Broadcasters hit airwaves as floodwater hits the Loop // Broadcasters, water had Loop covered

Chicago's broadcast newsrooms rose to the occasion Monday asflood waters rose throughout the Loop.

From midmorning on, all three network-owned television stationsdumped their regular daytime lineups of soap operas, game shows andgabfests to air live, continuous reports on the crisis.

Radio's one glaring exception to otherwise predictable coveragewas the decision by "all-news" WMAQ-AM (670) to cut away from thenews to broadcast the Chicago White Sox home opener during theafternoon.

Not since the death of Mayor Harold Washington in 1987 has onelocal news story so thoroughly dominated the air waves around theclock. Held together by top-gun news anchors, broadcast coverage wasprofessional, responsible and, for the most part, remarkably free ofhysteria.

"I can't imagine anything as big as this story," said oneseasoned television news executive, who asked not to be identified."You've got about a million people affected by a freak accident forwhich the city had no backup plan. The impact is incalculable."

Even the nation's top-rated network newscast, "ABC World NewsTonight with Peter Jennings," saw fit to lead with the Chicago story.

Handicapped by electrical power shutoffs prompted by the floodswas WLS-Channel 7 (with studios at 190 N. State and transmitter atthe Sears Tower both within the affected area). The station wasknocked off the air for about four minutes around 11:30 a.m., withcolor bars filling the screen. Regular broadcasting resumed thanksto a backup generator that supplied limited power.

"We're operating with maxiTurn to Page 43 Continued from Page 15 mum staff and minimum equipment," Channel 7 news anchor Mary AnnChilders told viewers. For several hours, the station was forced todo without its usual array of graphics, maps and othercomputer-generated visual enhancements.

Although nonbroadcast personnel also were evacuated from NBCTower as a precaution, WMAQ-Channel 5 was up and running with thestory from the start of its "Chicago Live" program at 9 a.m.

Channel 5 news anchor Ron Magers, who performed masterfullyalongside Warner Saunders in the studio, showed no sign of fatigueeven though he had been working since pre-dawn hours Monday asfill-in newscaster for Jonathon Brandmeier's WLUP-AM/FM (1000 and97.9) morning show.

WBBM-Channel 2 was the last of the big three to go on withcontinuous coverage, although it quickly recovered once news anchorBill Kurtis rushed in to the studio from out of town, and reporterJay Levine took command at the Chicago River accident site.

At one point, Levine immodestly but truthfully told viewers: "Ithink we're in the right spot - but we have been for much of themorning." His panoramic vantage point - on the eighth floor balconyof an attorney's office overlooking the scene - was unbeatable.

Perhaps hardest hit of all Chicago television outlets wasWCIU-Channel 26, which was knocked off the air for hours when powerwas lost at its studios in the Chicago Board of Trade building, 141W. Jackson Blvd. Also affected for limited periods were WTTW-Channel11, WPWR-Channel 50 and WEHS-Channel 60, all of which share SearsTower transmitter space with Channel 7 and Channel 26.

On the radio side, officials of seven local stations held theircollective breaths for most of the day as they faced the prospect oflosing their transmissions from atop Sears Tower.

WBBM-FM (96.3), WJMK-FM (104.3) and WCKG-FM (105.9) had nobackup transmitters to employ if power to their Sears site had beencut. The four others, WLIT-FM (93.9), WLS-FM (94.7), WTMX-FM (101.9)and WWBZ-FM (103.5), had auxiliary transmission plans in place.Sears Tower never shut off its antennas, however.

Elsehwere on the air Monday: WMAQ described its decision to switch to the White Sox broadcast at1:15 p.m. as a "tough call." News director Jim Frank said: "In ourview the (flood) story had stabilized itself by 1 o'clock and theworst of the crisis had passed." The station's competitors wereflabbergasted by the call. WJMK and sister station WJJD-AM (1160), which lost power temporarilyat its 180 N. Michigan studios, played tapes for about two hoursduring the middle of the day. No one answered phones at the station. After power was cut at the 333 N. Michigan studios of ABC Radiocommentator Paul Harvey, WLS-AM (890) invited Harvey to broadcastfrom its facilities at 190 N. State. All-talk WLS also was the firstto take out newspaper ads urging listeners to "keep your head abovewater!"

Mary Ann Bill Magers Childers Kurtis