Posted by chicagomedia.org on May 25, 2008 at 13:37:45:
Ch. 2 built it, but will viewers now come?
Phil Rosenthal | Media
May 25, 2008
Physically, they will travel less than a mile and a half.
Technologically, it's a far greater distance.
And psychologically, we're talking light years.
In just two weeks, the first WBBM-Ch. 2 staffers will escape their dilapidated broadcast barn on McClurg Court, settling into the station's new state-of-the-art facility at Washington and Dearborn across from Daley Plaza. The rest of the evacuees will come in a pair of subsequent waves, setting the stage for a high-def on-air debut in late July with all the fanfare CBS can muster.
All of this undoubtedly will come as something of a surprise to those who have been listening to years of talk about relocating Channel 2 from the joint that wasn't exactly cutting edge even in 1960, when Jack Kennedy and Dick Nixon squared off in their first televised presidential debate. Even as WBBM forged ahead with plans for new offices and studios on the famously cursed Block 37 site, there were enough problems with developers and whatnot along the way for some still to doubt.
Not among them Joe Ahern, who inherited the long-standing problem of relocating and upgrading Channel 2 when he took over the station in 2002 and is so eager to get the move completed he's already having packages delivered for him to pick up at the new 22 W. Washington address.
"There were times when I felt like Nehemiah in the Bible," Ahern said Friday, referring to the story of the leader who overcame sundry obstacles to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem fresh in his mind from a recent service. "I just wouldn't allow that thinking to creep into my mind. I said, 'No matter what the obstacle is, I'm either going to go over it, around it, under it or through it in order to make it happen.' I was just so committed to making sure I got it done."
Channel 2 once hoped to move by late last year. Obviously, that didn't happen. Ahern will have to content himself that he will be in his new office suite by June 9, his birthday.
The new ground-floor news set, from the same outfit that has designed sets for "The Daily Show," "SportsCenter," Martha Stewart's syndicated show and "ABC World News," is set to arrive sometime next week.
"When we open up this building and get launched, it will be the finest broadcast facility in America," Ahern said.
These are tough times for all traditional media, however. Earlier this year, Ahern had to release 18 staff members, mostly from news, including marquee on-air talent such as Diann Burns, Mark Malone and Mary Ann Childers in a cost-cutting move and realignment of resources.
Meanwhile, if corners were cut on this broadcast palace, they are tough to spot. The marble in Ahern's office bathroom shower, along with just about everything else the place has to offer, is sure to impress any visitor and already has been talked about among the rank and file.
Every furnishing has been carefully selected, from the "Star Trek" assignment desk in the newsroom to the designer-quality leather chairs around the conference tables, which feature fancy built-in gizmos for presentations.
"I had a leather chair in the other office, and it's 40 years old, so I would hope you don't make it look wasteful," Ahern said. "The thing I would hate is that after all this is that we would open up and people would say, 'Oh gee. It wasn't that great.' Because this really is an opportunity to shape people's perception of this television station."
Ahern sounds giddy as he conducts what must be his umpteenth tour. He points to this corner and that amid the new offices—not quite finished—as a venue to entertain clients and stage events. He talks about the 50,000 or so passersby who will see the building each weekday and the huge video screen outside where advertisers' spots can run and, at every chance, notes the high-tech advances the new facility affords, hoping it will be a magnet for outside production the way Chicago's NBC Tower has.
"We're over 50 years in the making of this," he said. "It's the opportunity to take all the best of technology has available for us and serve the community. So that we will never waiver on. This was a huge commitment to the city of Chicago and we wanted to do it right. It is beautiful. We're proud of it."
When plans first were drafted for this site a few years back, the idea was that the first-class facility might be home to a first-place newscast. WBBM, decades removed from the upper echelon of local ratings, has shown some improvement of late and just introduced its latest new news team. But getting within striking distance of the top is proving every bit as difficult as getting away from McClurg Court, maybe more so.
"This building and this change really completes the last almost six years of rebuilding the television station," Ahern said. "We've won all kinds of critical acclaim, but this really gives us an opportunity to showcase the station in a whole different way to the audience, and I hope that it gives the audience an idea of what this station is fully capable of."
The staff will make its big move soon, but will the audience?