owned and operated television station in chicago . for broadcast stations that previously used the wmaq call sign see wmaq disambiguation . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wmaq tv chicago illinois united states branding nbc 5 chicago general nbc 5 secondary nbc 5 news newscasts slogan we are chicago channels digital 29 uhf virtual 5 psip subchannels 5.1 nbc 5.2 cozi tv affiliations nbc o & o owner nbcuniversal nbc telemundo license llc first air date october 8 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 10 08 call letters meaning we must answer questions derived from former sister station wmaq radio now wscr sister station s broadcast television wsns tv cable satellite comcast sportsnet chicago former callsigns wnbq 1948 1964 former channel number s analog 5 vhf 1948 2009 former affiliations dt2 nbc weather plus 2005 2008 nbc plus 2008 2012 dt3 universal sports 2008 2012 transmitter power 350 kw height 508 m 1 667 ft facility id 47905 transmitter coordinates 41 52 44 n 87 38 10 w 41.87889 n 87.63611 w 41.87889 ; 87.63611 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.nbcchicago.com wmaq tv virtual channel 5 uhf digital channel 29 is an nbc owned and operated television station located in chicago illinois united states . the station is owned by nbcuniversal owned television stations subsidiary of nbcuniversal and is part of a duopoly with telemundo station wsns tv channel 44 ; both networks are owned by nbcuniversal a subsidiary of comcast which it is also co owned with regional sports network comcast sportsnet chicago . wmaq tv maintains studio facilities and business offices at the nbc tower on north columbus drive in the city s streeterville neighborhood and its transmitter is located atop the willis tower on south wacker drive in the chicago loop . in the few areas of the eastern united states where an nbc station is not receivable over the air wmaq tv is available on satellite via directv and dish network . it is also carried on comcast xfinity rcn wow and at & t u verse channel 5 with an high definition feed on comcast xfinity digital channel 188 rcn digital channel 605 wow digital channel 203 and at & t u verse digital channel 1005 and on certain cable providers in markets where an nbc affiliate is not available . contents 1 history 1.1 2016 dish network retransmission dispute 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 wmaq dt2 2.3 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 station oddities 3.2 current syndicated programming produced in chicago 3.3 former syndicated programming produced in chicago 3.4 other wmaq tv produced programs 3.5 former wmaq tv produced programs 3.6 sports programming 4 news operation 4.1 awards and honors 4.2 controversies 4.2.1 len o connor 4.2.2 jerry springer 4.2.3 amy jacobson 4.2.4 governor quinn campaign commercial 4.3 ratings 4.4 on air staff 4.4.1 notable current on air staff 4.4.2 notable former on air staff 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit for the pre 1948 history of the station see wmaq am . the station first signed on the air on october 8 1948 under the call letters wnbq . it was the fourth television station to sign on in the chicago market after wenr tv channel 7 now wls tv which signed on three weeks earlier on september 17 ; wgn tv channel 9 which debuted six months earlier in april ; wbkb channel 4 now wbbm tv on channel 2 which debuted in september 1946 and was the last of the city s four commercial vhf stations to launch . 1 it was also the third of nbc s five original owned and operated television stations to begin operations after wnbt now wnbc in new york city which signed on as a full time commercial station in july 1941 and wnbw now wrc tv in washington d.c. which signed on in june 1947 ; wnbk now wkyc in cleveland and knbh now knbc in los angeles did not sign on until october 31 1948 and january 16 1949 respectively . the station initially broadcast a minimum of two hours of programming per day . station camera in 1951 . singer actress connie russell from garroway at large and her daughter are pictured . prior to the station s sign on the station originally was going to designate wnby as its call letters ; however at nbc s request the federal communications commission approved an application filed by the network to change the station s calls to wnbq a move that was announced on march 3 1948 . nbc officials cited the need to avoid possible confusion with wmaq am fm competitor wmbi 1110 am and to obtain a callsign that was closer to co owned nbc red network radio station wmaq 670 am frequency now occupied by wscr ; and 101.1 fm now wkqx as the reasoning for the change . 2 the station s first mid week broadcast came the month following its sign on when paul winchell and joseph dunninger were featured on the nbc variety series the floor show . the half hour program was recorded via kinescope and rebroadcast on wnbq at 8 30 p.m. on thursdays . 3 wmaq tv originated several programs for the nbc television network from its original studio facilities a 170 000 square foot 3.9 acre studio on the 19th floor of the merchandise mart on the city s near north side during the 1950s including kukla fran and ollie featuring burr tillstrom and fran allison ; garroway at large starring dave garroway ; and studs place hosted by studs terkel . television critics referred to the broadcasts often low budget with few celebrity guests but a good deal of inventiveness as examples of the chicago school of television . 4 5 the station installed equipment to produce and transmit its programming in color in late 1953 ; wnbq s first notable color telecast occurred in january 1954 when the station broadcast nbc s telecast of the rose bowl parade in the format . channel 5 aired its first local program to be broadcast in color when john ott s how does your garden grow debuted in march 1955 which utilized time lapse color film . on april 15 1956 wnbq became the first television station in the world to broadcast all of its programming in color an event described by broadcasting telecasting as a daring breakthrough the black and white curtain completing a project that cost more than 1.25 million to make the upgrades ; the first color telecast from the station on that date was wide wide world which was transmitted to 110 nbc stations across the country . wmaq tv logo used from 1992 to 1995 . although nbc had long owned the wmaq radio stations the television station continued to maintain call letters separate from that used by its co owned radio outlets ; this changed on august 31 1964 when the network changed the station s calls to wmaq tv . 6 7 the calls of its sister radio station were initially assigned by the government but went on to form the phrase we must ask questions which the radio station took on as its motto in the 1920s . although the station s role as a program provider to nbc diminished in the 1960s wmaq tv gathered and distributed more than 200 feeds of news footage per month from overseas and the central united states to nbc news . 8 on december 3 1985 nbc signed a 100 million agreement to lease office space in a three story annex to the north of a planned 34 story 1 000 000 square foot 23 acre skyscraper a project developed by the equitable life asssurance society and tishman speyer properties that would be constructed as part of the cityfront center development on the northwest corner of columbus drive and north water street in which wmaq tv s operations would occupy 251 000 sq ft 5.8 acres of the building ; under the plans for the project nbc was given the option of acquiring an approximately 25 % interest in the building . on october 1 1989 the station officially relocated its operations from the merchandise mart after 40 years and began broadcasting from the nbc tower located on 455 north columbus drive the 19th floor of the mart six blocks west of the nbc tower has since been converted into office space . 9 10 ratings for wmaq tv s newscasts overtook those of wbbm tv in the 1980s but the station could not dethrone market leader wls tv during the period . in 1987 wmaq tv became the first station in the chicago metropolitan area to adopt its real time closed captioning for the hearing impaired in all of its newscasts ; 7 years later in 1994 the closed captioning service was later added to the station s morning newscast . in 1995 wmaq tv changed its on air branding from channel 5 to nbc 5 chicago ; additionally became the first station in chicago to launched its website which provided news reports and information on the station s community initiatives and on air staff members ; the station expanded its internet offerings in 2000 when they branded it as peacock club . for most of its years the station did include the network s logo next to theirs branding solely with the channel number and or call letters vocally and visually outside of network created radio promos which listed the station as nbc 5 or nbc 5 chicago until 1995 . the station is among the few in the nation which has their logo in a transparent bug with time and temperature at all times including nbc network syndicated and news programming though not during commercial breaks or paid programming . in the fall of 2001 nbc television stations buys wsns tv outright result in creating a duopoly with wmaq tv ; as a byproduct of the purchase nbc converted that station into an o & o of telemundo which nbc had purchased earlier that year creating the 2 stations as the first commercial television stations in chicago . wsns tv subsequently integrated its operations into wmaq tv s nbc tower facilities . on september 6 2003 wmaq agreed to lease 4 000 square feet 0.092 acres of space at 401 north michigan avenue one block east of the nbc tower with the intent to build a streetside studio for the chicago market the first to be used for live broadcasting purposes by a chicago television station . 11 on february 26 2004 wmaq tv garnered national attention when katie couric al roker and lester holt hosted the today show on cityfront plaza to unveil the station s streetside studio known as studio 5 . the station s morning and noon newscasts were broadcast from the michigan avenue facility until february 2013 when the studio was closed and the space within the 401 michigan avenue building was put up for sale at which time production of both newscasts was moved back to the nbc tower . 12 13 in november 2007 the federal communications commission proposed a 10 000 fine against wmaq tv for failure to publicize the existence and location of its children s television programming reports because the station did not keep adequate records on commercial limits in children s tv programs . 14 in the fall of 2008 wmaq tv s website was relaunched including a new layout as part of a larger revamp of the websites of nbc s entire o & o station group . 15 on january 18 2011 the fcc and department of justice approves the acqusition of station s parent company nbcuniversal by