Chicago stations were in overdrive this weekend covering the ongoing NATO Summit, which continues today at McCormick Place.

WFLD‘s Bob Sirrot and Robin Robinson co-anchored an hour-long newscast at 5 p.m. Sunday on the Fox O&O. Political editor Mike Flannery‘s regular Sunday morning newscast was expanded to an hour this weekend.

On NBC O&O WMAQ, weekday anchors Stefan Holt and Daniella Guzman anchored a special 11 a.m. newscast on Sunday. WMAQ also expanded its 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts, anchored by Allison Rosati and Rob Stafford, to an hour. Read more

ABC News offered its affiliates a special report at 3pmET/2pmCT this afternoon with the news President Obama endorsed gay marriage in an interview with “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts.

ABC has eight O&Os that often promote ABC’s big exclusives. Five of the stations — WABC in New York, WLS in Chicago, WPVI in Philadelphia, KTRK in Houston and WTVD in Raleigh-Durham — aired the report with no special programming on either side, returning to “General Hospital” at its conclusion.

Interestingly, the three West Coast stations — KABC in Los Angeles, KGO in San Francisco and KFSN in Fresno — also did not promote the news on air, despite the fact that each has an 11amPT newscast that preceded the special report. (KABC’s newscast is an hour long, while KGO’s and KFSN’s are only 30 minutes.) All three stations aired a report from ABC’s Karen Travers on North Carolina residents voting to ban gay marriage on their respective newscasts. Read more

Emily Barr, who has been president and general manager of WLS since 1997, is leaving the Chicago ABC O&O to lead Post-Newsweek Stations, the television broadcasting division of the Washington Post Company.

Barr will join Post-Newsweek in July, replacing Alan Frank, who is retiring as president and CEO at the end of the year. Her last day at WLS is today.

“We are so fortunate to have Emily Barr join us,” Donald Graham, chairman and CEO of the Washington Post Company, said in a statement. “She’s been an outstanding manager in one of the greatest companies in the industry and a force for innovation everywhere she’s been.” Read more

Set to spend at least the next dozen years in prison, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich appeared to savor his final moment in the spotlight on Wednesday evening as he held a public farewell that conveniently coincided with Chicago stations’ 5 o’clock newscasts.

Every major news station in Chicago brought live, uninterrupted coverage of Blagojevich’s sendoff, which lasted roughly 40 minutes.

Covering the event, anchors for every station commented on the circus-like atmosphere, but it was clear that their colleagues were making up a large percentage of the crowd, as news choppers hovered overhead. Read more

D. Thomas Miller, a former president of CBS Television Stations, died Thursday of a heart attack while driving in Massachusetts. He was 86.

As president of CBS Television Stations in the 1970s, Miller (pictured here with Muppets creator Jim Henson in 1975) championed “The Muppet Show” to fill local stations’ 7pm hour. The show was eventually picked up as a production, taped in association with CBS-owned television stations and sold in syndication.

Miller started his career in broadcasting as an assistant research director at ABC Radio and Television. Before joining CBS in 1967, he was general manager of Chicago’s WLS for three years. After seven years as president of CBS Television Stations, he continued his career at the CBS Broadcast Group as vice president of technical resources and later vice president of new ventures.

Christopher Myers has been named assistant news director at WFLD, the Fox O&O in Chicago, the company announced today.

Myers, who is currently a senior consultant at rumorfix.com, will be reunited with recently-named WFLD news director Phyllis Schwartz. The pair worked together at both NBC O&O WMAQ, where Myers was an executive producer, and ABC O&O WLS.

“Having managed several Chicago newsrooms together, we are excited to collaborate once again in bringing FOX Chicago viewers an engaging and energetic news product that will increase the station’s presence in the market,” Schwartz said in a statement.

Prior to his experience in Chicago, Myers was assistant news director at KNBC in Los Angeles. He is also a former producer of “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Insider” on CBS. He begins in his new role at WFLD today.

When Sharon Bialek came forward on Monday with accusations that Herman Cain had sexually harassed her, the media quickly swarmed a Chicago man who said he was Bialek’s fiancé.

Mark Harwood did a handful of interviews with Chicago reporters following Bialek’s announcement, defending her motives in accusing Cain.  In every story, Harwood was referred to as Bialek’s fiancé.  But it turns out that they actually split up in February. Read more

Diane Pathieu, a reporter and midday anchor at Milwaukee NBC-affiliate WTMJ, is leaving is joining ABC owned-and-operated WLS in her native Chicago.

“It’s very bittersweet to share this,” she wrote on Facebook. “I am moving back home to Chicago! I have an incredible opportunity to work for a station my family and I have been watching for years!”

Pathieu’s last day at WTMJ, where she has been since 2005, will be December 4. Her first job in television was as a production assistant at Chicago’s WMAQ, a rival station to WLS.

WLS is expanding its Sunday 10 p.m. newscast to a full hour.

The ABC O&O announced over the weekend that, beginning November 6th, there will be local news from 10 to 11 p.m. on Sundays.

“On Sunday, this newscast will be expanded to an hour,” anchor Karen Jordan told viewers last night.  “They will be adding more news and weather and sports coverage.”

The expanded newscast will be anchored by the established weekend duo of Jordan and Ravi Baichwal, along with meteorologist Phil Schwarz and sports anchor Rafer Weigel.

After seven years as a freelance reporter for ABC owned-and-operated WLS in Chicago, Michelle Gallardo has been promoted to a full-time employee.

“Michelle has proven herself time and time again in the past seven years working for ABC 7 News as a freelance reporter,” WLS news director Jennifer Graves said in a statement. “She has shown her versatility, dedication and determination, and I have no doubt she will have continued success in this new position.”

Gallardo’s promotion is effective tomorrow. TimeOut Chicago’s Robert Feder notes the move takes place the same week as the station expands 10 p.m. weekend newscasts to one hour each.