Starting Jan. 6, WLS Chicago will become the first station in Nielsen's No. 3 market to broadcast its complete local news and programming lineup in high-definition.
Converting from 4:3 standard-def to 16:9 hi-def, the station will air 33 hours of local news per week—along with its other programming—in the HD format, providing more hours of HD viewing than any other station in the market. It is already the only Chicago station with an HD helicopter.
Said President and General Manager Emily Barr about the move to HD, "We've had to rebuild our entire plant. From an engineering perspective, it has been a tremendous amount of work."
Kal Hassan, VP of engineering, said, “[WLS] has one of the most advanced, all-digital facilities in the country,pioneering the way here with an all-HD infra structure that includes HD control rooms, HD studio and remote cameras, HD graphics weather system and HD-capable live trucks."
