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Suppelsa, Robinson, Jacobson, Novarro, Hall. Here's 8 and half minutes of old WFLD promos from the early 2000's. [MEDIA=vimeo]265038850[/MEDIA]

Go to the 5:37 mark...

Joe Donlon did a Facebook Live with Ben and Lourdes, and some interesting stuff came out. He would've debuted sooner, but there were some contractual hiccups in Portland. Also, we all gave a second glance to the fact that both he and Suppelsa are Marquette grads, and close in age. It turns out that they do know each other quite well, and Mark got the ball rolling on his hiring. Joe called Mark to congratulate him on his retirement, and Mark mentioned that they were still looking for a replacement, so it all came together by chance. Also confirmed is his shift. Nothing changes, so he and Micah will still helm the 5, 6, 9 and 10. Also, Donlon speaks fluent Spanish, and wants in on one of the telenovelas. They also schooled him on 'Skilling Time', and how valuable it is.

With a reduced role for Lara, they could stand to shift Michael's focus to the second hour, hell, even 7:30. I know most here are not fans of Strahan, but I generally like these moves. For being a co-anchor, Lara wasn't treated like one, and Amy is finally getting a more established role, so good for both of them.

Porterfield was reinstated at 6 after Crim's exit. Another demotion to weekends in 1985 to make room for Kurtis' return didn't go as smoothly.

Autocorrect.

The 30:44 mark of that video also shows Mort Crim during his relatively brief run at WBBM.

Could've done without the discussion of the Kardashians, but I guess that's the nature of that hour.

Here's an April 1998 playoff edition of "NHL 2Night" on The Deuce. [MEDIA=vimeo]264503147[/MEDIA]

I debated on which station thread to put this in. They nearly switched places, because they also know that this seating arrangement just isn't right. They did an interview and cooking segment, in addition to talking about Linda's new show, and they haven't missed a beat. They should've had Caplan do the weather. He was on the panel at 9am.

I don't know for a fact, but it'll likely a rotation of the CLTV guys, Hamernik, Janssen, and McGill. Paul might come in early a few times, too.

Sylvia is a guest on Linda's new online cooking feature with the Sun-Times.

THEY'RE NOT SHUTTING DOWN THE NEWS OPERATION.

15 years ago tonight... [MEDIA=twitter]983419285149118466[/MEDIA]

No surprise, but the old ESPN graphics remain for Cubs broadcasts. The package is ultimately inoffensive, and I wish they would've done something with the scoreboard, but I figured that that was unlikely. This will be the look for the 5-year deal.

Two gentleman who don't get enough credit when groundbreaking racial diversity is discussed in Chicago TV history. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1670851022964703

When doing the obligatory 1948 comparisons, they showed a Sinclair gas station for fuel prices. I'm dying.

I totally forgot that he hosted that special. In addition to his Chicago ties, WGN probably had 'According to Jim' syndie rights, at that point.

Happy 70th, everyone! More tonight at 8, and across all newscasts.

The weather team has debuted a podcast. The first episode went up more than a week ago, and they're not yet promoting it, so I'd say it's still in soft-launch mode. The thumbnail/icon likely gives another tease at the new graphics I've been speculating about for more than a year. I listened to the first episode, and while it's not the most technical discussion (which is probably a good thing), the meteorologists are able to dive into stuff that doesn't fit into the 1-3 minute windows they have on the newscasts. "Our expert ABC7 meteorologists walk you through weather phenomena, the ins and outs of the weather industry, and give you a detailed look at how weather affects the world around us." http://abc7chicago.com/weather/abc7-chicago-podcasts/3247467/

I'd almost say so. The open was the same, but the bumper sounded different. This theme will work well with the Blackhawks, as the new open sounds like a cross between theirs and the Sox old ones. I doubt this'll jive with the Bulls, though.

Yes, she is. It's remarkable. Maybe it's the surrounding talent, but Cheryl actually has a wider range of emotion. Kaitlin seems to have only two deliveries: 75 degrees and sunshine and rainbows, or 200 degrees and raining hellfire doom.

Playing with the font size and redoing the out indicators really worked wonders for the scorebar. It's still the weakest part of an otherwise great package, but it's not so glaringly off as it was during the dry run. Like the old graphics, the open is my favorite part. Now if ABC 7 could adopt the now-former white ESPN pack, we'd be golden, but I'm not holding my breath.

#GetToKnowJoe

In a bit of a surprise, while the theme is updated and very similar to the old, it now closes with the news theme's signature. It actually sounds pretty good.