The NBC Tower is an office tower on the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois located at 454 North Columbus Drive (455 North Cityfront Plaza is also used as a vanity address) in downtown Chicago's Magnificent Mile area. Completed in 1989, the 37-story building reaches a height of 627 feet (191 m). NBC's Chicago offices, studios, and owned-and-operated station WMAQ-TV are based in the building. At 10 o'clock on the evening of October 1, 1989, WMAQ-TV broadcast its first newscast from the new home, with the then-weeknight news team of Ron Magers, Carol Marin, John Coleman, and Mark Giangreco.[1] Telemundo O&O WSNS-TV has also occupied the building since its purchase by NBC in 2001, and NBC's former radio properties, WKQX, and WLUP-FM, continue to maintain studios in the tower.[2]
The design, by Adrian D. Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, is in the Art Deco style and bares a marked similarity to 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City, which is NBC's global headquarters. The tower is further enhanced by the use of limestone piers and recessed tinted glass with granite spandrels.[3] The building takes additional cues from the nearby landmark Tribune Tower with the use of flying buttresses. A 130 ft (40 m) broadcast tower and spire tops the skyscraper. WMAQ and WSNS have STL and satellite facilities on the roof; the STLs link to WMAQ and WSNS's transmitter facilities atop the Willis Tower. WMAQ radio/WSCR studios and STL were located in the building until 2006 when they relocated to Two Prudential Plaza.
Located in the Cityfront Plaza area, the building contains 850,000 sq ft (79,000 m2) of space and three floors of underground parking with 261 spaces. Connected to the main tower is a four-story radio and television broadcasting facility where WSNS's newscasts and WMAQ's newscasts are currently taped, and was the former recording facility for Jerry Springer and The Steve Wilkos Show before their tax credit-influenced move to Stamford, Connecticut in 2009. It was also home to the 1990s syndicated improv/sketch show Kwik Witz,[4]The Jenny Jones Show until its cancellation in 2003, Steve Harvey until its move to Los Angeles in 2017, and Judge Mathis until its cancellation in 2023.
Looking north at night
Looking east
Looking north
Columbus Drive entrance
^Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: "WMAQ-TV 10pm News, October 1, 1989". YouTube.
^"Tour of Our New Home! | 101WKQX | WKQX-FM". Archived from the original on 2017-04-04. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
^"NBC Tower". Chicago Architecture Info. Archived from the original on 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2014-02-25.
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Global Information
Looking north at night
Looking east
Looking north
Columbus Drive entrance
