WBBM-TV

WBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 (digital channel 12), is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.

History

WBBM-TV traces its history to 1940 when Balaban and Katz, a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures, opened experimental station W9XBK, the first all-electronic television facility in Chicago. Balaban and Katz was already well known for owning several theaters in Chicago. To estalish the station, they hired television pioneer William C. Eddy away from RCA’s experimental station W2XBS in New York. When WWII began, Eddy used the W9XBK facilities as a prototype school for training Navy electronics technicians.”Loop Sailors,” Time Magazine, March 23, 1942; http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,802316,00.htmlEddy, Captain William C.; Television: The Eyes of Tomorrow, Prentice-Hall, 1945

On September 6, 1946, the station received a commercial license as WBKB (meaning Balaban and Katz Broadcasting) on channel 4, the first commercial station outside the Eastern Time Zone, airing some of the earliest CBS programing, including...
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