WTTW is a PBS member television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by not-for-profit broadcaster Window to the World Communications, Inc., it is sister to commercial classical music radio station WFMT. The two stations share studios in the Renée Crown Public Media Center, located at 5400 North Saint Louis Avenue in the city's North Park neighborhood; its transmitter facility is atop the Willis Tower on South Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. WTTW also owns and operates The Chicago Production Center, a video production and editing facility that is operated alongside the two stations.
Peter Funt is an American actor, host, and producer for the hit TV show Candid Camera. He worked for Denver radio station KHOW, the ABC Radio Network, The New York Times and various other media organizations. He is a University of Denver graduate.
Meshach Taylor was an American actor, widely known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the CBS sitcom Designing Women (1986–93), for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series. He was also known for his portrayal of Hollywood Montrose, a flamboyant window dresser in the 1987 film Mannequin and its 1991 sequel. He played Sheldon Baylor on the CBS sitcom Dave's World (1993–97), appeared as Tony on the NBC sitcom Buffalo Bill opposite Dabney Coleman, and appeared as the recurring character Alastair Wright, the social studies teacher on the Nickelodeon sitcom Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.
WYCC was a public television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It was last owned by not-for-profit broadcasting entity Window to the World Communications, Inc., alongside PBS member station WTTW and classical music radio station WFMT. WYCC's operations were housed with WTTW and WFMT in the Renée Crown Public Media Center, located at 5400 North Saint Louis Avenue in the city's North Park neighborhood; WYCC and WTTW shared transmitter facilities atop the Willis Tower on South Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. WYCC previously maintained studios at Kennedy–King College on South Union Avenue and Halsted Parkway in the Englewood neighborhood.
Rich Koz is an American actor and broadcaster best known for his portrayal of horror-movie host Svengoolie, as well as his early '90s children's cartoon showcase The Koz Zone. Koz is also the host of the syndicated Stooge-a-Palooza program. In 2021, he was inducted into the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards' Monster Kid Hall of Fame.
Steven John Wilkos is an American television personality and former law enforcement officer with the Chicago Police Department. He has been hosting The Steve Wilkos Show since 2007, and was director of security on Jerry Springer from 1994 to 2007. He had previously substituted for Springer as host on several occasions before being given his own talk show.
Wild Chicago is a television series that aired on Chicago's WTTW from 1989 to 2003. The show took viewers on a trip through Chicago's "urban jungle", highlighting hundreds of offbeat and unusual people, places, and events in the metropolitan area. Subjects included the Chicago Herpetological Society; singing taxicab drivers; flotation tanks; an Ancient Astronaut society; the Inkin' Lincoln Tattoo and Piercing Jamboree; an interstate pierogi festival; a squirrel lovers' club; the Playboy Advisor; a cookie jar museum; and the Polka Music Hall of Fame.
Check, Please! is a multi-Emmy Award winning restaurant review program that began on Chicago's PBS member station WTTW in 2001. The show's popularity inspired spin-offs in several other markets. A San Francisco version of the show, Check, Please! Bay Area, began its first season in 2005, airing on KQED. A Miami version for WPBT, Check, Please! South Florida, debuted in January 2008. Check, Please! Kansas City then began airing on KCPT in 2009, and Check, Please! Arizona on Phoenix's KAET made its debut in 2010. A Seattle version, Check, Please! Northwest, began airing on KCTS in 2012. A Philadelphia version, Check, Please! Philly, debuted in January 2020 on WHYY-TV. A Pittsburgh version, 'Check, Please! Pittsburgh will debut on June 2 on WQED.
Jeff Coopwood is an American actor, singer, broadcaster and educator.
Ernie Manouse is an American television host, radio personality, writer and producer. He currently hosts the interview show InnerVIEWS with Ernie Manouse, produced by HoustonPBS. His work with HoustonPBS has met critical acclaim in the southern United States, earning him numerous KATIE awards and regional Emmy Awards.
Bruce DuMont is an American syndicated radio political analyst and former TV broadcaster based in Chicago, Illinois. He is the host of Beyond the Beltway, a syndicated talk radio show that airs on approximately 25 stations around the United States. The program, which began in 1980 as Inside Politics, also aired a televised version on Chicago's secondary PBS station, WYCC, from 1996 to 2017, when WYCC went off the air.
Phil Ponce is an American journalist and television presenter. Ponce is notable as the former, long-time host of "Chicago Tonight", a weekly television magazine of news and culture on WTTW, Chicago's public television station.
Richard Pilbrow was a British stage lighting designer, author, theatre design consultant, and theatrical producer, film producer and television producer. He was the first British lighting designer to light a Broadway musical on the Broadway stage with the musical Zorba.
John Callaway was an American journalist, who appeared on radio and television as a host, interviewer and moderator. He was the original host of Chicago Tonight, a nightly news program broadcast on the Chicago, Illinois television station WTTW, serving in that role from 1984 to 1999.
WFMT is a commercial FM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a classical music radio format. It is managed by Window to the World Communications, Inc., owner of WTTW, Chicago's Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member station. WFMT seeks donations on the air and on its website. The studios and offices are on North Saint Louis Avenue in Chicago.
Thea Flaum is an American television producer best known as the creator of Sneak Previews, the movie review show featuring Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel. She is currently the president of the Hill Foundation for Families Living with Disabilities, a non-profit organization founded by Flaum and her husband, Robert A. Hill.
Marty Robinson is a retired voice-over announcer for various stations, most notably at WTTW studios.
Steinway Hall was an 11-story office building, and ground-floor theater, located at 64 East Van Buren Street in Chicago, Illinois. The theater had at least 14 names over the years, opening in 1896 as the Steinway Music Hall, and closing in the late 1960s as Capri Cinema. In the early 1900s, the building held the offices and nucleus of a group of famous Chicago architects that included a young Frank Lloyd Wright. These architects, inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement and the philosophies of Louis Sullivan, formed what would become known as the Prairie School.
Milton Lee Olive Park is a public park in the city of Chicago, Illinois. Designed by Dan Kiley, the park is located west of the James W. Jardine Water Purification Plant and adjacent to Jane Addams Memorial Park and Ohio Street Beach. The park provides large grassy areas for recreation as well as paths for walking, jogging, and biking. Several benches are located in the park either in open, sunny areas or areas shaded by tall honey locust trees. The park contains multiple fountains creating large, circular seating areas. Open views of Lake Michigan and the Chicago skyline can be appreciated from the park.
Marshall Izen was an American entertainer whose performances combined puppetry and playing the piano.
