WLS Channel 7 - Eyewitness News at 10pm - "Christmas Day '83" (Complete Broadcast, 12/25/1983) 📺 🎄 🎁

Here's a late Christmas Day edition of WLS Channel 7's Eyewitness News with Mary Ann Childers and Jim Gibbons. (previous to this we also saw the 12/24/83 10pm Eyewitness News, posted here: • WLS Channel 7 - Eyewit... )
Includes:
Most of ending ABC Sunday Night Movie bumper
Peter Jennings wishes holiday greetings on behalf of ABC News
Preview of coming edition
Commercials for:
Top Job cleaner
Commonwealth Edison - with Building Trades Council president Tom Nayder
Station ID segueing into newscast open and intro
Top stories:
- Christmas Day temps bottom out at -17 degrees (and -40 wind chill), with Loop parking attendants among those getting worst of it; kids and parents at Daley Plaza looking at ice sculptures
- Record low temps even affect Texas and Florida; a stretch of I-65 in Northern Indiana still closed
- Alan Krashesky promising relief from bitter cold, which saw this the coldest Christmas ever
- Jesse Jackson to travel to Syria to try to secure release of American, Lt. Robert Goodman, held in that country
- Artillery and rocket fire in southern suburb of Beirut leaves at least 18 dead; Bob Hope was leaving Marine base while this happened
- Bethlehem Christmas celebrations with fewer pilgrims due to heavy security
- President Reagan has turkey dinner at White House with family
Commercials for:
Duncan Hines High Risin' Cake
Solo heavy duty laundry detergent
The Gallant Men of Olds (voiceover by Ken Nordine)
News resumes:
- O'Hare bogged by flight delays and cancellations
- Tim Ryan reports on 180 people stranded at airport when they should have been already in Hawaii (where they finally arrived two hours before newscast)
- 900 AT&T operators fielding calls from millions calling across country; scenes at office at 212 W. Washington shown
Commercials for:
J.B. Robinson Jewelers
Toyota Year-End Dividend
Red Lobster - "10 Minute On-Time Lunch"
ColecoVision - "Sorry, Atari..." (different version of the ad posted here: • The Loop FM 98 - "Lore... )
Back to news:
- In St. Peter's Square, Pope John Paul II gives Christmas message and greetings in 43 different languages
- Salvation Army gives over 2,000 Christmas meals to hungry and needy
- ABC's Joe Spencer reports on Cedar Springs, MI's prosperous Christmas due to high sales of long johns made at Red Flannel factory; general manager Michael Huckleberry and various workers are interviewed
Commercials for:
Handy Size Duraflame
Chicagoland/Northwestern Indiana Pontiac Dealers - Front Wheel Drive Specials
Alpo Liv-a-Snaps - "Season's Treatings"
Osco Photo Express
Alan returns with weather forecast
Commercials for:
Al Piemonte Ford
Streetware Clothing - at the Suitery
The Loop FM 98 - with Lorelei Exercising (posted separately here: • The Loop FM 98 - "Lore... )
Celozzi-Ettelson Chevrolet - test drive an '84 Cavalier
Jim Rose with sports:
- In NCAA Semi-Final rematch, Houston beats Louisville
- Knicks beat Nets in overtime, followed by other NBA scores
- Preview of NFC Wild Card game, Dallas Cowboys vs. Los Angeles Rams at Texas Stadium
- In college football, South beats North in 46th annual Blue-Gray Classic
Mary Ann introduces clip of examples of Christmas spirit with area families [music had to be degraded to avoid KZbin blocking], before she and Jim close newscast with wishes and upcoming ABC News Weekend Report
Promo for "The Olympiad," later tonight (voiceover by Gary Gears?)
Commercials for:
Schaumburg Roselle AMC/Jeep/Renault
(incomplete) True Value Hardware Stores sale on Master Mechanic tools (voiceover by Pat Summerall) (recording ends midway)
This aired on local Chicago TV on Sunday, December 25th 1983 during the 9:58pm to 10:29pm timeframe.
About The Museum of Classic Chicago Television:
The MCCTv (FuzzyMemoriesTV) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit whose primary mission is the preservation and display of off-air, early home videotape recordings (70s to early 80s, mostly) recorded off of TV (in Chicago or other cities now too); things which would likely be lost if not sought out and preserved digitally. If you have any old 1970s videotapes recorded off of TV please email: [e-mail] Even though (mostly) short clips are displayed here, we preserve the entire broadcasts in our archives - the complete programs with breaks (or however much is present on the tape), for historical preservation. For information on how to help in our mission, to donate or lend tapes to be converted to DVD, please e-mail [e-mail] Thank you for your help!

[@merlin8537]

Love these Chicago time capsules!

[@samanthanickson6478]

this is when winter weather was truly christmasy!

[@fratercontenduntocculta8161]

I've been binging this channel for DAYS now! Although I'm from FL, This is the year of my very first Christmas, I was born that July. Thank you for giving me a window to the world of my past!

[@bree9272]

Yesterday in my Maryland neck of the woods it hit 60, and today it's supposed to be 59 with showers. Not complaining, but it feels more like Christmas when it's cold and snowy.

[@izzysvids]

wow Alan K was a weatherman!

[@thetraveler2561]

"Yesterday when I was young" Love these fuzzy mems. Merry Xmas!

[@merlin8537]

Best weather report Ever! I was living in LA in 1983, had to work that Christmas. I called my folks in the morning. Both mentioned how bitterly cold it was (was in the 60's, sunny in LA) but didn't mention how REALLY bitterly cold it was. I remember a couple of cold Christmases (and other times) in Chicago, but '83 really outdid itself! The special interest stories in these old news broadcasts really bring back what it was like to grow up in the city. Thank you!

[@glenrosarian2352]

@HuYoaDaddy yup. I remember. On Christmas Day 1983 down here in Tulsa we had a low of -2°F, a high of 12°F, and a mean of 5°F, setting a record low, record low high, and record low mean all in the same day. Coldest Christmas on record by 7°. Christmas Eve was even colder, only 5°F for a high, which is still the coldest daily maximum for any December.

[@Johnnymacdee]

I definitely remember this. Merry Christmas!

[@Agent36]

Merry Christmas to you! I watched eyewitness Los Angeles.

[@wmbrown6]

@@Agent36 - No doubt in NYC, one of WABC's Eyewitness News anchors from after the movie would've been Gil Noble (R.I.P.), no? And who would've co-anchored with him by then? (Certainly not Doug Johnson . . . )

[@ChicagoIL50]

Love watching these old ones. So classic. I remember them.

[@krystalwillcutt6569]

This was one month before I was born. What an excellent time to arrive in the early-to-mid 80s! Also, WOW on that weather forecast!

[@songwriterjj6022]

It's 57 degrees warmer this Christmas!

[@wendyhermes]

Happy to put you on our end-of-year donations! Thanks for all the fuzzy memories! Better than a prozac-gin cocktail!

[@VIRGONOMICS]

“ I survived the Blizzard of ‘77 “ was a popular T-shirt where I grew up . This is great.

[@theworldwariioldtimeradioc8676]

That was a very cold Christmas in Chicago. I was a freshman in high school. One of my gifts that year was a left handed catcher’s mit.

[@glenrosarian2352]

I well remember the historic December 1983 Coldwave. It is the coldest December on record for us in Tulsa, and it's the coldest month on record of any name for any year since records have been kept in 1888 in Tulsa. I was in 7th grade then. We had 21 marks on the record book for record cold (a lot for a 4-year span let alone a month; 10 of these were matched in the historic December 1989 Coldwave) It was so cold for so long that in early January 1984, we had freezing rain on road surfaces even though the air temperature was above freezing. Because the soil substrate was frozen.

[@TristanTripp]

14:12 - ColecoVision Vs. Atari 5200 during the Video Game Crash of 1983.

[@jimirwin5623]

It was -25 on Christmas Eve in 1983 for the low temperature. Still the record for Chicago on that date. Brrrrr

[@Chisox74]

I wonder how Alan Krashesky ended up doing the weather. I don’t ever remember him doing that

[@garryjohnson9918]

I don’t either! I was a year and 6 months old at this point. It’s weird seeing this cause I think Alan K. Just retired. (He retires today-November 22, 2022) I don’t live in Chicago anymore, unfortunately I moved to Dallas, Texas from Chicago in September 1994, so I enjoy seeing these videos from back home 🏡

[@fayettebrown2312]

I didn't know that either, I'm surprised.

[@butchkaminsky9470]

Only if we can all go back to the 1980's! Still have a old bottle od Solo too.. $$2.00 minimum wage, and $26.00 for Blue cross.

[@thewkovacs316]

i was in grad school in ny that winter....uccch love the commercials....atari vs coleco....heh and look at the 84 reagan economy

[@thewkovacs316]

the original red flannel factory closed in 95. but reopened in 2007 so you can still get red flannels hand made

[@Silenced23]

Those ettilson Chevy commercials where you always save more money, I completely forgot about those.

[@fenderjazzbrian]

I still remember how cold it was in Columbus, OH that Christmas. I can still remember how cold it was inside my grandmother’s car when we piled in it to go to my aunt’s house. I realized the year before that I just wore a light winter jacket, and where in the world did this cold come from 😆

[@1thetvzone]

Always cold here in Cols, Oh

[@CZPC]

Love you guys.

[@russiatellsonlytruth373]

The Sox won the Western Division in ‘83 (and hosted the ASG) breaking our nearly 25 year drought. Our little brothers on the North Side meanwhile celebrated 38 years without a pennant and 77 years without a WS title.

[@claytonbrown7100]

Yeah they won 99 games that year and my dad and I ran out on the field when they clinched against the Mariners (I think). Then Cal Ripken killed us.

[@Attmay]

Defund the copyright police.

[@roberthansen2008]

That was in 7th grade back then in Omaha Nebraska. But I definitely remember Christmas of 83 very well it was freezing cold out there! So cold that you couldn't even scoop the snow.

[@Solitaryman70]

LOL 😂, You gotta love some vintage Jesse!!!

[@janetoconnor3636]

I heard many Chicago Weather Reporters call this Blizzard the BONE CHILLER. Keep in mind they also went through another Blizzard in February 10 11 and twelve. In some ways this is not typical Two Winter storms in one year.

[@thomasbrown3356]

That wasn't a Blizzard, just record cold. I remember going to party at the Bismarck hotel, that night. I was 18 years old and underdressed. I didn't care , it was the party of the year.

[@houseofyum3969]

Nice to see Rev. Jackson in in his Chicago hey day!

[@stevemeinecke]

Wow I did know that he did weather he still doing it for abc 7 chicago

[@garryjohnson9918]

No

[@trecchannel4205]

Krashesky did weather? I had no idea.

[@Agent36]

11:20 nothing has changed with airlines except these people weren’t x-rayed.

[@archenema6792]

Where's Jenny Milkowski when you really need her? ;)

[@ChatGPT1111]

Look at the mop on that guy at 10:34 😂😂😂

[@lauralopardo2641]

Not this man in the Solo commercial who didn't know how to do his own laundry

[@Godzilla.1954]

14:46 in case your wondering she’s talking about the arms race during the Cold War, I remember Ann Druyan opening cosmos with a speech on it, since Carl Sagan himself was outspoken against the situation

[@jasoncotal1696]

i just had my 2 birthday a few days befor

[@fayettebrown2312]

What happened to al Piemonte guy during those commercials.

[@Tribeca40]

5:38 The polar vortex..

[@jamesward6935]

Commercial at 1:27 was filmed at the (then) under-construction Thompson Center.

[@Zephyrdaze1819]

Looks like a young Greg Kinnear at 8:35 in the Duncan Heinz commercial. Never thought of him as a bull rider lol

[@theylied1776]

You can blame all cold temperatures on Canadian Witchcraft.

[@RCALivingStereo]

23:59 😂 Geesh

[@altfactor]

Personally, if I ran a TV station, I'd close the news department on Christmas Day so that the entire news and program production staffs could get the day off. However, I'd have a small number of news and program production employees "on call" on Christmas Day, who would be called in if a major unexpected local news story broke.

[@softrockrules]

Free 13 Inch TV!

[@tommurray7675]

41 years later air travel still sux 😐

[@kascnef]

How is Chicago compare to nyc from a jersey perspective

[@juliethompson8685]

Here We Go Again.

[@Zephyrdaze1819]

The tones of Ken Nordine at 10:00

[@bronxsportsfan]

Tim Ryan, who did the (voiceover about the) stranded airline passengers trying to fly to Hawaii, sounds so familiar for some reason. Was it the same Tim Ryan that worked for CBS Sports, especially during the network's 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympics? And is it the same person who also called New York Islanders hockey games in the New York metropolitan area?

[@TimEric4d3d3d3]

It's not the same Tim Ryan. The play-by-play Tim Ryan did many Bears games on CBS in the late 70's and early 80's.

[@wmbrown6]

@@TimEric4d3d3d3 - The "PBP" Tim Ryan, as of 1971, did sports for WPIX Channel 11, then by the next year was alternating with Dick Schaap in doing so on WNBC Channel 4. (He was one of their sports people before Marv Albert came along.)

[@RCALivingStereo]

19:05 Geesh 9% interest? 😂

[@VIRGONOMICS]

The best Pope of my lifetime.

[@bethdibartolomeo2042]

It's amazing to think he's a saint now. He became pope a few months after I was born, so he was the only one I knew until 2005. Between him and Mother Theresa, it's amazing to have lived in the lifetimes of already-canonized saints.

[@PR-nq4dt]

Back when america was great!

[@boexeman]

"Their dangerous," alright.

[@jimmymelendez1836]

*They're

[@HereForTheComments]

Peter Jennings in the 80s. There's a reason news people tend to stay in the game into old age. The money.

[@FuzzyMemoriesTV]

Jennings was in his prime and keep getting better and better throughout the late-80s and 90s.

[@brandonyoung3493]

Jim Rose used the wrong spelling of "there"

[@KT72273]

They are dangerous!

[@pappy999]

Jim Rose making a mistake, huh??? The more things change…

[@1thetvzone]

Jim Rose has aged well

[@fayettebrown2312]

Miss you Jim rose, enjoy your retirement, you deserve it 🎉😂

[@Tommyofthntn]

It was not funny. I lived in the south suburbs. Shoot Fire even Florida. The warmest was California LA where it was in the 50s.

[@wesleyjc80]

Where is Chicogo??? I swear at the begining he says Chicogo

[@Silenced23]

You must not be familiar with the chicago accent that chicago people used to have.

[@topnotchcoffee]

Damn its sad we’ll probably not see another day like this for the next 50 years thanks to global warming

[@jbb8382]

Jesse Jackson 🤣 Always shouting nonsense

[@VintageTVMemories]

Thumbs down for the watermark.