CHICAGO — Get ready for Block Club Chicago on TV.
The award-winning neighborhood news site is teaming with Weigel Broadcasting Co.’s CW26 and The U for a new weekly televised newsmagazine called “On The Block.”
“On The Block,” a half-hour weekly show, will launch in April on The U and CW26. It will tell community stories with visually rich and longer-form news content, giving viewers television news in a way they’ve never seen before.
Hosted by Brandon Pope, the show will provide in-depth coverage of Chicago’s more than 100 neighborhoods and outlying suburbs from Block Club reporters and Jon Hansen, who you hear hosting our “It’s All Good” podcast. Hansen also serves at the show’s coordinating producer.
“Social media has a played an important role in how people access the news, and with ‘On the Block’ we are taking some of the visually compelling themes and amplifying those for television. You won’t see any anchors reading copy behind a desk,” said Afua Owusu, Director of News & Local Content for CW26 and The U. “Our partnership with Block Club Chicago affirms our commitment to producing diverse local content that represents the city as a whole; it also gives us an opportunity to be innovative within the local news landscape.”
“On the Block” airs on The U at 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 a.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. Sundays. The program is broadcast on CW26 at 10 a.m. Saturdays and on WWME/ME TV Chicago at 7 a.m. Sundays. An encore of the prior week’s episode airs on The U at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays.
“Block Club prides itself on telling a wide range of unique stories from all over the city, including for people often ignored by legacy media,” said Shamus Toomey, publisher and one of three co-founders of Block Club. “We are absolutely thrilled to team up with Weigel Broadcasting and get these stories out to a wider audience.”
The U is found at WMEU, Channel 48.1 and WCIU, Channel 26.2, XFINITY 230|360, RCN 610, WOW 170, Dish 48, Spectrum Charter 191 and U-Verse 24. CW26 is seen on WCIU, Channel 26.1, XFINITY 183|1026, RCN 6/606, WOW 10/207, Dish 26, Direct TV 26, Spectrum Charter 22/616 and U-Verse 10/1010.
See part of the opener here:
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