WLS Channel 7 - Eyewitness News at 10pm - "Christmas Eve '83" (Complete Broadcast, 12/24/1983) 📺 🎄 🎁

Here's the complete broadcast of a Christmas Eve edition of the 10pm Eyewitness News on WLS Channel 7, anchored by Mary Ann Childers and Jim Gibbons.
Includes:
Commercial: Timberland waterproof work boots (available at Ara's in Lansing and Zoots in Chicago)
Station ID segueing into newscast open and intro
The top stories of this edition:
- Record cold across part of the country, with Chicago close but not breaking its record low temps for this day (with phone number for emergency shelters given); 18 have died this week alone from cold
- However, Denver and Salt Lake City did shatter records (out of a total of 21 states and 60 cities) with their cold waves
- Parts of I-65 along Indianapolis shut down due to cold and ice
- Alan Krashesky (yes, the anchor was once a weatherman!) promises relief in sight from severe cold snap (in a few days), but for now travelers' advisories are in effect in all or part of 4 states due to blowing snow
- Grant Hospital's emergency room closed due to water main burst
- Russ Ewing with other such stories: Automobiles stranded and tow trucks unavailable; 26 mph winds causing audible noise from waving flags; State Street shoppers staying home due to cold
Commercials for:
Burger King - "Every 10 Seconds"
Anais Anais fragrance - from Cacharel
Illinois Bell - "We'll Still Be Your Phone Company"
Jordache Jeans - "You've Got the Look"
More news:
- Firefighters dealing with both severe cold and massive fire at 2251 S. Kolin (near Cermak)
- A house (no address listed) has no heat due to frozen pipes; building owner Alise Moore speaks of situation
- Some last minute shoppers brave cold to buy Christmas gifts
- Masses celebrating birth of Jesus taking place in churches such as Holy Name Cathedral, where Joseph Cardinal Bernardin will preside over midnight mass
- Lonnie Lardner reports on Cusman extended family of Ravenswood celebrating Christmas Eve
Commercials for:
Tele1st (coming in two weeks)
Mauna Loa macadamia nuts - with John Hillerman
Diet Coke - now with NutraSweet
Las Vegas (featuring Sammy Davis, Jr.) - "Resort Bargain of the World"
Back to news:
- Chicago City Council finally agrees on next year's budget
- President Reagan, in his weekly radio address, urges Americans to help needy and lonely this Christmas - and remember Soviet dissidents trapped behind Iron Curtain
- Marines in Beirut try to celebrate holidays as shelling breaks out
- Thousands in St. Peter's Square for midnight mass at Vatican City presided by Pope John Paul II
- 8-year-old Chuck Haney of Glendale Heights, dying of a rare disease, made honorary cop thanks to Officer Paul Cerise; Police Commissioner Don Taylor presides over kid's swearing in
Commercials for:
Celozzi-Ettelson Chevrolet - test drive an '84 Chevette
Harveys Bristol Cream - with Peter Cook
- Recollection of last Christmas when it was a balmy 62 degrees
Alan returns with weather forecast (including a white Christmas)
Commercials for:
Wendy's new Hot Stuff baked potatoes and Side Salad
Cap 10 pure Artesian mineral water
Republic Airlines (letter from David Godfredson of Minneapolis, MN)
Cadbury's Milk Tray candies
Jim Rose with sports stories:
- Forest Gregg named head coach of Green Bay Packers, replacing fired Bart Starr; team president Robert Parins speaks
- Seattle Seahawks beat Denver Broncos in AFC wild card game
- Alabama beats SMU in Sun Bowl in El Paso
- Kentucky beats Illini in high school basketball play
- Maryland beats Boston College
- Yankees owner George Steinbrenner fined $250,000 by Commissioner of Baseball over team's involvement in infamous Pine Tar game
After that, Mary Ann and Jim close with Christmas wishes to their viewers and advise to stay tuned for ABC News Weekend Report
Incomplete promo for "The Shoes of the Fisherman" (voiceover by Ernie Anderson) before recording ends
This aired on local Chicago TV on Saturday, December 24th 1983 during the 10:00pm to 10:30pm 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!

[@KT72273]

Watching this 39 years to the day after this aired! We were at -10 here in Illinois yesterday! Merry Christmas!

[@ludmillaroman]

i found myself, yet again, enjoying the time machine for the entire program.

[@oliviaT928]

I love these old Chicago television memories. Especially the holiday segments. Thank you for sharing

[@stump182]

Wow kudos to Krasheshy for the Christmas Eve rhyming forecast.

[@1thetvzone]

I agree! Didn’t know he did weather

[@TheBandit7613]

I moved to Vegas in the 90's. Never regretted the decision. I was in high school in 83'. Downers Grove

[@SoUtHMeMpHis]

I haven't enjoyed watching the NEWS in a very lonnnnng time ❗The local news castors tended to have more genuine personalities back in the day. Now so many are too worried about having fans, followers, likes, thumbs ups and re-tweets.

[@darrellmfume3513]

We can give thanks to the VCR. and on this Christmas eve day. Michael Jackson had the #1 album on the Pop, and R&B charts with Thriller. and my boy El Debarge had his #1 classic Time Will Reveal. On the R&B charts. Growing up in the 80's was fun.

[@hevyonez97]

And I think the #1 song in the country was "Say Say Say" with MJ and Paul McCartney...I was in 6th grade at this time, so hell yeah life was awesome in the 80s...😎

[@darrellmfume3513]

@@hevyonez97 on the R&B charts December 24, 1983. Time Will Reveal was #1. Say, Say, Say was at #2.

[@hevyonez97]

@@darrellmfume3513 correct...I'm just referring to the Hot 100 chart for that weekend where MJ and Paul were dominant overall...

[@jimmymelendez1836]

The 80's were radical.👍😎

[@redcr33perproductions]

Michael and Prince dominated the 80s, I wish I lived in that era

[@msaltzma]

This is funny, I remember on Christmas Day 1982 in Chicago it was 64 degrees outside and I was wearing a tee shirt and jeans. One year later it was incredibly cold.

[@oliviaT928]

Same here! We have an old family photo of us sitting on the back porch holding Christmas presents in 1982. We were also wearing t-shirts and jeans! I remember those old Chicago winters being bitterly cold.

[@fenderjazzbrian]

I was in Columbus that year and thinking “I wore a light jacket last year and now we’re frozen in the car unable to get warm!”

[@bobbyg433]

And it rained like a bitch too

[@AvaZinn]

Although it was my first Christmas and a Chicagoan at birth, I was 10 days shy of my first birthday and it was definitely one cold Xmas. Thanks for uploading this though.

[@kekebanks3979]

me too!!!

[@krystalwillcutt6569]

There is just something from this period in time that is nothing short of exceptional. TV, commercials, newscasts, movies...the 80s will always be my favorite decade. I wish there was a time-travel portal.

[@jilltheprivateinvestigator3328]

I grew up in Detroit in the 70's and 80's. Seeing the news from a big city, like this, gives me that warm fuzzy feeling. Thank you for the upload.

[@cushingpushing]

This was great, thanks for putting this up. I remember this particular record cold day. I love the intro for this particular news cast on channel 7.

[@southernlightning775]

Appreciate the video😎🤙Christmas eve News even!! Always interesting to see what happened back then!

[@ellenfoss1206]

Christmas of 1983 worst winter season ever, Christmas of 1982 was beautiful with 75 degrees! One extreme to another!! ⛄️⛄️⛄️

[@danv4253]

It was actually 64 degrees on Christmas Day 1982. Still stands as Chicago's warmest Christmas.

[@Silenced23]

That's Chicago for ya

[@davidanderson-22]

Not sure what they called it back then, but that 'Twas the Weather of Christmas 1983 was fantastic.

[@darwinblinks]

At my late "Grandma Dogs" house in the Lincoln Square/Ravenswood area, we had our annual Xmas Eve family gathering and the one in '83 was the one everyone still talks about because the heat went out so we had our party with our coats and gloves still on.

[@landit]

I remember everything about that day.

[@ellenfoss1206]

RIP Jim Gibbons!! Was a great anchorman and he definitely will be missed by viewers!! 📺📺📺

[@royroyce6620]

He was kind of an a$$

[@JolliAllGenGamer]

I think Jim Rose has been doing sports at ABC7 for more than 40 years?

[@marquishoward3529]

He just recently celebrated 40 yrs there as sports anchor

[@MaySecond07]

My cousins from New York were visiting us just outside Chicago this Christmas and we all slept around the fireplace....after drinking really hard!

[@1960sRICH]

What a Great Christmas Gift Alan Kreshesky doing the weather in Christmas Rhyme.

[@bsteven885]

I didn't realize that Alan Kreshesky started at WLS-TV Channel 7 as a WEATHERMAN! Soon after that, he became the anchor who a lot of us rely upon for our news!

[@softrockrules]

Mary Ann came up from Louisville but she definately picked up the Chicago accent

[@timdailey2690]

Went to Northwestern

[@davanmani556]

Interned at the Phil Donahue’s show.

[@alanosterman7130]

Crush

[@Silenced23]

​@@alanosterman7130 yeah, I still find her attractive today

[@alanosterman7130]

@@Silenced23 how so ?

[@SagittariusQueen1980]

Wait, Alan Krasheky did the weather?! 😳 I had just turned 3 at this time.

[@hdayejr]

I live in Dayton. Grandparents rental car from Florida had fuel line freeze up. Minus 13 here also. Will never forget it

[@idontreadyourrepliesever8032]

I remember going to my cousins then driving to my dads in my moms station wagon. It was really cold. Miss my mom and dad.

[@PugetSoundFlyer]

That weather man has a real knack for rhythm and rhyme!

[@jasperjasper77]

Sounds like the “polar vortex”. Quite a contrast to Christmas 1982.

[@danv4253]

I do remember Alan Kresheshky as the weatherman before he became the News Anchor. That was in 1983. Back then, one could be the TV weatherman with just a Broadcast Journalism background. That would never happen nowadays. To be a TV weather forecaster, one needs an extensive education with a degree in Meteorologu; not necessarily a Broadcast Journalism background. Weather forecasting has come a long way since then.

[@bmasters1981]

I believe Kevin O'Connell (originally from Buffalo, and at one time a game show host [on Go on NBC from 1983-84]) had much the same background; he was a news anchor and weatherman in his native Buffalo on WIVB Channel 4 (CBS there), and then on all three O&Os in L.A. in the 80s (KNBC, then KCBS, and finally KABC), before coming back home and going on WGRZ Channel 2 (NBC in his hometown); he was there until 2018.

[@TelexToTexel]

Mary Ann Childers is such a natural beauty

[@ChicagoIL50]

When the church was full🥺

[@ellenfoss1206]

I missed Alan Krashesky doing the weather that time because of the fact that I had to be on the stupid phone with bratty classmates that time and have too many family problems with it!

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

Interested to see Russ Ewing reporting and talking about the Dan Ryan expressway and there were the famous projects to Robert Taylor homes nothing but trouble and now long gone. Just like Cabrini Green and a whole bunch more housing projects knocked to the ground

[@wmbrown6]

Interesting to see Mr. Ewing on Channel 7 . . . wasn't he, some years before, on WMAQ Channel 5?

[@bsteven885]

@@wmbrown6, YES -- Russ Ewing was at WMAQ-TV Channel 5 for MANY years before moving over to Channel 7.

[@jPHQ]

@@wmbrown6 Likely a Dennis Swanson hire. He had recently become the station's GM, and he would hire away a LOT of NBC5 personalities within the coming year (Linda Yu, Jerry Taft & Roger Ebert). A little off topic, but you can also see the mark Swanson is making at ABC7 in this clip because the inset picture/weather graphics are in the Helvetica font, which would carry over into the new news set and graphics package the following week.

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

@@jPHQ 🤓

[@TeacherNik1924]

That weatherman’s poem was cute.

[@bethdibartolomeo2042]

The record low temperature was set on that date and still stands today.

[@chico7469]

Yesss I remember this Xmas eve , I was 6 and I had a wonderful Xmas, got everything I asked for especially my Big Foot truck, lol 😂

[@StudioZ7]

I was in Minneapolis, but that record-breaking sub-zero cold snap was happening there as well, and I do remember it all too well. It was pretty much like that for the entire month of December 1983 and lingered into January.

[@davidscanlon1244]

40 years later, the temperature is in the 50s

[@longstreet2740]

Flew in to O'Hair from DC . Had to stay in Motel until I could get ground shuttle to NW Indiana

[@michaelblaine6494]

The first one I remember,are you ever really happier than you are that one time?😜

[@tylerd1297]

I get these videos recommended all the time after I searched for stuff on Joanna Lopez lol

[@colinkessler238]

If you have Christmas Day coverage 1983 and maybe Christmas Eve and Christmas Day of 1982 would you please upload that as well

[@tinklvsme]

-12?. That’s too cold for me! 2021. Wait this is from the 80’s? JK 😋

[@jamesward6935]

Jane Byrne at 9:59 at Christmas mass.

[@MattRichardsonX]

Are the Cellozzi Ettleson guys still around?

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

Maury still around Nick died they sold the dealership back in 2000. Maury still has Ettleson Hyundai and another dealership with his name and his son running.

[@KT72273]

The site of Celozzi Ettelson Chevrolet at York and Roosevelt is now Edward Elmhurst Hospital! I also remember vintage Long Chevrolet in Bensenville which later became Roesch!

[@LaurenLover81]

How long before Ch. 7 Eyewitness News revealed their new look after this Xmas Eve Newscast?

[@jPHQ]

About a week. Didn't really care for the KABC-knockoff set that replaced this one. But of course, Dennis Swanson wanted to change up the feng shui of the station, and he did it for the better. He's the reason why ABC7 has been the number one station for so long.

[@LaurenLover81]

@@jPHQ Was it before 1984 began? Or on January 2, 1984 that’s also the same day when Oprah Winfrey took over AM Chicago.

[@TimEric4d3d3d3]

2251 S Kolin Ave is an empty lot. We know how long it's been empty.

[@jamesward6935]

The neighboring houses which were also damaged in the blaze. They also appeared to be wood frame homes. Perhaps they were also razed at the same time. A fourth home (two doors north of 2251 was abandoned, burned and subsequently demolished, per Google street view.

[@mixon270]

Look at this 7:07 the mccallister's resident from Home Alone

[@RJS1974]

The early 80s was not a good period for State Street and downtown. The city made State Street into a mall and it was awful. The renaissance of state street will come until the 90s when Mayor Daly had the mall torn up and the street returned to its former glory.

[@mixon270]

Timberland boots

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

Yes for the yuppies and back then. Before they became known for rappers and people wearing work boots that never worked. Kind of like Eddie Bauer Kind of like

[@jilltheprivateinvestigator3328]

I didn't know they had Timbs back then. lol I don't recall hearing the name.

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

@@jilltheprivateinvestigator3328 yeah like I said they were more for the yuppies like boxed franzia wine and BMWs lol.

[@jilltheprivateinvestigator3328]

@@truckerkevthepaidtourist 🤣

[@mixon270]

About time for Alan Krasheshy and Jim Rose to retire both been at wls-tv for 40 years

[@misstee101]

I know right. They're still going strong. 😄

[@hdayejr]

Surprised they haven't been bought out. It's a trend everywhere now

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

🤡🙃🙃🙃 Can't even spell Al's name right lmao

[@zbsx]

Alan was only 21 when he started at 7, though. Jim, though, has definitely lost his fastball.

[@SagittariusQueen1980]

And who are you to tell them when to retire? If they want to work until the day they die then let them. It's their own call to retire, not yours sir! 🙄

[@kascnef]

I was almost one year old

[@VintageTVMemories]

Watermark = thumbs down

[@FuzzyMemoriesTV]

Feel free to run your channel the way you want and we’ll do the same. I suppose since your videos aren’t watermarked you wouldn’t mind if someone downloaded them and then reuploaded them to their own channel? We have a responsibility to protect the integrity of our collection. A small, relatively unobtrusive watermark does not affect the nostalgic or informational enjoyment of the clips, it merely protects against misuse. I suggest you move on.