WGBO-DT, virtual channel 66 (UHF digital channel 35), is a Univision owned-and-operated television station serving Chicago, Illinois, United States that is licensed to Joliet. The station is owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications, as part of a duopoly with Aurora-licensed UniMás owned-and-operated station WXFT-DT (channel 60). The two stations share studios on Fairbanks Court (near Columbus Drive and Illinois Street); WGBO's transmitter is located atop the John Hancock Center on North Michigan Avenue, both in the Streeterville neighborhood.
History
As an independent station
Early history
The station first signed on the air on September 18, 1981 as independent station WFBN. Originally owned by Nashville-based Focus Broadcasting, it initially ran local public-access programs during the daytime hours and the subscription television service Spectrum during the nighttime. By 1982, WFBN ran Spectrum programming almost 24 hours a day; however, by the fall of 1983, Spectrum shared the same schedule with that service's Chicago subscription rival ONTV. The station as well as ONTV parent National Subscription Television faced legal scrutiny because of its lack of news or public affairs programming and was faced with class action lawsuits because of the pornographic films aired by ONTV during late-night timeslots, with some of these legal challenges continuing even after ONTV was discontinued; however, a ruling by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) permitted broadcast television stations to air content normally considered indecent through an amendment to its definition of what constituted "public airwaves" declaring that "broadcasts which could not be seen and heard in the clear by an ordinary viewer with an ordinary television" were exempt, as long as the signal was encrypted.
| TV stations in Illinois | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago market independent stations: | Chicago market Spanish stations: | Chicago market religious stations: | Other stations: |
| WGN, Chicago | WOCK-CD, Chicago | WEDE-CD, Arlington Heights | W15BU-D, Johnson City |
| WESV-LD, Chicago | WWTO, Naperville | WTJR, Quincy | |
| WMEU-CD, Chicago | WSNS, Chicago | WDCI-LD, Chicago | WHOI, Peoria |
| WXFT, Aurora | WLPD-CD, Chicago | WCHU-LD, Rochelle | |
| WPVN-CD, Aurora | WTCT, Chicago | WWME-CD, Chicago | |
| WGBO-DT, Aurora | WPXS, Mount Vernon, IL/St. Louis, MO | WRJK-LP, Chicago | |
| WYCC, Chicago | |||
| W40CN-D, Sugar Grove | |||
| WLCF-LD, Decatur | |||
| WBXC-CD, Champaign | |||
| WCHU-LD, Rochelle | |||
| W25DW-D, Chicago | |||
| WMWC, Galesburg | |||
| TV stations in Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana |
|---|
| WBBM 2 (CBS) WMAQ 5 (NBC) WLS 7 (ABC) WGN 9 (Ind) WTTW 11 (PBS) WOCK-CD 13 (Ind) WYCC 20 (MHz) WRJK-LP 22 (Diya TV) WWME-CD 23 (MeTV) WPVN-CD 24 (AZA) W25DW-D 25 (HSN) WCIU 26 (CW) WLPD-CD 30 (Inspire) WFLD 32 (Fox) WEDE-CD 34 (Ind) WWTO 35 (TBN) WCPX 38 (Ion) WESV-LD 40 (ESTRELLA) WSNS 44 (TLM) WMEU-CD 48 (Ind) WPWR 50 (MNTV) WYIN 56 (PBS) WDCI-LD 57 (Daystar) WXFT-DT 60 (UMas) WCHU-LD 61 (JTV) WJYS 62 (Ind) WGBO-DT 66 (UNI) |