Bill Kurtis signs off as scorekeeper and judge on NPR's "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!"
Former CBS Chicago anchorman Bill Kurtis has signed off from his role as the judge and scorekeeper on the NPR weekly news quiz show "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!"
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Former CBS Chicago anchorman Bill Kurtis has signed off from his role as the judge and scorekeeper on the NPR weekly news quiz show "Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!"
A man who is best known to generations of Chicagoans as CBS Chicago's principal anchorman will soon be retiring from his latest act on the airwaves.
A man who is best known to generations of Chicagoans as CBS Chicago's principal anchorman will soon be retiring from his second act on the airwaves.
Gene Siskel was the movie critic for Channel 2 News from 1974 until his death in 1999. In these clips from 1978 and 1979, we see some of his lighter moments in the newsroom, and particularly his repartee with anchorman Walter Jacobson.
Thirty years ago this week, temperatures in Chicago hit an all-time record of 106 degrees in a heat wave that ended up being to blame for 739 deaths. This is Channel 2 News coverage of the chain of events from Monday, July 17, through Friday, July 21, documenting the death count rising by the hundred, the criticism levied against Mayor Richard M. Daley as officials were caught by surprise, and air conditioner repair scams that cropped up amid the heat.
On July 12, 1995, the ribbon was cut for Navy Pier as it reopened as a top tourist destination. Christine Doyle reports on the spectacle, and Bill Kurtis takes a ride on the newly opened first Navy Pier Ferris wheel.
These are highlight clips of live coverage from Bill Kurtis, Walter Jacobson, and the Channel 2 News team of Pope John Paul II's visit to Chicago in October 1979, including a prayer service at Holy Name Cathedral where Luciano Pavarotti sang "Ave Maria," and of course, the pope's open-air mass in Grant Park. Original airdates: Oct. 4-5, 1979.
On April 20, 1981, Spanish Catalan artist Joan Miró's famous Chicago sculpture was unveiled next to what is now called the Cook County Administration Building. Before the unveiling, renowned Channel 2 anchorman Bill Kurtis visited with the soon-to-be-88-year-old Miró at his home in Majorca, Spain. After presenting Miró with some gifts on behalf of the City of Chicago, Kurtis asked the artist through an interpreter about his inspiration, his impressions of Chicago, what he hoped people would take away from his sculpture, and other topics. Taping date: March 26, 1981.
If the first televised debate had not happened between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon in 1960, what might have been different? Bill Kurtis has final thoughts in the 1985 documentary "The Great Debate."
Vice President Richard Nixon struggled with the appearance of a five o'clock shadow, a pale appearance, and other problems during the first televised presidential debate on Sept. 26, 1960, while observers said Sen. John F. Kennedy looked confident in front of the cameras. Bill Kurtis reports in this second part of the 1985 special "The Great Debate."
Sen. John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard M. Nixon participated the first ever televised debate on Sept. 26, 1960 at the old CBS Chicago studios. Bill Kurtis reports on the history of politics and broadcasting, and what had happened in the Nixon and Kennedy campaigns leading up to that moment, in the first part of this 1985 documentary, "The Great Debate."
Richard Speck had no shame about killing eight young women in 1966, and his comments on a 1988 videotape may have shed light on what was going on his mind. Bill Kurtis reports in this fifth segment of "Richard Speck Speaks." This report first aired Thursday, May 9, 1996 on the Channel 2 News at 10 p.m.
In this fourth segment of the six-part series "Richard Speck Speaks," Bill Kurtis reports on a videotape obtained by CBS Chicago, showing killer Richard Speck and a cellmate at Stateville Prison in 1988. The tape showed sexual acts, drug use, and hedonism. Viewer discretion is advised. This report first aired Wednesday, May 8, 1996 on the Channel 2 News at 10 p.m.
In this third segment of the six-part series "Richard Speck Speaks," Bill Kurtis looks back at the manhunt for Speck after he murdered eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966, and examines Speck's comments on the case in a 1988 videotape recorded at Stateville Prison. This report first aired Tuesday, May 7, 1996 on the Channel 2 News at 10 p.m.
In this second segment of the six-part series "Richard Speck Speaks," Bill Kurtis reports on the Speck's cold-blooded confession as it appears a videocassette recorded at Stateville Prison in 1988. This report first aired Monday, May 6, 1996 on the Channel 2 News at 10 p.m.
In this first segment of the six-part series "Richard Speck Speaks," Bill Kurtis recounts how Speck heinously murdered of eight student nurses in Chicago in 1966. This report first aired Sunday, May 5, 1996 on the Channel 2 News at 10 p.m.
CBS 2's Bill Kurtis has final thoughts to the people who were there for the unrest during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
CBS 2's Bill Kurtis talks to the people who were there about the characterization of the unrest during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago as a 'police riot,' and about the Chicago 7 Trial in this 1988 documentary.
CBS 2's Bill Kurtis talks to the people who were there for the unrest during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
CBS 2's Bill Kurtis talks to the people who were there for the unrest during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
In Part 1 of this 1988 documentary, CBS 2's Bill Kurtis has a look back at the tension and unrest that boiled over during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, along with a montage of video from that time.
The Democratic National Convention was last held in Chicago in 1996, when President Bill Clinton was renominated. Lester Holt and Linda MacLennan anchor from the United Center, with live reports by Bill Kurtis, Mike Flannery, and Jay Levine.
This is CBS 2's coverage of the death of Mayor Harold Washington on Nov. 25, 1987. Bill Kurtis and Walter Jacobson anchor from our old newsroom at 630 N. McClurg Ct., and Jim Avila reports from Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
CBS 2 provided extended coverage of the 1992 Great Chicago Flood and its aftermath throughout the ensuing week.
The sense of the city being brought to its knees was so profound at the time of the Great Chicago Flood of 1992 that it drew comparisons to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. CBS 2's Bill Kurtis reports.
