Tuesday, January 30, 2007

WBBM Resets Bears Clock After Complaints

(From The Chicago Tribune.com)

WBBM-Channel 2 found out the hard way that, contrary to conventional wisdom, it is possible for a Chicago media outlet to overdo this whole Super Bowl thing.

WBBM on Sunday night squeezed a blue-and-orange countdown clock into a corner of the screen to show the days, hours and minutes remaining until the Chicago Bears meet the Indianapolis Colts in Miami.

Turns out, this was a bad idea.

The time ticked away.

The audience got ticked off.

"We were bombarded by viewers who said it was annoying, it was distracting," Channel 2 news boss CAROL FOWLER said. "It wasn't appreciated by people watching THE HALLMARK MOVIE OF THE WEEK."

Somehow, these people already were aware the Bears have a big game Sunday -- on WBBM, as luck would have it -- and felt the clutter of a clock wasn't necessary.

So, by midmorning Monday, after more than half a day on the air, the station had removed it from all network programming.

WBBM Resets Bears Clock After Complaints

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