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By October 1984, WFLD had been at Marina City for almost 17 years. The UHF television station was in the theater building – above Marina Cinemas – but new facilities were being constructed for WFLD on Lake Shore Drive.
(Left) An illustration that promoted a 1982 3D broadcast of “Revenge of the Creature” on WFLD. The UHF television station was located in the theater building, what is now House of Blues, from 1967 to 1986. Various Chicago landmarks are depicted in the illustration, including Marina City. |
Although it had dropped its five-minute evening newscast the year before, in 1984 WFLD was planning to re-enter the competitive Chicago television news market. 48 people would produce a half-hour newscast every weeknight at 7:00 p.m., beginning in mid-1985.
The movie theaters had gone out of business in 1977, so when WFLD left Marina City in 1986, the theater building sat vacant.
Svengoolie remembers ‘The Whale’
“The whale” is what Rich Koz called the building that once housed WFLD. The television station started in the office building where Hotel Chicago is located today but soon moved to the theater building that is now House of Blues. WFLD was on the second and upper floors, above the movie theaters. In the early 1980s the theaters were converted into additional office space for WFLD.
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Better known as “Svengoolie,” Koz is the host of a weekly show on WCIU and the “Me-TV” network. From 1979 to 1986, he was “Son of Svengoolie,” a local cult favorite that featured such films as the 1955 3D thriller, Revenge of the Creature.
(Left) Rich Koz, as “Son of Svengoolie,” on the plaza level at Marina City outside WFLD in 1983. In the background are the theater building, office building, and east tower parking ramp. |
To get to WFLD, a visitor to Marina City would enter the theater building lobby from the ground floor, walk around to the left, and near the back of the building ride the elevator to the upper floors, starting with a studio level that contained WFLD’s master control and two studios, one of which eventually became an office.
(Above) In a 1981 PM Magazine feature, Rich Koz enters the theater building lobby where WFLD-TV is located. An escalator leads down to the restaurants and residential towers. The parking cashier is visible in the lower right corner of the frame. (Above right) The same area in November 2007, now the main entrance to House of Blues.
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(Left) In this 1981 PM Magazine video frame, Rich Koz has entered the building, turned left, and now turns right in the southeast corner of the building to walk toward an elevator. In the background is the west tower. |
Offices were on the next floor up, but above that was a large attic where props, set pieces, and videotapes were stored. One peculiar recollection Koz has is when a stagehand brought down an artificial Christmas tree. Someone said, “How’d you put the snow on it?” To which Koz replied, “That ain’t snow – it’s asbestos!”
Some of the set pieces in the attic were from Cartoon Town with Bill Jackson, a popular children’s program that aired on WFLD from 1968 to 1973.
“We found some old, monogrammed shirts, still in the bags from when they were returned from the dry cleaner that belonged to [Chicago White Sox owner] Bill Veeck, who had done some shows there in the ’70s,” recalled Koz.
Station employees parked on the marina level below the theater building, which could be unpleasant, says Koz. “People were mugged or had their cars broken into down there.”
A stairway led from the marina level all the way up to the storage attic. Says Koz, “Homeless guys would go in there, to the various levels to keep warm or relieve themselves. They couldn’t get into the building levels proper, because the doors on each floor only opened from the inside.”
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Born in 1952, Koz took over the character of Svengoolie from Jerry G. Bishop, with whom he worked on a morning radio show at WMAQ. Svengoolie now airs on WCIU Channel 26 every Saturday night at 9:00 p.m.
(Left) Rich Koz with less makeup. |
Koz subject of 1981 PM Magazine video
Mike Leiderman produced a television feature about WFLD’s Rich Koz for PM Magazine. Originally aired on July 31, 1981, it included video shot at Marina City.
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(Left) This frame from the 1981 feature shows pedestrians on State Street, the State Street entrance to the east tower, and the Marina Cinemas sign. No movies are playing at Marina Cinemas because the triplex theater has been closed since 1977. Koz (center) is turning left to enter the complex south of the east tower. The vertical rods were part of a domed entry (not designed by Bertrand Goldberg Associates) to the east tower that was being constructed in 1981. |
Geoffrey Goldberg, a Chicago architect and son of Marina City architect Bertrand Goldberg, describes what we are looking at: “The Marina Cinemas sign is on the street, more or less. From the height of the bridge, where the shot was taken, the signs look to be low. They are more over by the bank and the office building, just off State Street. They were cantilevered off a single support – on the left – thus you can see underneath them.”
Recalls Koz, “Originally, entering the building lobby on the ground floor, you walked to the rear left, where the WFLD elevator was. This whisked you to the upper floors. First, the studio level, which contained WFLD’s master control and two studios – one of which eventually became a ‘bullpen’ style office.”
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More recently, Mike Leiderman was executive producer of WTTW’s highly regarded nightly newsmagazine, Chicago Tonight.
(Left) Photographed in November 2009, the same area seen in the PM Magazine video, looking north on State Street. Unchanged are the northwest gate arm on the State Street Bridge (except for different colors) and the brick building in the distance, 400 North State Street. |
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