Windy City Live Canceled

[NBC 5 Chicago 215]

Per Robert Feder Windy City Live is cancelled after 10 years effect September 3. 

 

Val Warner and Ryan Chiaverini will continue with ABC 7. 

 

No word on what will replace Windy City Live at 1pm. 

 

Also, Ryan will co-host a tentative titled show "Windy City Weekend" a half hour preview of weekend events at 11:30am Fridays starting September 10. 

[Glimmer 340]

I could see them moving Val into the old Janet Davies beat…

 

As for what’ll replace WCL…if it’s not Tamron Hall then I’m guessing Daytime Jeopardy! and/or Right This Minute 

[Georgie56 3661]

In all likelihood, they'll poach Tamron Hall from WCIU.

[24994J 5888]

The pandemic hurt the budget, yes, but it hurt the format more. The lack of audience and regular studio panelists threw off the balance. The 10th anniversary throwbacks just made the decline more obvious. At this point, I like the idea of the show better than the execution.

 

Cutting the show from 5 hours a week to 30 minutes isn't entirely a bad thing. The host chat segment has been extended from the first 20 minutes to nearly a whole half hour. That's an easy 2.5 hours to lob off. Hopefully they'll also dump the most irrelevant sponsored segments, and they should be left with the best content for that Friday show.

 

Some suggest Ryan goes back to sports. I don't see it, unless it's the lead spot, which Dionne has more than earned, when that time comes. I can't imagine that the 2 of them won't become the primary hosts of Countdown Chicago, in addition to replacing the 190 North format.

[TVNewsLover 861]

I wonder if the lifestyle show “Chicago Today” at 11:30am on WMAQ will be renamed “Chicago Live” to fall in line with the other NBC O&Os. Always felt they shied away from that name because it was too close in name to WCL.

 

I agree Tamron is the likely replacement on the schedule, although Rachael Ray could be another possibility. I also could see Ryan becoming lead sports anchor. Jim can’t be that far away from retirement, so Dion could see a promotion in the near future too.

[CircleSeven 1968]

And to no surprise, Tamron is WCL's replacement on 7. Feder confirms it.

[Georgie56 3661]

We all saw this coming.

[TVNewsLover 861]

Was thinking, does WLS have a features anchor, kind of like Alicia Vitarelli on WPVI? Could totally see Val filling this role on the midday and 4pm show.

[24994J 5888]

30 minutes ago, TVNewsLover said:

Was thinking, does WLS have a features anchor, kind of like Alicia Vitarelli on WPVI? Could totally see Val filling this role on the midday and 4pm show.

 

The 4pm show had a laundry list of credited contributors back in the 80s, covering entertainment, media/TV, health, finances, quirky characters, local heros, and even senior affairs. Sylvia Perez's HealthBeat reports lasted til her 2013 firing. Judy Hsu shifted off the morning news in September 2016, serving as a feature anchor for almost 3 months, in the lead-up to Linda Yu's retirement. No one serves in a role like Alicia on any WLS newscasts, but they don't have an afternoon traffic reporter, either.