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Station of Tomorrow
In October 1964, there were five UHF television channels assigned to Chicago, and WFLD had one of them, channel 32. Field Communications, which owned the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Daily News, announced plans to construct a one million watt TV station at Marina City. It was their second application – the first one, for channel 38, was withdrawn.
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WFLD went on the air at 7:00 p.m. on January 4, 1966. Hosting the opening ceremonies was Sun-Times columnist Irv Kupcinet (1912-2003), who would spend 27 years in television and earn 15 local Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award.
The station was still on the top floor of the Kemper Insurance Building at 20 North Wacker Drive (now Civic Opera Building) but WFLD would eventually move to Marina City. At the time it went on the air, there were television sets in 2.5 million homes in Chicago, but only 823,000 could receive UHF. Still, in a 1966 Sun-Times article, WFLD was called the “Station of Tomorrow.”
Today, WFLD is a five million watt station owned by Fox Broadcasting Company. Its transmitter is located on John Hancock Center.
(left) Statue of Kupcinet on Wacker Drive near Marina City.
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