed after the companies were reimbursed for their costs. Murchison provided financing for the station, guaranteeing loans of up to $7 million for its construction in exchange for most of the revenue to be garnered from STV programming. However, before launch, Murchison sold most of his interest to another Texas company: Buford Television of Tyler. Buford, whose only broadcast properties were TV stations in Tyler and Lufkin, Texas, was making an entry into the STV game. In 1980, it built and signed on WBTI, a hybrid subscription and ad-supported station in Cincinnati, and it had filed for permits to build similar stations in other cities.
WFBN began broadcasting on September 18, 1981, and its subscription offering, Spectrum, initiated programming on the 29th. Several months later, Buford sold a majority 80 percent stake in its STV interests, grouped under the Home Entertainment Network banner, to United Cable of Denver for $20 million. United launched its third and final STV station, KTMA-TV in Minneapolis, in September 1982.
Spectrum was Chicago's second-largest STV operation behind ON TV on WSNS-TV (channel 44). By March 1983, WFBN's Spectrum had 60,000 subscribers to the 125,000 for ON TV on WSNS; further, Spectrum had not turned a profit since it launched, and the industry was starting to shrink as cable penetration increased (though the city of Chicago itself was still not cabled). It tied up almost all of channel 66's broadcast hours, with WFBN's lone free offerings being a daily exercise show and a public affairs program aired twice a week. The station, however, did try several other ad-supported programs in 1983, the most notable being a morning show, It's Too Early, helmed by longtime Chicago radio DJ Steve Dahl; it lasted less than a month after Focus claimed viewers complained, thinking the program too obscene for "public viewing".
In August 1983, United Cable wrote down the Home Entertainment Network division and put all three of its STV systems up for sale. United Cable sold the Chicago business to ON TV parent Oak Communications, and Spectrum subscribers began viewing a simulcast of ON TV programming on March 1, 1984, allowing for Oak to convert them to ON TV equipment using WSNS-TV's signal.
WFBN began to prepare for a life beyond STV programming. Operational responsibilities were transferred to UPI, the wire service that Focus principals Douglas Ruhe and William Geissler had purchased in 1982. Media Capital Group took a minority stake in the station; the firm solicited investors for limited partnerships. The STV simulcasts ended on May 31, 1984, and the next day, the station debuted an interim format consisting of 18 hours a day of music videos to last it through the summer. The station then became a conventional independent focusing on syndicated reruns and movies, as well as telecasts of Loyola Ramblers basketball games.
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WGBO-DT
WGBO-DT (channel 66) is a television station licensed to Joliet, Illinois, United States, serving as the Chicago-area outlet for the Spanish-language network Univision. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Aurora-licensed UniMás station WXFT-DT (channel 60). The two stations share studios at 541 North Fairbanks Court in the Streeterville neighborhood; WGBO-DT's transmitter is located atop the John Hancock Center.
WGBO was established as WFBN in 1981 and primarily aired subscription television (STV) programming from the Spectrum service. After a consolidation in the Chicago STV market in 1984, the station converted to a more typical independent station. It was owned by the Grant Broadcasting System from 1986 to 1988, during which time it was the least successful station in the company's portfolio. Combined Broadcasting, the consortium of creditors formed in the wake of Grant's bankruptcy, sold the station to Univision in 1994, giving the network its first full-time outlet in Chicago in six years. Since 1995, WGBO has been Chicago's Univision station and has also produced Spanish-language local newscasts.
In 1979, four firms applied for construction permits to build television stations on Joliet's channel 66. Three of them had the same idea. American Television and Communications Corporation (ATC) was the division of Time Inc. that owned subscription television service Preview. Channel 66 of Illinois was owned by Clint Murchison, who owned Subscription Television of America. Focus Broadcasting Company, a company headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, was the third applicant; it, too, sought STV, having secured a lease for technology and programming of the Wometco Home Theater service operating in the New York area. A fourth bid was received from Lago Grande Television Company.
The four bidders agreed on a settlement under which Focus was granted the construction permit on July 22, 1980. ATC and Lago Grande's bids were dismissed after the companies were reimbursed for their costs. Murchison provided financing for the station, guaranteeing loans of up to $7 million for its construction in exchange for most of the revenue to be garnered from STV programming. However, before launch, Murchison sold most of his interest to another Texas company: Buford Television of Tyler. Buford, whose only broadcast properties were TV stations in Tyler and Lufkin, Texas, was making an entry into the STV game. In 1980, it built and signed on WBTI, a hybrid subscription and ad-supported station in Cincinnati, and it had filed for permits to build similar stations in other cities.
WFBN began broadcasting on September 18, 1981, and its subscription offering, Spectrum, initiated programming on the 29th. Several months later, Buford sold a majority 80 percent stake in its STV interests, grouped under the Home Entertainment Network banner, to United Cable of Denver for $20 million. United launched its third and final STV station, KTMA-TV in Minneapolis, in September 1982.
Spectrum was Chicago's second-largest STV operation behind ON TV on WSNS-TV (channel 44). By March 1983, WFBN's Spectrum had 60,000 subscribers to the 125,000 for ON TV on WSNS; further, Spectrum had not turned a profit since it launched, and the industry was starting to shrink as cable penetration increased (though the city of Chicago itself was still not cabled). It tied up almost all of channel 66's broadcast hours, with WFBN's lone free offerings being a daily exercise show and a public affairs program aired twice a week. The station, however, did try several other ad-supported programs in 1983, the most notable being a morning show, It's Too Early, helmed by longtime Chicago radio DJ Steve Dahl; it lasted less than a month after Focus claimed viewers complained, thinking the program too obscene for "public viewing".
In August 1983, United Cable wrote down the Home Entertainment Network division and put all three of its STV systems up for sale. United Cable sold the Chicago business to ON TV parent Oak Communications, and Spectrum subscribers began viewing a simulcast of ON TV programming on March 1, 1984, allowing for Oak to convert them to ON TV equipment using WSNS-TV's signal.
WFBN began to prepare for a life beyond STV programming. Operational responsibilities were transferred to UPI, the wire service that Focus principals Douglas Ruhe and William Geissler had purchased in 1982. Media Capital Group took a minority stake in the station; the firm solicited investors for limited partnerships. The STV simulcasts ended on May 31, 1984, and the next day, the station debuted an interim format consisting of 18 hours a day of music videos to last it through the summer. The station then became a conventional independent focusing on syndicated reruns and movies, as well as telecasts of Loyola Ramblers basketball games.
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