[IRCA] WBBM's News Format Turns 40

["Tim Kridel" <tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think Rod Zimmerman came to WBBM from KMOX.


 


40th Anniversary Today For WBBM Newsradio 780


Staff Celebrate With Live Broadcast From Daley Plaza, Free Cake For
Listeners


CHICAGO (CBS) ― Forty years ago Tuesday, WBBM Newsradio 780 began its tenure
as an all-news station, and the staff are celebrating in style. 

WBBM 780 anchors Sherman Kaplan and Kris Kridel broadcast the Noon Business
Hour from Daley Plaza Tuesday, and visitors were offered a free piece of
40th anniversary cake to accompany their traffic and weather on the eights. 

"It looks like a Bears game is supposed to start, there's so many people out
here," WBBM 780 General Manager Rod Zimmerman said as he cut the cake.

At 7:04 p.m. Tuesday night, WBBM 780 will broadcast "40 Years of Memories:
How It All Started," a retrospective with interviews, bloopers and other
memorable moments. 

In the late 1960s, WBBM-AM had been an all-talk station called "The Talk of
Chicago," and before that, they had featured showmanship and radio theatre.
But in May 1968, in a period in history infamous for civil unrest in Chicago
and across the nation, news director John Callaway led the transition to an
all-news station. 

CBS 2's Susan Carlson reports Kaplan and Kridel have worked at the radio
station for decades and have their own favorite moments. 

"I like the memories I have of the newsroom when there's a breaking news
story and we all jump on it," Kridel said. 

"The death of Mayor Daley, Mayor Washington, the crash of the Wabash street
'L', terrible things that have happened, but that's when news people go to
work," Kaplan said. 

Technology has certainly changed the news gathering process over the years.
Producer Leon Colvin has been at WBBM almost from the start. 

"We've gone from teletype machines to computers to get our news and get it
on the air faster," Colvin said. 

But the more things change, the more they stay the same. 

"Chicago politics has not changed in the past 37 years. Different players,
different faces, but the way politics are run in Chicago is basically the
same," Colvin said. 

And just as it has for four decades, Newsradio 780 is still there to cover
it all. 

To celebrate 40 years in the business of covering the news, WBBM 780 has
also created a Web site,  <http://www.wbbm780history.com/>
http://www.wbbm780history.com, featuring photo and video galleries showing
the station's history, and audio archives showcasing how the news was
covered for each of the last four decades. 

WBBM 780 is CBS 2's sister station, and was our upstairs neighbor at 630 N.
McClurg Ct. from 1956 until 2006, when they moved to 2 Prudential Plaza. 

CBS 2's Susan Carlson contributed to this report.

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