NBC Tower
Encyclopedia
The NBC Tower is an office tower on the Near north side
of Chicago
, Illinois
, United States
located at 454 North Columbus Drive (455 North Cityfront Plaza is also used as a vanity address for the building) in downtown Chicago's Magnificent Mile area. Completed in 1989, the 37-story building reaches a height of 627 feet (191 m). NBC's Chicago offices, studios, and owned-and-operated station
WMAQ-TV
are located here as of 1989. Formerly its former radio sister WMAQ/WSCR
was located here. WSNS-TV
is also located here.
The design, by Adrian D. Smith
of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, is considered one of the finest reproductions of the Art Deco
style and similar to the GE Building
in New York City
. The tower is further enhanced by the use of limestone
piers and recessed tinted glass with granite
spandrel
s. The building takes cues from the nearby landmark Tribune Tower
with the use of flying buttresses. A 130-foot (40 m) broadcast tower and spire
tops the skyscraper
. WMAQ/NBC has STL
and satellite facilities on the roof and does not actually transmit from the tower, as those facilities are atop Willis Tower. Formerly WMAQ radio/WSCR had its STL and studios here, but now these facilities are at Two Prudential Plaza
as of 2006. However, WSCR does continue to transmit atop Willis Tower.
The building, located in the Cityfront Plaza area, contains 850,000 square feet (79,000 m2) of space and three floors of underground parking with 261 spaces. Connected to the main tower is a four-story radio and television broadcasting facility where popular shows such as Judge Mathis
and WSNS's newscasts and WMAQ's 10pm newscasts are currently taped. Formerly The Jerry Springer Show
, The Steve Wilkos Show
, That '70s Show
and WMAQ/WSCR radio productions taped here. WSNS is also located here.
The Consulate-General of South Korea in Chicago is located in Suite 2700.
Near North Side, Chicago
The Near North Side is one of 77 well-defined community areas of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is located north and east of the Chicago River, just north of the central business district . To its east is Lake Michigan and its northern boundary is the 19th-century city limit of Chicago,...
of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
located at 454 North Columbus Drive (455 North Cityfront Plaza is also used as a vanity address for the building) in downtown Chicago's Magnificent Mile area. Completed in 1989, the 37-story building reaches a height of 627 feet (191 m). NBC's Chicago offices, studios, and owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV
WMAQ-TV, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, located in Chicago, Illinois. WMAQ-TV's main studios and offices are located within the NBC Tower in the Streeterville neighborhood, with an auxiliary street-level studio on the Magnificent Mile at 401...
are located here as of 1989. Formerly its former radio sister WMAQ/WSCR
WSCR
WSCR is a sports radio station in the Chicago, Illinois radio market. The station is owned by CBS Radio and transmits on 670 kHz on the AM dial. Its transmitter is located just off Army Trail Road in Bloomingdale, which is a western suburb of Chicago. It is known as "The Score," and has been on...
was located here. WSNS-TV
WSNS-TV
WSNS-TV, channel 44, is an owned-and-operated station of the Spanish-language Telemundo network, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. This station is owned by NBCUniversal, which is also the parent company of Telemundo...
is also located here.
The design, by Adrian D. Smith
Adrian Smith (architect)
Adrian D. Smith is an American architect who has designed skyscrapers including the Burj Khalifa, Jin Mao Tower and Trump International Hotel and Tower, as well as the proposed Kingdom Tower for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.-Education:...
of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, is considered one of the finest reproductions of the Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style and similar to the GE Building
GE Building
The GE Building is an Art Deco skyscraper that forms the centerpiece of Rockefeller Center in the midtown Manhattan section of New York City. Known as the RCA Building until 1988, it is most famous for housing the headquarters of the television network NBC...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. The tower is further enhanced by the use of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
piers and recessed tinted glass with granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
spandrel
Spandrel
A spandrel, less often spandril or splaundrel, is the space between two arches or between an arch and a rectangular enclosure....
s. The building takes cues from the nearby landmark Tribune Tower
Tribune Tower
The Tribune Tower is a neo-Gothic building located at 435 North Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Tribune and Tribune Company. WGN Radio also broadcasts from the building, with ground-level studios overlooking nearby Pioneer Court and Michigan Avenue. CNN's...
with the use of flying buttresses. A 130-foot (40 m) broadcast tower and spire
Spire
A spire is a tapering conical or pyramidal structure on the top of a building, particularly a church tower. Etymologically, the word is derived from the Old English word spir, meaning a sprout, shoot, or stalk of grass....
tops the skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
. WMAQ/NBC has STL
Studio/transmitter link
A studio-transmitter link sends a radio station's or television station's audio and video from the broadcast studio to a radio transmitter or television transmitter in another location....
and satellite facilities on the roof and does not actually transmit from the tower, as those facilities are atop Willis Tower. Formerly WMAQ radio/WSCR had its STL and studios here, but now these facilities are at Two Prudential Plaza
Two Prudential Plaza
Two Prudential Plaza is a super-tall skyscraper that was built in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois, United States in 1990. At 995 feet tall, it is currently the sixth-tallest building in Chicago and the thirteenth tallest in the United States. The building was designed by the firm Loebl,...
as of 2006. However, WSCR does continue to transmit atop Willis Tower.
The building, located in the Cityfront Plaza area, contains 850,000 square feet (79,000 m2) of space and three floors of underground parking with 261 spaces. Connected to the main tower is a four-story radio and television broadcasting facility where popular shows such as Judge Mathis
Judge Mathis
Judge Mathis is a syndicated television legal reality show produced originally by Black Pearl Productions. In 2008, it entered its tenth season produced by AND Syndicated Productions and Telepictures. It is taped at NBC Tower in Chicago, but includes cases and litigants from other U.S....
and WSNS's newscasts and WMAQ's 10pm newscasts are currently taped. Formerly The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show
The Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
, The Steve Wilkos Show
The Steve Wilkos Show
The Steve Wilkos Show is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Steve Wilkos. The show debuted on September 10, 2007, two months after Wilkos' departure as director of security on The Jerry Springer Show.-History:...
, That '70s Show
That '70s Show
That '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...
and WMAQ/WSCR radio productions taped here. WSNS is also located here.
Tenants
WMAQ/NBC, WSNS/Telemundo and formerly WMAQ/WSCR radio studios were/are here. The Consulate-General of India in Chicago is located in Suite 850.The Consulate-General of South Korea in Chicago is located in Suite 2700.
Shows recorded
In addition to housing these entities, the studios were/are home to the following shows:- iVillage Live (2007)
- The Jenny Jones ShowJenny Jones (presenter)Jenny Jones is a former Canadian American stand-up comedian and talk show host. She hosted The Jenny Jones Show from 1991 to 2003.-Life and career:...
(1991–2003) - The Jerry Springer ShowThe Jerry Springer ShowThe Jerry Springer Show is a syndicated television tabloid talk show hosted by Jerry Springer, a former politician, broadcast in the United States and other countries...
(1991–present; originated from here from 1992 to 2009) - Judge Jeanine PirroJeanine PirroJeanine Ferris Pirro is a former prosecutor, judge, and elected official from the state of New York, who is currently a legal analyst and television personality. A Republican from Westchester County, Pirro served as a county court judge before serving as the elected District Attorney of...
" (2008 – present; to end Fall 2011) - Judge MathisJudge MathisJudge Mathis is a syndicated television legal reality show produced originally by Black Pearl Productions. In 2008, it entered its tenth season produced by AND Syndicated Productions and Telepictures. It is taped at NBC Tower in Chicago, but includes cases and litigants from other U.S....
(1999–present) - Kwik WitzKwik WitzKwik Witz was a syndicated comedy program which aired in syndication, mainly on numerous NBC affiliate stations - usually in the time-slot following Saturday Night Live. The show originated from WMAQ-TV in Chicago, Illinois and was produced by Beau & Arrow Productions...
(1996–1999) - Merv Griffin's CrosswordsMerv Griffin's CrosswordsMerv Griffin's Crosswords is an American game show based on crossword puzzles. The show was created by its namesake, Merv Griffin, who died shortly after beginning production on the series...
(2007–present, pilot shows only) - Sports Action TeamSports Action TeamSports Action Team is a half-hour comedy television series that ran for two seasons in 2006-2007. It was aired by some affiliates of the NBC network and the high definition channel HDNet. It was a semi-improvisational mockumentary depicting the production of a fictional sports news show of the...
(2006–2007) - The Steve Wilkos ShowThe Steve Wilkos ShowThe Steve Wilkos Show is a syndicated American tabloid talk show hosted by Steve Wilkos. The show debuted on September 10, 2007, two months after Wilkos' departure as director of security on The Jerry Springer Show.-History:...
(2007–2009, moved to Connecticut in 2009) - That '70s ShowThat '70s ShowThat '70s Show is an American television period sitcom that centers on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, from May 17, 1976, to December 31, 1979...
(1998-2006) - WMAQ News (All other newscasts tape at a satellite studio at 401 N. Michigan Ave., the 10 p.m. newscast remains in the tower.).
- WMAQ/WSCR Radio (1989-2006)
- WSNS-TV (2002 - present)
See also
- NBC StudiosNBC StudiosThe NBC Studios in New York, New York is located at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the historic GE Building houses the headquarters of the NBC television network, its parent General Electric, and NBC's flagship station WNBC , as well as cable news channel MSNBC.When NBC Universal relocated,...
- List of skyscrapers
- List of tallest buildings in the United States
- List of tallest buildings in Chicago
- World's tallest structures