View source for WGN-TV

{{Short description|Television station in Chicago}}
{{About|the local Chicago television station|the AM radio station|WGN (AM)|the cable channel that formerly served as the national feed of WGN-TV|NewsNation}}
{{Very long|date=February 2024}}
{{split|WGN-TV|History of WGN-TV|date=July 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2025}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = WGN-TV
| city = 
| logo = WGN CW logo 2024.svg
| logo_size = 220px
| branding = WGN Channel 9; ''WGN News''
| digital = 19 ([[UHF]])
| virtual = 9
| subchannels = 
| translators = K32MF-D [[Red Lake, MN]]<ref name=rei/>
| affiliations = {{ubl|'''9.1:''' [[The CW]] {{r|cw-b&c}}|''for others, see {{Section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| owner = [[Nexstar Media Group]]
| licensee = [[Tribune Media Company]]<ref>{{citation |url=https://enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov/dataentry/api/download/draftcopy/25076ff36ff69e94016ffdd98dc778cd |title=Commercial Broadcast Stations Biennial Ownership Report (FCC Form 323) |date=January 31, 2020 |pages=11 |publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]] |access-date=February 2, 2020}}</ref>
| location = [[Chicago]], Illinois
| country = United States
| airdate = {{Start date and age|1948|4|5|p=y|br=yes}}
| callsign_meaning = Founded by the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', the "World's Greatest Newspaper"
| sister_stations = {{hlist|[[WGN (AM)]]|[[NewsNation]]}}
| former_callsigns = WGNA ([[construction permit|CP]], 1946–1948)
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 9 ([[VHF]], 1948–2009)}}
| former_affiliations = {{ubl|[[CBS]] (1948–1953)|[[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] (1948–1956)|[[Independent station|Independent]] (1956–1995, 2016–2024)|[[NTA Film Network|NTA]] (1957–1961)|[[Overmyer Network|United]] (1967)|[[The WB]] (1995–2006)|The CW (2006–2016)}}
| erp = 645 [[Watt|kW]]
| haat = {{convert|454|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id = 72115
| coordinates = {{Coord|41|52|44|N|87|38|10.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|display=inline, title}}
| licensing_authority = [[FCC]]
| website = {{URL|https://wgntv.com/}}
}}

'''WGN-TV''' (channel 9) is a [[television station]] in [[Chicago]], Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for [[The CW]]. It is [[owned and operated]] by the network's majority owner, [[Nexstar Media Group]], and is [[sister station|sister]] to the company's sole radio property, [[news/talk]]/[[sports radio|sports]] station [[WGN (AM)|WGN]] (720 AM). WGN-TV's studios are located on West Bradley Place in Chicago's [[North Center]] community; as such, it is Chicago's only major commercial television station where its main studio is based outside [[Chicago Loop|the Loop]]. Its transmitter is located atop the [[Willis Tower]] in the Loop.

The broadcast station signed on in 1948, under the ownership of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' newspaper. WGN-TV later became one of the earliest [[superstation]]s; on November 9, 1978, it became the second U.S. television station to be made available via [[satellite transmission]] to cable and [[direct-broadcast satellite]] subscribers nationwide. Later renamed WGN America, the former superstation feed was converted into a conventional basic cable network in December 2014, enabling it to be added to local cable providers,<ref name=FederWGNAComcast>{{cite web |title=WGN America comes home to Chicago |url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/12/15/wgn-america-comes-home-to-chicago/ |author=Robert Feder |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=December 15, 2014 |access-date=January 11, 2015}}</ref><ref name=B&CWGNAComcast>{{cite web |title=WGN America Converts to Cable in Five Markets |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/programming/wgn-america-converts-cable-five-markets/136444 |author=Kent Gibbons |periodical=[[Broadcasting & Cable]] |date=December 16, 2014 |access-date=January 11, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WGN America may be channel of change for Tribune Co. |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/12/09/wgn-america-may-be-channel-of-change-for-tribune-co/ |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 9, 2012 |access-date=December 9, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tribune CEO Says He's "Not Pleased" With CW's Performance |url=https://deadline.com/2014/05/tribune-ceo-says-hes-not-pleased-with-cws-performance-731112/ |author=David Lieberman |website=[[Deadline Hollywood]] |date=May 15, 2014 |access-date=May 15, 2014}}</ref> and later [[Soft launch|soft re-launched]] as [[NewsNation]] in September 2020. A charter affiliate of both [[The WB]] and successor network The CW, WGN-TV reverted to being an independent station in 2016 before returning to the network in 2024.

WGN-TV, WGN radio, and the now-defunct [[United States cable news|regional cable news]] channel [[Chicagoland Television]] (CLTV) were the three [[flagship (broadcasting)|flagship]] properties of [[Tribune Broadcasting]], until the company's purchase by Nexstar in 2019.

==History==
===Early years (1948–1956)===
On September 13, 1946, the [[Tribune Publishing|Chicago Tribune Company]] submitted an application to the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) to build a television station on [[VHF]] channel 9.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Actions of the FCC |periodical=[[Broadcasting-Telecasting]] |page=73 |date=September 23, 1946}}</ref>{{efn|WGN representatives had to amend the application to use channel 9 as its proposed channel assignment after realizing that the initial application listed VHF channel 4, which had already been assigned to [[Balaban and Katz|Balaban and Katz Broadcasting]] for the fledgling WBKB-TV, as the allocation for the proposed station.}} After the FCC awarded the permit on November 8, the group originally requested to assign WGNA as the station's [[call signs in North America|call sign]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Broadcasting...at Deadline: Bulletins |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=4 |date=November 4, 1946}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Actions of the FCC |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=64 |date=November 11, 1946}}</ref> By January 1948, however, the company decided to call its new television property WGN-TV after WGN, which had been owned by the ''Tribune'' since 1924.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Sight and Sound |periodical=Television Digest |publisher=Radio News Bureau, Inc. |page=18 |date=January 3, 1948}}</ref> The [[List of three-letter broadcast call signs in the United States|three-letter base call sign]] served as an [[Acronym|initialism]] for "World's Greatest Newspaper", the ''Tribune''<nowiki/>'s tagline at the time.<ref>{{cite news |title='World's Greatest'--1911-1976 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-06-08-9706300085-story.html |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=June 8, 1997 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>

[[File:Chicago_Tribune_Announces_WGN-TV_Debut_in_April_1948.png|thumb|The front page of Part Five of the ''[[Chicago Tribune|Chicago Sunday Tribune]]'' of April 4, 1948, announcing the launch of WGN-TV the next day.]]
WGN-TV began [[test pattern|test broadcasts]] on February 1, 1948,<ref>{{cite magazine |title='Chicago Tribune' TV Station To Begin Program Tests Feb. 1 |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=86 |date=January 19, 1948}}</ref> then informally signed on the air on March 6 to broadcast the 1948 [[Golden Gloves]] boxing finals from the [[Chicago Stadium]]. Regular programming commenced at 7:45 p.m. on April 5, 1948, with a two-hour-long special, ''WGN-TV Salute to Chicago''.<ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-TV Makes Debut Tonight with Big Show |url=https://twotonbaker.com/2ton/clips/480405.htm |author=Larry Wolters |newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]] |via=TwoTonBaker.com |date=April 5, 1948 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> Airing from WGN Radio's studios at the [[Tribune Tower]]'s Centennial Building annex in the [[Magnificent Mile]] district, the inaugural broadcast included dedicatory speeches from ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' editor and publisher [[Robert R. McCormick]],{{efn|McCormick was too ill to attend the event himself; consequently, his speech was read at the ceremony by a business associate.}} [[Chicago Mayor]] [[Martin Kennelly]], [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]] [[Charles W. Brooks]], and [[Governor of Illinois|Governor]] [[Dwight Green]]. Performances were led by, among others, musician [[Two Ton Baker|Dick "Two Ton" Baker]], comedian [[George Gobel]], and bandleader [[Robert Trendler]] and the WGN Orchestra (WGN's in-house band). Afterwards, a film previewed WGN-TV's initial program offerings.<ref>{{cite web |title=WGN's opening night: McCormick, a mayor and marionettes |url=https://www.timeout.com/chicago/tv/wgns-opening-night-mccormick-a-mayor-and-marionettes |author=Robert Feder |website=[[Time Out Chicago]] Out Media Group |date=August 8, 2012 |access-date=March 20, 2019 |archive-date=March 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321200645/https://www.timeout.com/chicago/tv/wgns-opening-night-mccormick-a-mayor-and-marionettes |url-status=dead}}</ref>

WGN-TV was the second commercial television station in both Chicago and Illinois to sign on, with [[WBBM-TV|WBKB (channel 4)]] launching two years earlier. Initially, the station operated from the [[Chicago Daily News Building]]; its {{convert|586|ft|m|0|adj=on}} transmission tower was based atop the building. Originally broadcasting from 2 to 6 p.m. and from 7:30 to 10 p.m. seven days a week, Channel 9 started out as an independent station. However, it began carrying programming from [[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] and [[CBS]] in the months after its launch.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=August 30, 1948 |title=WGN-TV Contracts For DuMont Video |page=27 |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN's Birthday Salute a Tour of Chicago's Past |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-09-04-8801270728-story.html |author=Rick Kogan |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 4, 1988 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV Now CBS |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=27 |date=November 15, 1948 |url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1948/1948-11-15-BC.pdf#page=27}}</ref>

On January 11, 1949, WGN-TV began transmitting network programming over a live coaxial feed originating from New York City; this allowed Channel 9 to be able to carry a regular schedule of CBS and DuMont programs that could be transmitted as they aired in the [[Eastern Time Zone]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=East-Midwest Coaxial |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=32 |date=January 17, 1949}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=East-Midwest Coaxial |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=50 |date=January 17, 1949}}</ref> WBKB-TV assumed primary rights to CBS programming on September 5, 1949; as a result, WGN began dropping many CBS shows from its schedule. However, it continued to broadcast programs that WBKB-TV declined to broadcast (eventually being reduced strictly to CBS's weekday morning [[soap opera]] block by 1952).<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WBKB to CBS |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=38 |date=April 18, 1949}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=WBKB Starts CBS Service |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=90 |date=September 5, 1949}}</ref> During its tenure with DuMont, WGN-TV became one of its major production centers. Several DuMont programs were produced from the station's facilities during the late 1940s and the early 1950s, including ''[[The Al Morgan Show]]'', ''[[Chicago Symphony]]'', ''[[Chicagoland Mystery Players]]'', ''Music From Chicago'', ''[[The Music Show (TV program)|The Music Show]]'', ''[[They Stand Accused]]'' (the first televised [[court show|courtroom drama program]]), ''[[This is Music]]'', ''[[Windy City Jamboree]]'', and ''[[Down You Go]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Seasonal Plans Made by DuMont |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=68 |date=April 13, 1953}}</ref>

On January 25, 1950, the WGN stations relocated to the Centennial Building. Renovated to accommodate production and office facilities for WGN-TV, the facility included one master (which was situated on inflated rubber bags to eliminate outside noise and vibrations) and two auxiliary studios, as well as a sub-basement studio situated {{convert|75|ft|m|disp=sqbr}} below street level; this would allow WGN-TV-AM and WGNB to continue broadcasts in the event of an [[atom bomb]] attack on Chicago.<ref>{{cite web |title=Changing Channels: Television Comes to Chicago—Part III |url=http://www.chicagotelevision.com/channels1XX3.htm |website=Chicago Television |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>In 1953 {{Em dash}} as part of [[United Paramount Theatres]] (UPT)'s merger with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] {{Em dash}} CBS assumed ownership of WBKB-TV through a $6.75-million acquisition designed to allow UPT{{efn|UPT absorbed WBKB parent Balaban and Katz in March 1949, after [[Paramount Pictures]] divested its chain of movie theaters by [[United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.|order]] of the [[U.S. Supreme Court]].}} to acquire ABC-owned WENR-TV, in compliance with FCC regulations that then forbade [[duopoly (broadcasting)|common ownership of two television stations]] within the same market. As a result of the deal, CBS moved the remainder of its programming to the rechristened [[WBBM-TV]]; this left Channel 9 exclusively affiliated with the faltering DuMont. By 1954, WGN-TV expanded its broadcast schedule to 18 hours per day, running from 6 a.m. to midnight.

After McCormick died on April 1, 1955, ownership of WGN-TV-AM, the ''Chicago Tribune'', and the News Syndicate Company properties transferred to the McCormick-Patterson Trust, assigned to the [[McCormick Foundation|Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation]] in the names of the non-familial heirs of McCormick (whose two marriages never produced any children) and familial heirs of Patterson. The trust was dissolved in January 1975, with a majority of the trust's former beneficiaries, including descendants of the McCormick and Patterson families, owning stock in the restructured Tribune Company entity—which assumed oversight of all properties previously overseen by the trust—afterward.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Col. Robert McCormick Dies; WGN-AM-TV Among Holdings |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=78 |date=April 4, 1955}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=McCormick Will Names Five To Head 'Tribune,' Stations |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=102 |date=April 11, 1955}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=For the Record |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=111 |date=June 20, 1955}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=For the Record |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=108 |date=July 18, 1955}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=For the Record |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=48 |date=December 16, 1974}}</ref>

===Independence (1956–1995)===
The station disaffiliated from DuMont when the network ceased operations on August 6, 1956.<ref>{{cite book |title=Hollywood's Attempt to Appropriate Television: The Case of Paramount Pictures |author=Timothy R. White |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |location=[[Ann Arbor, Michigan]] |pages=107–131 |year=1992}}</ref> Because the three remaining commercial broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS) had each owned television stations in Chicago by this time, WGN-TV became an independent station by default. Under executive vice president and [[general manager]] Ward L. Quaal (whose stewardship of the station and programming efforts earned him the [[National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences]] [NATAS]'s Governors' Award in 1966 and 1987), the station adopted a general entertainment format that would become typical of other major market independents, carrying a mix of [[sitcom]]s and drama series, [[feature film]]s, [[animated cartoon|cartoons]], and [[religious broadcasting|religious programs]], as well as locally produced news, [[public affairs (broadcasting)|public affairs]], music, and children's programs. WGN-TV also became more reliant on sports programming, led by its broadcasts of [[Chicago Cubs]] baseball games, as well as other regional collegiate and professional teams. This helped Channel 9 establish itself as a programming alternative to the market's three network-owned stations. After initial struggles to accrue enough viewership to attract national advertisers, WGN began turning a profit by October 1957. On January 15, 1956, the station moved its transmitter facilities to a {{convert|73|ft|m|adj=mid|-tall}} antenna on the roof of the [[One Prudential Plaza|Prudential Building]], and increased its [[effective radiated power]] from 120 kW to the maximum of 316 kW.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV Plans Full Power From Prudential Bldg. Site |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=99 |date=November 22, 1954}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV Goes to Maximum |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=9 |date=January 16, 1956}}</ref>
[[File:Garfield Goose postcard 2.JPG|thumb|''[[Garfield Goose and Friends]]'' was one of the earliest television programs WGN-TV broadcast in color.]]
In March 1957, WGN began carrying programming from the [[NTA Film Network]]; the station served as the programming service's primary Chicago affiliate, offering the majority of NTA's program offerings. This relationship lasted until [[National Telefilm Associates]] discontinued the service in November 1961.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV to Show NTA Films |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=46 |date=February 4, 1957}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films |url=https://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1 |journal=[[Boxoffice]] |page=13 |date=November 10, 1956 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614204506/http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1 |archive-date=June 14, 2009}}</ref> On November 8, 1957, after conducting internal tests since the fall of 1956, WGN-TV began broadcasting select programs in [[color television|color]], consisting primarily of syndicated programs available in the format. In January 1958, WGN became the second Chicago television station to begin transmitting local programming in color. WGN was also the first television station in the world to use equipment capable of [[videotape]] recording and playback of color telecasts. The first live program on the station to be broadcast in the format was ''[[Ding Dong School]]'', a music-focused children's program hosted by Jackie Van.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV Using Limited Color |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=60 |date=November 4, 1957}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV to Colorcast On Non-Commercial Basis |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=60 |date=April 9, 1956}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV to Get First Gear From Ampex for VTR Color |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=94 |date=January 20, 1958}}</ref> In 1958, WGN-TV earned a [[Peabody Award]]—the only local television station to earn the accolade—for its children's program ''The Blue Fairy''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Brigid Bazlen |url=http://chicagotelevision.com/BlueFairy.htm |website=Chicago Television |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref>

On June 27, 1961, the operations of WGN-TV and WGN radio were relocated to the WGN Mid-America Broadcast Center (now known as WGN Studios), a two-story, {{convert|95,000|sqft|m2|0|adj=on}} complex in Chicago's [[North Center]] community. The Broadcast Center, which began housing some local program production on January 16 of that year, was developed for color broadcasting, allowing the station to televise live studio shows, as well as Chicago Cubs and [[White Sox]] baseball games in the format. It was also designed to provide a safe location to conduct broadcasts in the event of a hostile attack targeting downtown Chicago. It houses three main production soundstages, as well as two additional soundstages that were originally used as sound recording studios for WGN Radio.{{efn|WGN moved to the [[Pioneer Court]] extension on North Michigan Avenue in 1986, before eventually resuming operations at the Tribune Tower in October 2012.}} The Tribune Company repurposed the former Centennial Building facility for the ''[[Chicago American]]'', where the newspaper maintained office and publishing operations until it ceased publication in 1974.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-AM-TV Studios to be Moved |periodical=Broadcasting |page=71 |date=December 29, 1958}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=WGN-AM-TV Studios to be Moved |periodical=Broadcasting |page=72 |date=December 29, 1958}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Media reports |periodical=Broadcasting |page=71 |date=January 19, 1959}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Media reports |periodical=Broadcasting |page=71 |date=April 27, 1959}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Deserting downtown |periodical=Broadcasting |page=56 |date=October 5, 1959}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WGN "Color House" |url=http://www.bretl.com/tvarticles/bndec61/broadcastnewsdec61wgn.pdf |periodical=Broadcast News |publisher=[[RCA Corporation|RCA]] |date=December 1, 1961 |access-date=March 20, 2019 |archive-date=November 5, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105162958/http://www.bretl.com/tvarticles/bndec61/broadcastnewsdec61wgn.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> An adjacent {{convert|20,000|sqft|m2|0|adj=on}}, single-story building that housed certain non-production-related operations for the WGN stations was annexed into the facility (expanding the complex to {{convert|14.4|acre|ha|0|disp=sqbr}}) in 1966.{{efn|Tribune sold the complex to a joint venture between local real estate firms R2 Companies and Polsky Holdings for $22.25 million on January 31, 2017, in a deal that allowed WGN-TV to lease the property for a minimum of ten years.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Expansion at WGN headquarters |periodical=Broadcasting |page=53 |date=July 18, 1966}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN Radio To Move Into Tribune Tower |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/03/06/wgn-radio-to-move-into-tribune-tower/ |author=David Ibata |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=March 6, 1985 |access-date=November 29, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Radio 720 WGN Moves Upstairs |url=http://www.radioworld.com/article/radio--wgn-moves-upstairs/211705 |author=Paul McLane |website=[[Radio World]] |date=February 8, 2012 |access-date=November 29, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525102608/http://radioworld.com/article/radio--wgn-moves-upstairs/211705 |archive-date=May 25, 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-TV studio sells for $22 million |url=https://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20170131/CRED03/170139960/wgn-tv-studio-sells-for-22-million |newspaper=Chicago Business Journal |date=January 31, 2017 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Reports: WGN studio sold to developer, but station isn't leaving |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/business/report-wgn-sells-studio-will-lease-space-back-from-developer/ |newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]] |date=January 31, 2017 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The House That Bozo The Clown Built Has A New Owner |url=https://www.bisnow.com/chicago/news/office/r2-cos-buys-wgn-tv-studios-70523 |author=Chuck Sudo |website=Bisnow Chicago |date=February 1, 2017 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>}}

In subsequent years, the Tribune Company gradually expanded its broadcasting unit, of which WGN-TV-AM served as its [[flagship (broadcasting)|flagship stations]]. In 1964, the company started Mid-America Video Tape Productions, which would later become WGN Continental Productions.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=July 27, 1964 |title=WGN to syndicate 'Barn Dance' |magazine=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |date=May 23, 1966 |title=WGN Continental adds video-tape subsidiary |magazine=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |date=May 10, 1982 |title=In Brief |magazine=[[Broadcasting & Cable|Broadcasting]]}}</ref> The group became known as the [[Tribune Broadcasting|Tribune Broadcasting Company]] in January 1981, but retained the WGN Continental moniker as its [[trade name|''de facto'' business name]] until 1984, and as the licensee for WGN-TV and WGN Radio thereafter.

In May 1969, the station relocated its transmitter facilities to the {{convert|1,360|ft|m|0|adj=on}}-tall west antenna tower of the [[John Hancock Center]]. The original Prudential Building transmitter remained in use as an auxiliary facility until the transmitter dish was disassembled in 1984.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Chicago's sky-high antenna farm |periodical=Broadcasting |page=90 |date=November 15, 1965}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=For the Record |periodical=Broadcasting |page=162 |date=March 24, 1969}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=For the Record |periodical=Broadcasting |page=56 |date=August 10, 1970}}</ref> WGN also served as a charter member of the [[Operation Prime Time]] syndication service, a consortium founded in 1976 by [[Al Masini]] and a committee of executives with 18 independent stations. This partnership allowed the channel to broadcast [[miniseries]] as well as first-run syndicated programs that would be featured on the partner stations, including ''[[Solid Gold (TV series)|Solid Gold]]'', ''[[Star Search]]'', and ''[[Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=MCA gets into novels-for-TV act via syndication |periodical=Broadcasting |page=80 |date=August 23, 1976}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=MCA gets into novels-for-TV act via syndication |periodical=Broadcasting |page=82 |date=August 23, 1976}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Syndicated Shows Are No Longer Last Season's Leftovers |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/28/arts/syndicated-shows-are-no-longer-last-season-s-leftovers.html |author=Sandra Salmans |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 28, 1986 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref>

Movies became a more significant part of WGN's schedule during the late 1970s and early 1980s. During this period, depending on whether sports events or [[television special|specials]] were scheduled, Channel 9 usually aired four daily features—one in the morning, and two to three films per night—Monday through Friday, and between three and six films per day on Saturdays and Sundays. Among its regular film showcases were ''WGN [Television] Presents'' (which aired during the late access slot weeknights from 1948 to 1995, on Saturdays until 1979 and on Sundays until 1997) and ''Action Theater'' (a showcase of [[action film|action and adventure films]] that ran on midday Sundays from 1952 to 1956 and, later, in Saturday late access from 1979 to 2001). In February 1977, the station also began carrying a nightly [[prime time]] feature at 8 p.m., replacing syndicated dramas that had been airing in the timeslot. The prime time films were moved to 7 p.m. in March 1980. By January 1980, when WGN became the market's second television station to offer a 24-hour schedule, the station began to regularly feature an overnight presentation of black-and-white, theatrical, and made-for-TV movies at 1 a.m. (later 3 a.m. by September 1983), along with some syndicated programs.

===WGN goes national (1978–1995)===
{{Main|NewsNation (American TV channel)}}

{{multiple image|perrow = 2|total_width=300
| image1            = Bozo's_Circus_1968.JPG
| alt1              = The Bozo Show
| link1             = File:Bozo's_Circus_1968.JPG
| image2            = Chicago_Cubs_logo.svg
| alt2              = Chicago Cubs
| link2             = File:Chicago_Cubs_logo.svg
| image3            =
| alt3              = Chicago Bulls
| link3             =
| footer            = WGN's broadcasts of ''The Bozo Show'' and games involving the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Bulls became very well-known after the station expanded its national footprint via cable.
}}
WGN-TV began to extend its reach outside of the Chicago area beginning in the mid-1970s, when its signal began to be transmitted via [[microwave relay]] to [[cable television]] providers in areas of the central Midwestern United States that lacked access to an entertainment-based independent station. By the fall of 1978, the Channel 9 signal was transmitted to 574 cable systems—covering most of Western, Central and Southern Illinois as well as large swaths of [[Indiana]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Minnesota]], Iowa, [[Missouri]] and [[Michigan]]—reaching an estimated 8.6 million subscribers.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV, KTVU may be the next super stations |periodical=Broadcasting |page=30 |date=October 9, 1978}}</ref> On November 9, 1978, [[Tulsa, Oklahoma]]–based satellite carrier [[Gemstar–TV Guide International|United Video Inc.]] uplinked the WGN-TV signal to a [[Satcom (satellite)|Satcom-3]] transponder for distribution to cable and [[C-band (IEEE)|C-band]] satellite subscribers throughout the United States. (United Video uplinked the station's signal without WGN Continental Broadcasting's consent, using a legal exemption in the [[1976 Copyright Act]]'s [[compulsory license]] statute allowing "passive" carriers to retransmit broadcast signals without first seeking the licensee's express permission.) This resulted in WGN-TV joining the ranks of Atlanta independent station WTCG (later WTBS and now [[WPCH-TV]]) to become America's second national "[[superstation]]", independent stations distributed via [[communications satellite|satellite]] to cable providers within their respective regions, or throughout the country.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Superstation breakthrough |periodical=Broadcasting |page=25 |date=October 30, 1978}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=Superstation breakthrough |periodical=Broadcasting |page=26 |date=October 30, 1978}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=SSS tangles with RCA over transponder for WGN-TV |periodical=Broadcasting |page=30 |date=November 6, 1978}}</ref>

Within a week of attaining national status, WGN-TV added approximately 200 cable systems in various parts of the United States (reaching an estimated one million subscribers) to its total distribution.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cable Briefs: Ready customers |periodical=Broadcasting |page=76 |date=December 18, 1978}}</ref> That cable reach grew over the next several years: the first heaviest concentrations of availability outside the Midwest developed in the [[Central U.S.]] (where WGN's telecasts of Chicago Cubs baseball, Chicago Bulls basketball and ''The Bozo Show'' became highly popular) and gradually expanded to encompass most of the nation. Tribune and station management treated WGN-TV as a "passive" superstation, asserting a neutral position over United Video relaying its signal to a national audience and leaving United to handle national promotion of the WGN signal, instead of handling those responsibilities directly; this allowed the station to continue paying for syndicated programming and advertising at local rates rather than those comparable to other national networks. (Until Tribune began relaying the Chicago feed to the firm directly in 1985, the company was also not compensated directly by United Video for their retransmission or promotion of WGN's signal; Tribune, however, received [[royalties]] from cable systems for programs to which it held the copyright.) As such, WGN-TV became the first Tribune-owned independent station to be distributed to a national pay television audience (United Video later uplinked WPIX in May 1984,<ref>{{cite news |title=WPIX to Join 'Superstations' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/04/arts/wpix-to-join-superstations.html |author=Steve Knoll |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 4, 1984 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref> Netlink began distributing KWGN-TV in October 1987<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cablecastings: Denver addition |periodical=Broadcasting |page=101 |date=October 26, 1987}}</ref> and Eastern Microwave Inc. began distributing KTLA in February 1988<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Two more join superstation ranks |periodical=Broadcasting |page=60 |date=February 15, 1988}}</ref>) and the first superstation to be distributed by United Video (with WGN and WPIX being joined by [[Ryman Hospitality Properties|Gaylord Broadcasting]]-owned [[KTVT]] [now a CBS owned-and-operated station] in Dallas–Fort Worth in July 1984<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Cablecastings: Another station aloft |periodical=Broadcasting |page=10 |date=April 30, 1984}}</ref> and, after it assumed retransmission rights from Eastern Microwave, KTLA in April 1988<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Satellite Footprints: United they stand |periodical=Broadcasting |page=63 |date=April 25, 1988}}</ref>). For about eleven years afterward, the WGN-TV satellite signal carried the same programming shown within the Chicago market.<ref>{{cite web |title=Birth of a Nation's Superstation: WGN executives were aghast when the channel was first put up on satellite, but the 'curse' turned into quite the blessing |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-115224993.html |author=Kathy Haley |periodical=[[Multichannel News]] |date=April 5, 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105132013/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-115224993.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 5, 2012}}</ref>

As it gained national exposure, Channel 9 underestimated WFLD's ability to acquire top-rated, off-network syndicated programs. WFLD's respective owners during this timeframe—Field Communications and [[Metromedia]], the latter of which acquired WFLD in 1982 as part of Field and partner company [[Kaiser Broadcasting]]'s concurring exits from the television industry—were particularly aggressive in their programming acquisitions as they leveraged their independent stations in other major and mid-sized markets for the strongest programs among those entering into [[Broadcast syndication|syndication]]. Channel 32 began strengthening its syndication slate in the fall of 1979, when it acquired the local rights to off-network series such as ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'', ''[[Happy Days]]'' and ''[[All in the Family]]'', which helped it edge ahead of WGN-TV in the ratings by the end of that year. Not to stay outdone, after Tribune appointed Robert King to replace Sheldon Cooper (who was promoted to president and CEO of the upstart [[Tribune Entertainment]] syndication unit) as the station's general manager in 1982, WGN-TV began making its own efforts to acquire stronger first-run and off-network syndicated programs, gaining the rights to series such as ''[[Laverne & Shirley]]'', ''[[Good Times]]'', ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House on the Prairie]]'' and ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]''. WGN's ratings improved throughout the 1980s under the stewardship of King and his successor, Dennis FitzSimons (who later elevated to President of Tribune Broadcasting, then Executive Vice President, and finally Chairman/CEO of the Tribune Company before stepping down in 2007), firmly overtaking WFLD to again become the market's top-rated independent by the end of the decade.

WGN-TV gained two additional UHF independent competitors over the course of eight months in the early 1980s. On September 18, 1981, Focus Broadcasting signed on [[Joliet, Illinois|Joliet]]-based WFBN (channel 66, now [[WGBO-DT]]), initially running a mix of local [[public-access television|public-access]] programs during the daytime hours and the [[Spectrum (TV channel)|Spectrum]] subscription service at night. Then on April 4, 1982, a shared operation over UHF channel 60 launched, involving [[Fred Eychaner|Metrowest Corporation]]-owned English-language outlet [[WPWR-TV]] (which primarily carried the sports-centered pay service [[Sportsvision]]) and HATCO-60-owned Spanish-language outlet WBBS-TV (now [[UniMás]] owned-and-operated station [[WXFT-DT]]). (WBBS took over channel 60 full-time after WPWR moved to channel 50 in January 1987, as a byproduct of Metrowest's 1986 buyout of HATCO-60's share of the license and subsequent sale of the allocation to the [[Home Shopping Network]].)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=AdVantage: Introduction |periodical=Broadcasting |page=10 |date=May 9, 1983}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Changing Hands |periodical=Broadcasting |page=92 |date=November 10, 1986}}</ref> WGN and WFLD remained the market's strongest independent stations as they both had more robust programming inventories than their competitors.
[[File:WGN logo 1983.png|thumb|Former logo, used from August 1983 to May 3, 1993.]]
In August 1983, WGN-TV unveiled one of the most successful station image campaigns in the United States with the launch of the "Chicago's Very Own" campaign. (The slogan—to which WGN holds the trademark rights and {{as of|2024|alt=continues to be used}} by the station—is a variant of the "Chicago's Own" tagline that had been used in on-air identifications periodically since the 1960s.) Developed by Peter Marino (WGN-TV's director of promotions at the time) and Mike Waterkotte (then the creative director of now-defunct Chicago advertising agency Eisaman, Johns & Law), the campaign promotions focused on the city's people and cultural heritage as well as WGN-TV's local programming efforts, and were accompanied by an imaging theme performed by legendary [[Rhythm and blues|R&B]] singer and Chicago native [[Lou Rawls]]. The seven-note musical signature of the image theme was also incorporated into two associated [[television news music|music packages]] that were used for the station's newscasts and identifications between 1984 and 1993, while the slogan has served as the title for two other news themes commissioned exclusively for WGN-TV in subsequent years (a John Hegner-composed package used from 1993 to 1997 and a [[615 Music]]-composed package that has been used since November 1, 2007) as well as for a weekly profile series that aired from 1988 until 1990 and evolved into a continuing weekly 9&nbsp;p.m. news segment. At various points over the years, the "[city/region]'s Very Own" slogan was also adapted by some of its Tribune-owned sister stations (such as WPIX, KTLA and [[WTTV]] in [[Indianapolis]]).<ref>{{cite magazine |title='Chi's Very Own' promo line sums up image |periodical=Television/Radio Age |publisher=Television Editorial Corp. |page=A42 |date=March 6, 1989}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-Channel 9 prepares to celebrate 30th anniversary of its famous tagline |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2012/12/20/wgn-channel-prepare-to-celebrate-30th.html |author=Lewis Lazare |newspaper=Chicago Business Journal |date=December 20, 2012 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-TV To Celebrate 30th Anniversary Of Its Slogan 'Chicago's Very Own' |url=http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/3000-wgn-tv-to-celebrate-30th-anniversary-of-its-slogan-chicagos-very-own |website=Chicagoland Radio and Media |date=December 20, 2012 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> On November 10, 1984, WGN-TV became an affiliate of the [[Fourth television network#MGM/UA Premiere Network|MGM/UA Premiere Network]] [[ad hoc]] syndicated film service.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Two more movie networks for independents |periodical=Broadcasting |page=38 |date=December 31, 1984}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=Two more movie networks for independents |periodical=Broadcasting |page=39 |date=December 31, 1984}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Film Studio's New Approach to TV |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/23/movies/film-studio-s-new-approach-to-tv.html |author=Stephen Farber |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 23, 1984 |access-date=April 8, 2015}}</ref>

On November 22, 1987, during that evening's edition of ''The Nine O'Clock News'', the [[Max Headroom broadcast signal intrusion|WGN-TV signal was briefly overridden]] by video of an unidentified person wearing a [[Max Headroom]] mask and sunglasses in front of a sheet of corrugated metal imitating the moving electronic background effect used in the character's TV and movie appearances. However, oscillating audio interference obscured the audio portion throughout the 13-second video excerpt; WGN engineers were able to successfully restore the signal by changing the frequency of its Hancock Center [[studio transmitter link]] to override the pirated feed. The extended video, as seen during the roughly 90-second-long hijack occurring later that night during a ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode on [[PBS]] member station [[WTTW]] (channel 11), featured several references to WGN-TV (including the masked person mocking fill-in sports anchor and WGN Radio sports commentator [[Chuck Swirsky]] as a "frickin' nerd" and a "frickin' [[Liberalism in the United States|liberal]]", and referring to his pretend defecation as a "masterpiece for all the greatest world newspaper nerds", paraphrasing the WGN callsign's meaning).<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Mad Max Headroom |periodical=Broadcasting |page=104 |date=November 30, 1987}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=2 channels interrupted to the Max |url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3857222.html |author=Don Hayner |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times  |page=3 |date=November 24, 1987 |access-date=March 20, 2019 |url-access=subscription |archive-date=November 6, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121106072747/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-3857222.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> Bemused, sports anchor Dan Roan—who was presenting highlights of that afternoon's [[Soldier Field|home]] game between the [[1987 Chicago Bears season|Chicago Bears]] and the [[1987 Detroit Lions season|Detroit Lions]] (which the Bears won, 30–10) when the initial hijack took place at 9:14&nbsp;p.m.—commented, "Well, if you're wondering what happened, so am I," and joked that the master control computer "took off and went wild" before continuing coverage without further incident. The perpetrators of the WGN and WTTW intrusions have never been caught or identified.<ref>{{cite news |title=From the archives: The Max Headroom incident |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-wttw-max-headroom-30-years-20171122-story.html |author=John Carpenter |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 22, 2017 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=A powerful video prankster could become Max Jailroom |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-11-24-8703280602-story.html |author=John Camper |author2=Steve Daley |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 24, 1987 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=30 years later, Max Headroom hijack mystery remains unsolved |url=https://wgntv.com/2017/11/22/30-years-later-max-headroom-hijack-mystery-remains-unsolved/ |author=Julie Unruh |website=WGN-TV |publisher=[[Tribune Broadcasting]] |date=November 22, 2017 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=27 years ago Saturday: Chicago TV got hacked in the 'Max Headroom Incident' |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/27-years-ago-saturday-chicago-tv-got-hacked-in-the-max-headroom-incident/ |author=Brandon Wallemail |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=November 22, 2014 |access-date=March 20, 2019 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190321200647/https://chicago.suntimes.com/entertainment/27-years-ago-saturday-chicago-tv-got-hacked-in-the-max-headroom-incident/ |archive-date= March 21, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite AV media |title=WGN Channel 9—The Nine O'Clock News—"The 1st 'Max Headroom' Incident" (1987) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKnwhokvgxE |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/dKnwhokvgxE |archive-date=November 17, 2021 |url-status=live |website=[[The Museum of Classic Chicago Television]] |via=YouTube |type=Videotape |date=November 23, 2017 |access-date=November 23, 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

On May 18, 1988, the FCC reinstituted the [[syndication exclusivity|Syndication Exclusivity Rights Rule]] ("SyndEx"), a rule—previously repealed by the agency in July 1980—that allows television stations to claim local exclusivity over syndicated programs and requires cable systems to either [[Blackout (broadcasting)|black out]] or secure an agreement with the claimant station or a syndication distributor to continue carrying a claimed program through an out-of-market station.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Syndex redux: FCC levels the playing field |periodical=Broadcasting |page=31 |date=May 23, 1988}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=FCC Reimposes Rule On TV Exclusivity |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1988/05/19/fcc-reimposes-rule-on-tv-exclusivity/ |author=Charles Storch |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=May 19, 1988 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=FCC Reinstates Exclusive Rights |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-05-18-mn-2996-story.html |agency=[[Reuters]] |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=May 18, 1988 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref> To indemnify cable systems from potential blackouts, when the rules went into effect on January 1, 1990, United Video began offering a separate WGN national feed consisting of local and some syndicated programs as well as sporting events—except those subjected to league restrictions pertaining to the number of games that could be shown on out-of-market stations annually—that aired on the WGN Chicago signal, and substitute programs not subjected to exclusivity claims. (The feed was originally structured similarly to the concurrently launched [[WWOR EMI Service]] feed of [[Secaucus, New Jersey]]–based [[WWOR-TV]], albeit with a larger amount of shared programming. However, the amount of common programming between the WGN local and national feeds decreased significantly during the 2000s and early 2010s as local exclusivity claims reduced the number of WGN-TV programs that Tribune could clear nationally in later years.)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=United Video and WGN-TV to keep station syndex-proof |periodical=Broadcasting |page=31 |date=February 6, 1989}}</ref> Of the four United Video-distributed superstations, WGN was the only one to increase its national coverage after the SyndEx rules were implemented, adding 2.2 million subscribers by July 1990; some systems also replaced WPIX and WWOR with the WGN superstation feed during the early 1990s.<ref>{{cite news |title=WGN gains 2.2M subs; program appeal cited |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-9267407.html |author=Connie Malko |periodical=Multichannel News |publisher=[[Fairchild Publications]]  |date=July 16, 1990 |access-date=August 24, 2012 |archive-date=September 24, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924165250/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-9267407.html |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Midwest systems switch out WWOR; cable television operators sign up WGN |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11865391.html |author=R. Thomas Umstead |periodical=Multichannel News |publisher=Fairchild Publications  |date=January 13, 1992 |access-date=March 1, 2011 |archive-date=November 5, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105165631/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11865391.html |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Among the various community projects in which the station has been involved include the WGN-TV Children's Charities, a charitable foundation established in 1990 through the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation, benefitting various local organizations that help local children dealing with poverty and medical issues. On [[New Year's Day|January 1]], 1993, Tribune launched [[Chicagoland Television]] (CLTV), a [[United States cable news|local cable news channel]] that featured rolling news, weather and sports content and public affairs, sports-talk and entertainment news programs, along with having formerly acted as an overflow feed for WGN's sports telecasts. Originally utilizing its own in-house staff and resources from WGN-TV and the ''Chicago Tribune'', CLTV consolidated its operations with WGN-TV on August 28, 2009, at which time the channel's operations were relocated from its original studio facility in [[Oak Brook, Illinois|Oak Brook]] to WGN-TV's Bradley Place studios and editorial control of CLTV was turned over to Channel 9's news department.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=ChicagoLand Joins Regional News Ranks |author=Rich Brown |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=39 |date=January 4, 1993}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=ChicagoLand Joins Regional News Ranks |author=Rich Brown |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=44 |date=January 4, 1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-TV, CLTV to integrate operations |url=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/02/wgntv-cltv-to-integrate-operations.html |author=Phil Rosenthal |author-link=Phil Rosenthal |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 4, 2009 |access-date=December 7, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tribune Co. combining operations of WGN-TV and cable outlet CLTV |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2009/02/05/wgn-tv-cltv-to-merge-operations/ |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 5, 2009 |access-date=September 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tribune Broadcasting Combines WGN, CLTV |url=http://www.adweek.com/news/television/tribune-broadcasting-combines-wgn-cltv-111294 |author=Katy Bachman |periodical=[[AdWeek|Mediaweek]] |date=February 4, 2009 |access-date=September 1, 2015}}</ref> CLTV's format soon became less reliant on live newscasts, focusing increasingly on repurposed newscasts and local programming from WGN-TV. Following its acquisition of Tribune Media, Nexstar shut down Chicagoland Television on December 31, 2019, after 27 years of operation.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nexstar shutting down Chicago cable news channel CLTV |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-nexstar-shutting-down-cltv-20191216-pa7b4zhl6fbkrhd6zt2pzofpkq-story.html |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 16, 2019 |access-date=January 16, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Nexstar Media pulling the plug on CLTV cable news channel |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2019/12/16/nexstar-media-pulling-plug-cltv-cable-news-channel/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=December 16, 2019 |access-date=January 16, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=CLTV says goodbye after 27 years |url=https://wgntv.com/2019/12/31/cltv-says-goodbye-after-27-years/ |author=Marcella Raymond |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Nexstar Media Group |date=December 31, 2020 |access-date=January 16, 2020}}</ref>

===WB affiliation (1995–2006)===
[[File:WGN9_The_WB_1999.svg|thumb|170x170px|WGN-TV's first logo as a WB affiliate, used from 1995 to 2002.]]
On November 2, 1993, [[WarnerMedia|Time Warner]] and Tribune (which acquired an 11 percent interest in the network in August 1995) announced the formation of [[The WB Television Network]]. Tribune committed six of the seven independent stations it owned at the time to serve as charter affiliates of The WB, though it initially exempted WGN-TV from the agreement, as station management had expressed concerns about how the network's plans to expand its prime time and daytime program offerings would affect WGN's sports broadcast rights and the impact that the potential of having to phase out its sports telecasts to fulfill network commitments would have on the superstation feed's appeal to cable and satellite providers elsewhere around the United States.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Warner details hybrid WB Network |author=Joe Flint |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=26 |date=November 1, 1993}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=Warner details hybrid WB Network |author=Joe Flint |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=27 |date=November 1, 1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Media Business: Warner Bros. Enters Race For Network |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/11/03/business/the-media-business-warner-bros-enters-race-for-network.html |author=Elizabeth Kolbert |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 3, 1993 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tribune's Network Tie Could Bench Its Sports |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4198193.html |author=Greg Burns |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times  |date=November 3, 1993 |access-date=July 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328132823/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4198193.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 28, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tribune buys into Warner Bros. Network |author=Steve Coe |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=14 |date=August 21, 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tribune Tunes In WB Network |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-08-17-9508170326-story.html? |author=Tim Jones |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=August 17, 1995 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> Ironically, despite its concerns with taking the WB affiliation, WGN had also vied to become the Chicago affiliate of the United Paramount Network ([[UPN]]), a joint venture between [[Chris-Craft Industries|Chris-Craft/United Television]] and [[Paramount Television]] that announced its launch plans on October 21. On November 10, 1993, Paramount announced it had reached an agreement to affiliate UPN with then-[[Newsweb Corporation]]-owned WPWR-TV, which, upon the network's January 16, 1995, launch, became the largest UPN affiliate not to be owned by either of its parent companies.<ref>{{cite news |title=Trib Loses as Paramount Lures Channel 50 |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4199519.html |author=Greg Burns |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |publisher=Knight Ridder |date=November 11, 1993 |access-date=September 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017035638/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4199519.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 17, 2015}}</ref>

On December 3, 1993, Tribune reached a separate agreement with Time Warner that would allow WGN-TV to serve as The WB's Chicago affiliate and allow its companion superstation feed to act as a de facto national WB feed until the network was able to fill remaining gaps in affiliate coverage in "white area" markets that lacked a standalone independent station following its launch. In exchange, The WB agreed to reduce its initial program offerings to one night per week (from two) in order to limit conflicts with WGN's sports programming. The superstation feed, which reached 37 percent of the country by that time, would extend the network's initial coverage to 73 percent of all U.S. households that had at least one television set. (Prior to that deal, The WB had considered affiliating with WGBO-TV, which [[Univision]] later purchased and converted into an owned-and-operated station of the Spanish-language network on December 30, 1994. United Video intended to provide an alternate feed of WGN with substitute programming for markets with a WB affiliate; however, no such measure was taken, creating network duplication in markets where over-the-air WB affiliates were forced to compete with the WGN cable feed.)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WB Network signs WGN-TV |author=Joe Flint |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=14 |date=December 6, 1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN Affiliation for New Network |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-12-04-9312040167-story.html |author=J. Linn Allen |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 4, 1993 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Channel 9 Joins Warner Network // But Sports Still Gets Top Priority |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4203229.html |author=Francine Knowles |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times  |date=December 4, 1993 |access-date=July 20, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328132821/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4203229.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 28, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Time Warner Takes Crucial Step Toward New Network Television: A pact with superstation WGN-TV gives it access to 73% of homes. Analysts say that will still leave gaps. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-04-fi-63860-story.html |author=John Lippman |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=December 4, 1993 |access-date=December 10, 2010}}</ref> WGN-TV (and its superstation feed) became a charter affiliate of The WB when the network launched on January 11, 1995. Upon joining The WB, WGN's programming remained basically unchanged, continuing to feature syndicated programs, feature films, and locally produced shows. As The WB initially offered prime time programs only on Wednesdays at launch, Channel 9 filled the 7 to 9&nbsp;p.m. time slot leading into its late-evening newscast with feature films or, from September 1995 until September 1997, programs from the ad-hoc [[Action Pack (TV programming block)|Action Pack]] syndication block on nights when sports events were not scheduled to air. By the time The WB adopted a six-night-a-week schedule (running Sunday through Fridays) in September 1999, the station had relegated its prime time film presentations to Saturday nights.<ref>{{cite news |title=Race to Be 'Fifth' |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1995-01-11-9501110008-story.html |author=Steve Johnson |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 11, 1995 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Mission on Planet Pangea Full of Sci-fi Schtick |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1995/12/03/mission-on-planet-pangea-full-of-sci-fi-schtick/ |author=Allan Johnson |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 3, 1995 |access-date=June 9, 2017}}</ref>

Channel 9 chose not to clear the network's [[Kids' WB]] block, in favor of airing a local morning newscast and an afternoon sitcom block on weekdays and a mix of news, public affairs and paid programs on Saturday mornings. On February 19, WCIU-TV—which had become an English-language independent full-time as a result of Univision (from which it had aired programming on a part-time basis) moving to WGBO the month prior—reached an agreement with Time Warner to carry the Kids' WB lineup as well as to take on responsibilities of airing WB programs at times when WGN was scheduled to air sporting events during prime time. (Although the network's programming was split between WGN-TV and WCIU locally beginning with the Kids' WB block's September 9, 1995, debut, the WGN superstation feed carried The WB's prime time ''and'' children's programs until the stopgap network feed was discontinued.)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=In Brief |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=80 |date=February 27, 1995}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WCIU Takes Kids' WB |url=https://variety.com/1995/tv/features/wciu-takes-kids-wb-99124527/ |author=Joe Flint |periodical=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |date=February 26, 1995 |access-date=September 1, 2015 |archive-date=October 17, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017035638/http://variety.com/1995/tv/features/wciu-takes-kids-wb-99124527/ |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Warner Deal Puts Kids' Shows on WCIU-Ch. 26 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1995/02/19/warner-deal-puts-kids-shows-on-wciu-ch-26/ |author=Steve Nidetz |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 19, 1995 |access-date=September 8, 2015}}</ref> Even as Chicago's network-owned stations began adopting network-centric station branding during the mid-to-late 1990s, WGN-TV continued to be referred to on-air as either "WGN Channel 9" or simply "Channel 9"; by 1999, the station began to be referred to mainly by the WGN call letters (as had been the case with the national feed since 1997). By that time, WGN replaced its late-night feature film presentations (except for the Saturday ''Action Theater'' showcase) with syndicated sitcoms. 
[[File:WGN9_The_WB_Chicago_logo_(2002-2006).svg|thumb|200x200px|WGN-TV's second and final logo as a WB affiliate, used from 2002 to 2006.]]
During the latter half of the 1990s, most of The WB's remaining national coverage gaps began to be filled through standalone affiliations with UPN charter affiliates, leftover independents and former noncommercial stations as well as dual affiliations with various existing network outlets (mainly UPN stations) within the top-100 media markets, and through the September 1998 launch of The WeB (subsequently renamed [[The WB 100+ Station Group]]), a packaged feed of WB network and syndicated programs provided to participating cable-based affiliates in the 110 smallest markets. In January 1999, Time Warner and Tribune mutually agreed to stop relaying WB programming over the WGN superstation feed effective that fall; when this move took effect on October 6, the WGN national feed replaced The WB's prime time and children's program lineups, respectively, with movies and syndicated programs.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WB affils cheer end of WGN feed |author=Michael Stroud |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=29 |date=February 1, 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Muller May Have His Eyes on TV Show |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-02-11-9902110097-story.html |author=Jim Kirk |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 11, 1999 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WGN to drop the WB for off-net series |url=https://variety.com/1999/tv/news/wgn-to-drop-the-wb-for-off-net-series-1117490789/ |author=Richard Katz |periodical=Variety |date=January 28, 1999 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WGN Drops WB, Adds Movies, Sitcoms |url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/wgn-drops-wb-adds-movies-sitcoms-148648 |author=Linda Moss |periodical=Multichannel News  |date=September 20, 1999 |access-date=June 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328150223/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-55897252.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 28, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Last night Dawson's last? WGN ceases to air WB programming |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18522684.html |author=MaryWade Burnside |newspaper=[[The Charleston Gazette]]  |date=October 7, 1999 |access-date=June 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328150224/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-18522684.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 28, 2015}}</ref> By 2002, [[game show]]s and additional talk and reality series had been added to the station's schedule, while syndicated animated series were added on weekend mornings. WGN-TV—which continued to carry the network locally—began clearing the entire WB network schedule in September 2004, when it assumed the rights to the Kids' WB lineup from WCIU-TV, effectively becoming the sole remaining station in the Chicago market to run cartoons on weekday afternoons. WGN continued to carry Kids' WB's remaining Saturday morning lineup (which initially aired on a tape-delayed basis on Sunday mornings), after The WB replaced the block's two-hour weekday afternoon slot with the Daytime WB rerun block in January 2006.

===Affiliation with The CW and superstation programming split (2006–2016)===
On January 24, 2006, the [[Warner Bros. Entertainment]] division of Time Warner and [[CBS Corporation]] announced the formation of [[The CW]], a network that would initially feature a mix of programs originating on The WB and UPN—which Time Warner and CBS, respectively, would shut down in concurrence with The CW's launch—as well as new series developed specifically for the CW schedule. In conjunction with the launch announcement, Tribune signed a ten-year agreement involving sixteen of the group's 19 WB affiliates (including WGN-TV), which would join eleven UPN stations owned by [[CBS Television Stations|CBS]] to form The CW's initial group of charter affiliates.<ref>{{cite news |title='Gilmore Girls' meet 'Smackdown'; CW Network to combine WB, UPN in CBS-Warner venture beginning in September |url=https://money.cnn.com/2006/01/24/news/companies/cbs_warner/ |author=Jessica Seid |website=[[CNNMoney.com]] |date=January 24, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/business/media/24cnd-network.html?bl |author=Bill Carter |newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 24, 2006}}</ref> Because The CW primarily chose its original affiliates based on the highest overall viewership in each market among the pool of existing WB and UPN affiliates, WGN-TV was chosen as its Chicago affiliate over WPWR-TV, as Channel 9 had been the higher-rated of the two stations dating to WPWR's sign-on. On February 22, Fox announced that WPWR and nine other non-Fox-O&O stations (eight UPN stations, consisting of four [[KCOP-TV|in other]] [[KTXH|major]] [[WDCA|markets]] where The CW chose to align with a Tribune station and [[KUTP|four]] [[WUTB|based]] [[WRBW|in non]]-[[WFTC|Tribune markets]], and [[KDFI|one independent]] station) would become the initial charter outlets of [[MyNetworkTV]], a joint venture between [[Fox Television Stations]] and [[Twentieth Television]] meant to fill the two weeknight prime time hours that would be opened up on UPN- and WB-affiliated stations that were not chosen to become CW charter outlets.<ref>{{cite news |title=News Corp. to launch new mini-network for UPN stations |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-02-22-fox-my-network_x.htm |newspaper=[[USA Today]] |date=February 22, 2006 |access-date=January 21, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=News Corp. Unveils MyNetworkTV |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/news-corp-unveils-my-network-tv/78935 |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |date=February 22, 2006}}</ref> The CW did not commission the WGN national feed—which became known as Superstation WGN in November 2002 and then as WGN America in August 2008—to act as a national default feed for the network, as it was able to maintain sufficient national coverage at launch through conventional over-the-air and digital multicast affiliates in the 100 largest markets as well as supplementary coverage in the remaining 110 markets through [[The CW Plus]], a small-market feed comprising primary and subchannel-only over-the-air affiliates as well as cable-only affiliates that were part of the predecessor WB 100+ service.
[[File:WGN9_The_CW_Chicago_(2012-2016).svg|thumb|220x220px|WGN-TV's second CW logo, used from 2011 to 2017. It was originally rendered with a blue box instead of a red box from 2006 to 2011.]]
Channel 9 remained an affiliate of The WB until the network ceased operations on September 17, 2006; it became a charter affiliate of The CW when that network debuted the following day on September 18. WPWR, meanwhile, had disaffiliated from UPN on September 4 and began carrying MyNetworkTV programming upon that network's September 5 launch. As a CW affiliate, WGN-TV had been one of the network's higher-rated affiliates in terms of overall viewership, often drawing more viewers than Fox-owned WFLD—even in prime time, despite the latter's Fox programming. Channel 9 carried the entire CW schedule from the network's launch, including its children's program blocks (Kids' WB, [[Toonzai|The CW4Kids/Toonzai]], [[Vortexx]] and [[One Magnificent Morning]]); however, from September 2013 to September 2016, WGN had aired the network's [[The CW Daytime|daytime talk show block]]—which had been reduced to one hour (from two) in September 2011—one hour earlier (at 2&nbsp;p.m.) than other CW affiliates in the [[Central Time Zone]], aligning with the block's East Coast airtime. WGN-TV gradually evolved its programming slate during the late 2000s and 2010s, adopting a news-intensive format (expanding its newscast production to 70 hours per week by 2016), and shifting its weekday daytime lineup towards mainly first-run [[talk show|talk]] and game shows during the daytime hours; as fewer film packages were offered on the syndication market, its weekend schedule also began relying less on feature films and shifted to incorporate local lifestyle and tourism programs as well as additional first-run and off-network syndicated shows.

On April 1, 2007, Chicago-based real estate investor [[Sam Zell]] announced plans to purchase the Tribune Company in an $8.2-billion [[leveraged buyout]] that gave Tribune employees stock and effective ownership of the company. The transaction and concurring privatization of the company was completed upon termination of Tribune stock at the close of trading on December 20, 2007. Prior to the sale's closure, WGN-TV was one of two commercial television stations in the Chicago market, not counting network-owned stations, to have never been involved in an ownership transaction (along with WCIU-TV, which has been owned by Weigel Broadcasting since its February 1964 sign-on).<ref>{{cite news |title=Zell to acquire Tribune Co. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/02/business/worldbusiness/02iht-zell.3.5113686.html |author=Katharine Q. Seelye |author2=Andrew Ross Sorkin |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 2, 2007 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Zell buys Tribune Co., Cubs to be sold |url=https://money.cnn.com/2007/04/02/news/companies/tribune_zell/index.htm |author=Chris Zappone |website=CNNMoney.com |date=April 3, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Zell completes Tribune buyout |url=https://variety.com/2007/biz/news/zell-completes-tribune-buyout-1117978038/ |author=Cynthia Littleton |periodical=Variety |date=December 20, 2007 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> On December 8, 2008, Tribune filed for [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection]], citing a debt load of around $13 billion—making it the largest media bankruptcy in American corporate history—that it accrued from the Zell buyout and related privatization costs as well as a sharp downturn in revenue from newspaper advertising. After a protracted four-year process, on December 31, 2012, Tribune formally exited from bankruptcy under the control of its senior debt holders, [[Oaktree Capital Management]], [[JPMorgan Chase]] and [[Angelo, Gordon & Co.]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Tribune Co. to emerge from bankruptcy Monday |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-a-new-era-dawning-for-tribune-co-20121230,0,2026865.story |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 30, 2012 |access-date=March 20, 2019 |archive-date=January 22, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122233124/http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-a-new-era-dawning-for-tribune-co-20121230,0,2026865.story |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tribune Company Seeks Bankruptcy Protection |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/business/media/09tribune.html |author=Richard Pérez-Peña |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 8, 2008 |access-date=August 24, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bankruptcy-Exit Plan Gets OK |url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/60776/tribune-bankruptcyexit-plan-gets-ok |author=Randall Chase |agency=Associated Press |website=TVNewsCheck |date=July 13, 2012}}</ref> On July 10, 2013, Tribune announced plans to [[Corporate spin-off|split off]] its broadcasting and newspaper interests into two separate companies. WGN-TV and WGN Radio would remain with the original entity, which was renamed Tribune Media and was restructured to focus on the company's broadcasting, digital and real estate properties; the newspaper division—which, in addition to the ''Chicago Tribune'', included publications such as the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', the ''[[South Florida Sun-Sentinel]]'' and the ''[[Baltimore Sun]]''—was spun off into the standalone entity Tribune Publishing (known as Tronc from June 2016 until the company reverted to its former name in October 2018). The split was completed on August 4, 2014, ending the ''Tribune''{{'}}s joint ownership with WGN-TV and WGN Radio after 66 and 94 years, respectively. However, WGN-TV continues to maintain a content partnership with the ''Tribune''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tribune Co. to Split in Two |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/11/business/media/tribune-co-to-split-in-two.html?_r=0 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=July 10, 2013 |access-date=July 11, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tribune Publishing targets Aug. 4 for spinoff |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-tribune-spinoff-date-aug-4-20140623-story.html |author=Robert Channick |website=Chicago Tribune |date=June 23, 2014}}</ref>

On December 13, 2014, Tribune converted the WGN America national feed into a conventional cable channel that focused on acquired and original programs, containing significantly more domestic and internationally acquired programming than the channel did prior to its separation from WGN-TV, and switched from a royalty to a [[retransmission consent]] revenue model. As a result, WGN America immediately ceased simulcasts of WGN-TV's Chicago-originated local programming (which was limited to its weekday noon and [until that simulcast was dropped the previous February] nightly 9&nbsp;p.m. newscasts, select news specials, public affairs programs, special events and sports telecasts, alongside a limited number of off-network syndicated reruns, religious programs and feature films acquired for the Chicago feed). Starting with its addition to [[Comcast Xfinity]]'s Chicago-area systems on December 16, the changeover allowed cable and IPTV subscribers within the market—as local satellite viewers had been able to do for about two decades—to receive WGN America for the first time. (As a result of the October 2007 separation of [[TBS (American TV channel)|TBS]] from its Atlanta parent WTBS, WGN America had been the last remaining national superstation to be distributed to cable, IPTV, fiber optic ''and'' satellite television providers, whereas the other six remaining superstations are distributed outside their home regions mainly on satellite.)<ref>{{cite web |title=WGN news loses national platform |url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/02/05/wgn-9-p-m-news-loses-national-platform/ |author=Robert Feder |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 5, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN America comes home to Chicago |url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/12/15/wgn-america-comes-home-to-chicago/ |author=Robert Feder |author-link=Robert Feder |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 15, 2014 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN America Converts to Cable in Five Markets |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/programming/wgn-america-converts-cable-five-markets/136444 |author=Kent Gibbons |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |date=December 16, 2014 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> Due to the separation of the local and national feeds, WGN-TV did not carry WGN America's original drama series (such as ''[[Salem (TV series)|Salem]]'' and ''[[Manhattan (TV series)|Manhattan]]'') outside of preview promotions, limiting the local availability of these programs to subscribers of [[DirecTV]] and [[Dish Network]] and through WGN America's streaming agreement with [[Hulu]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Hulu Nabs Streaming Rights to WGN America's 'Manhattan' |url=https://variety.com/2014/digital/news/hulu-nabs-streaming-rights-to-wgn-americas-manhattan-1201269951/ |author=Alex Stedman |periodical=Variety |date=July 28, 2014 |access-date=August 12, 2014}}</ref> WGN-TV regained national availability in the spring of 2015, when [[Channel Master]] included the Chicago feed among the initial offerings of its LinearTV [[over-the-top media services|over-the-top streaming]] service.<ref>{{cite web |title=CES: Channel Master DVR to Pipe in Linear OTT |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/technology/ces-channel-master-dvr-pipe-linear-ott/136765 |author=Jeff Baumgartner |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |date=January 6, 2015 |access-date=September 9, 2015}}</ref>

===Return to independence (2016–2024)===
On May 23, 2016, after a year of protracted negotiations pertaining to financial terms (including the share of reverse compensation that Tribune paid to keep CW programming on those stations), Tribune Broadcasting and CW managing partner CBS Corporation reached a five-year agreement that allowed twelve of Tribune's thirteen CW-affiliated stations to remain with the network through 2021. Tribune exempted WGN-TV from the renewed agreement, intending to free up its schedule to offer an increased schedule of Chicago Cubs, White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks games in prime time during the calendar year, thereby giving WGN over-the-air exclusivity over all sporting events it is contracted to broadcast for the first time since 1993.<ref>{{cite press release |title=The CW Network and Tribune Broadcasting Reach Long-Term Affiliation Agreement |url=https://www.cbscorporation.com/2016/05/the-cw-network-and-tribune-broadcasting-reach-long-term-affiliation-agreement/ |website=[[CBS Corporation]] |date=May 23, 2016 |access-date=May 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528131319/http://www.cbscorporation.com/2016/05/the-cw-network-and-tribune-broadcasting-reach-long-term-affiliation-agreement/ |archive-date=May 28, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=CW, Tribune Stations Set Affiliation Deal as WGN-TV Chicago Goes Indie |url=https://variety.com/2016/tv/news/cw-tribune-affiliation-wgn-1201780975/ |author=Brian Steinberg |author2=Cynthia Littleton |periodical=Variety |date=May 23, 2016 |access-date=May 23, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |title=WGN-TV/Chicago To Become Independent Station Featuring Local News, Live Sports, High-Quality Syndicated Programming |url=http://www.tribunemedia.com/wgn-tvchicago-to-become-independent-station-featuring-local-news-live-sports-high-quality-syndicated-programming/ |website=Tribune Media |date=May 23, 2016 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN to air more sports after dropping CW |url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160523/NEWS06/160529967/wgn-to-air-more-sports-after-dropping-cw |author=Lynne Marek |newspaper=[[Crain's Chicago Business]] |publisher=[[Crain Communications]] |date=May 23, 2016 |access-date=May 26, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-TV, CW Network part ways |url=https://wgntv.com/2016/05/23/wgn-tv-cw-network-part-ways/ |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |date=May 23, 2016 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> The WB and The CW each contractually limited the number of network program preemptions, other than those caused by long-form [[breaking news]] coverage, that could occur on an annual basis; in compliance with these restrictions, WGN-TV purchased airtime on CLTV (from 1993 to 2002), WCIU-TV (from 1999 to 2015) and WPWR-TV (from 2015 to 2016) to carry certain game telecasts that the station was contracted to produce (totaling roughly 30 per year). WB and CW network programs subjected to sports-induced displacements on their regular nights were shown on a [[Broadcast delay|tape-delayed basis]] later in the week (usually in a [[graveyard slot]] or on a weekend evening timeslot not occupied by a scheduled game telecast, as neither The WB nor The CW has ever aired prime time programs on Saturdays and the network had no Sunday programming from September 2009 until October 2018).<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Game's on time; WB lineup delayed |author=Joe Flint |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=12 |date=February 20, 1995}}</ref><ref name="clr&m-wgnind">{{cite web |title=Tribune Broadcasting Renews CW Affiliation For All Stations Except WGN-TV; CW To Move To WPWR-TV |url=http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/8185-tribune-broadcasting-renews-cw-affiliation-for-all-stations-except-wgn-tv-cw-to-move-to-wpwr-tv |website=Chicagoland Radio and Media |date=May 23, 2016 |access-date=May 28, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title='Chicago's Very Own' WGN declares independence from CW Network |url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2016/05/23/chicagos-very-own-wgn-declares-independence-from-cw-network/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=May 23, 2016 |access-date=May 27, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Remotes to Get Workout in 2000 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-07-09-9907090025-story.html |author=Ed Sherman |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=July 9, 1999 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>

Concurrently, Fox announced that WPWR would take over as Chicago's CW affiliate (marking the second time that Fox Television Stations had owned a CW-affiliated station, as, under an existing contract that was already scheduled to expire before that station's conversion into a Fox O&O was announced, [[Charlotte, North Carolina|Charlotte]] sister station [[WJZY]] continued to carry the network's programming for about 3½ months after its purchase by Fox was finalized in April 2013).<ref>{{cite press release |title=The CW Network and Fox Television Stations Announce New Affiliation Agreement For WPWR-TV in Chicago |url=http://www.cbscorporation.com/2016/05/the-cw-network-and-fox-television-stations-announce-new-affiliation-agreement-for-wpwr-tv-in-chicago/ |website=CBS Corporation |date=May 23, 2016 |access-date=May 23, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160526055144/http://www.cbscorporation.com/2016/05/the-cw-network-and-fox-television-stations-announce-new-affiliation-agreement-for-wpwr-tv-in-chicago/ |archive-date=May 26, 2016 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="clr&m-wgnind"/> Channel 9 reverted to independent status—marking the first time in 21 years that it was not affiliated with a major broadcast network—on September 1, filling timeslots previously occupied by CW network shows mainly with additional syndicated programs on weekdays and an expanded weekend morning newscast, station-produced lifestyle programs and syndicated educational programs on weekends. Beginning the same day, all CW programming concurrently moved to WPWR-TV (resulting in the weeknight-only MyNetworkTV schedule being shifted to air on a three-hour delay from 10&nbsp;p.m. to midnight). As such, WPWR displaced WLVI in Boston as the largest CW station that is not owned by either Tribune or CBS Corporation. (The CW eventually moved to WCIU-TV on September 1, 2019, marking the first time that channel 26—which had maintained part-time affiliations with the Spanish International Network and successor Univision, NetSpan/Telemundo, and The WB [by way of Kids' WB] at various points between 1968 and 2004—had ever served as a full-time network affiliate.)<ref>{{cite web |title=Weigel's WCIU Chicago Adds CW Affiliation |url=https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/234122/weigels-wciu-chicago-adds-cw-affiliation/ |author=Mark K. Miller |website=TVNewsCheck |date=April 18, 2019 |access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Weigel Broadcasting's WCIU to become CW Network affiliate |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2019/04/18/weigel-broadcastings-wciu-become-cw-network-affiliate/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=April 18, 2019 |access-date=October 26, 2019}}</ref>

===Aborted sale to Sinclair Broadcast Group; sale to Nexstar Media Group===
{{Main|Attempted acquisition of Tribune Media by Sinclair Broadcast Group}}

[[Sinclair Broadcast Group]] announced their purchase of Tribune Media on May 8, 2017, for $3.9 billion,<ref>{{cite news |title=Sinclair Broadcast to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion, giving it control over 215 local TV stations |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/05/08/sinclair-broadcast-to-buy-tribune-media-for-3-9-billion-creating-nations-largest-tv-station-group/ |author=Todd Frankel |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=May 8, 2017 |access-date=May 8, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Sinclair deal means bad news for Chicago's Very Own |url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2017/05/08/sinclair-deal-means-bad-news-chicagos/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=May 8, 2017 |access-date=May 8, 2017}}</ref> a deal publicly met with consternation among station employees due to concerns about the influence the [[Conservatism in the United States|conservative]]-leaning group could potentially have on WGN's news content.<ref>{{cite news |title=Under Sinclair, WGN could be 'Chicago's very own' no more |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-tribune-sinclair-merger-wgn-0813-biz-20170810-story.html |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=August 10, 2017 |access-date=August 10, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=What Sinclair Broadcast Group's Bid for Tribune Media Means for WGN |url=http://chicagotonight.wttw.com/2017/05/23/what-sinclair-broadcast-groups-bid-tribune-media-means-wgn |author=Alexandra Silets |website=[[WTTW]] |publisher=Window to the World Communications, Inc. |date=May 23, 2017 |access-date=May 24, 2017}}</ref> In order to meet regulatory compliance, Sinclair opted to divest WGN-TV to a [[limited liability company]] controlled by [[Baltimore]]-based automotive dealer Steven Fader—who has acted as a business associate to Sinclair executive chairman [[David D. Smith|David Smith]]—for $60 million.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sinclair Is Divesting WGN, WPIX, But... |url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/sinclair-divesting-wgn-wpix-418287 |author=John Eggerton |periodical=Multichannel News |date=February 21, 2018 |access-date=July 19, 2018}}</ref> Under the terms of the deal, Sinclair planned to operating the station through [[Local marketing agreement|programming and sales service agreements]], and would hold an option to repurchase with eight years.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sinclair would still control WGN-TV despite proposed sale to Maryland auto dealer |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sinclair-sale-wgn-tv-tribune-20180226-story.html |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=March 1, 2018 |access-date=March 2, 2018}}</ref> Following public criticism of the proposed deal with Fader by FCC chairman [[Ajit Pai]],<ref name="auto">{{cite web |author=Cynthia Littleton |date=April 24, 2018 |title=Sinclair Revises Station Divestiture Plan Following Pushback From Regulators |url=https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/sinclair-tribune-media-station-sales-merger-1202785468/ |access-date=July 19, 2018 |periodical=Variety}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Robservations: FCC blasts Sinclair 'misrepresentation' in Tribune deal |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2018/07/20/robservations-fcc-blasts-sinclair-misrepresentation-tribune-deal/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=July 19, 2018 |access-date=July 20, 2018}}</ref> Sinclair abandoned the deal and disclosed it would instead acquire WGN-TV directly.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sinclair now wants to buy WGN-TV in its bid to win FCC approval for stalled Tribune Media merger |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-sinclair-buy-wgn-tribune-fcc-20180718-story.html |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=July 18, 2018 |access-date=July 19, 2018}}</ref> Despite this, the FCC instead voted to bring the merger up for a hearing by an [[administrative law judge]],<ref>{{cite web |title=FCC throws Sinclair/Tribune deal in doubt |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2018/07/16/fcc-throws-sinclairtribune-deal-doubt/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=July 16, 2018 |access-date=July 19, 2018}}</ref> prompting Tribune Media to terminate the deal on August 9, 2018, and file a [[breach of contract]] lawsuit.<ref>{{cite news |title=Tribune withdraws from Sinclair merger, saying it will sue for 'breach of contract' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/08/09/tribune-withdraws-sinclair-merger-saying-it-will-sue-breach-contract/ |author=Brian Fung |author2=Tony Romm |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 9, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tribune Ends Deal with Sinclair, Files Breach of Contract Suit |url=https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/tribune-ends-deal-with-sinclair-files-breach-of-contract-suit |author=Jon Lafayette |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |date=August 9, 2018}}</ref>

Following the collapse of the Sinclair merger, [[Nexstar Media Group]] agreed to acquire Tribune's assets on December 3, 2018, for $6.4 billion in cash and debt.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nexstar to buy WGN owner Tribune Media for $4.1 billion |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-nexstar-tribune-media-20181202-story.html |author=Gerry Smith |author2=Nabila Ahmed |author3=Eric Newcomer |agency=Bloomberg News |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 3, 2018}}</ref> The transaction received approval by the FCC on September 16, 2019,<ref>{{cite news |title=Tribune Media sale to Nexstar approved by FCC; WGN-Ch. 9 no longer Chicago's very own |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-tribune-nexstar-sale-approved-fcc-wgn-20190916-hlbtp65ye5htxg3hnuunmo5nqu-story.html |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 16, 2019 |access-date=September 17, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=FCC approves Tribune Media sale: What's next for WGN? |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2019/09/16/fcc-approves-tribune-media-sale-whats-next-wgn/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=September 16, 2019 |access-date=September 17, 2019}}</ref> and finalized three days later.<ref>{{cite press release |title=Nexstar Media Group Completes Tribune Media Acquisition Creating The Nation's Largest Local Television Broadcaster |url=https://www.nexstar.tv/nexstar_completes_tribune_transaction_2019/ |website=Nexstar Media Group |date=September 19, 2019 |access-date=October 3, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Nexstar completes purchase of WGN owner Tribune Media |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-nexstar-tribune-sale-completed-wgn-20190919-i3ba4p4yibhfjo3vrki4ebe6ke-story.html |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 19, 2019 |access-date=September 19, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Nexstar Completes Tribune Acquisition, Sean Compton to Head Programming |url=https://variety.com/2019/biz/news/nexstar-tribune-fcc-deal-complete-compton-1203334923/ |author=Cynthia Littleton |periodical=Variety |date=September 19, 2019 |access-date=September 19, 2019}}</ref>

===Return to CW as an O&O (since 2024)===
On May 1, 2024, it was announced that WGN-TV would rejoin The CW after the network's current affiliation agreement with WCIU-TV expired on August 31, with the return occurring the next day on September 1. As Nexstar is the majority owner of The CW, this makes WGN a network owned-and-operated station, the second-largest directly owned after KTLA.<ref name=cw-b&c>{{Cite web |last=Keys |first=Matthew |date=May 1, 2024 |title=Nexstar moving CW Network programming back to WGN-TV Channel 9 in Chicago |url=https://thedesk.net/news/nexstar-moving-cw-network-to-wgn-tv-9/ |access-date=May 1, 2024 |website=The Desk |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Programming==
{{overly detailed|section|date=March 2024}}
===Locally produced programs===
WGN-TV currently produces the following programs, some of which were previously rebroadcast on CLTV:
* {{lang|es|Adelante, Chicago}} ({{translation}} ''Onward, Chicago'') is a bi-weekly public affairs program (airing Saturdays every two weeks at 6:30&nbsp;a.m.) that debuted on February 19, 2000, and was originally hosted by former WGN-TV assignment reporter Eddie Arruza.<ref>{{cite news |title=WXRT Plans to Rock on During Super Bowl |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-01-26-0001260022-story.html |author=Jim Kirk |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 26, 2000 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> Currently hosted by Lourdes Duarte (who also co-anchors the 4&nbsp;p.m. hour of the ''WGN Evening News''), it features topical discussions, interviews and feature segments focusing on Chicago's Hispanic community and culture.
* ''People to People'' is a bi-weekly public affairs program (airing most Saturdays at 6:30&nbsp;a.m.) that debuted in 1973, with local civil rights leader Edwin C. "Bill" Berry as its original host.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Civil Rights Giant is Remembered |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1987-05-20-8702070405-story.html |author=Manuel Galvan |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=May 20, 1987 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> Currently hosted by Micah Materre (who also serves as weeknight co-anchor of the ''WGN Evening News'' and the 9 and 10&nbsp;p.m. newscasts), the program community events and topical discussions focusing on the African-American community.
* ''Daytime Chicago'' is a morning lifestyle program (airing weekdays at 10&nbsp;a.m.) that premiered on September 13, 2021. Hosted by weekend morning anchor Tonya Francisco and former assignment reporter Amy Rutledge, it features conventional and segments focusing on subjects such as fashion, cooking, travel and the arts.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tonya Francisco And Amy Rutledge To Host WGN's 'Daytime Chicago' This Fall|url=https://tvnewscheck.com/journalism/article/tonya-francisco-and-amy-rutledge-to-host-wgns-daytime-chicago-this-fall/|website=TVNewsCheck|date=July 26, 2021|access-date=September 2, 2024}}</ref>
* ''Spotlight Chicago'' is an afternoon lifestyle program (airing weekdays at 1&nbsp;p.m.) that premiered on September 11, 2023. Hosted by Ji Suk Yi and former ''WGN Morning News'' traffic reporter Sarah Jindra, it features segments centered around local events around Chicagoland, stories on local residents and organizations making a difference in the community, and feature visits to area attractions.<ref>{{cite web|title=WGN-TV to launch new afternoon show, "Spotlight Chicago"|url=https://www.tdogmedia.com/2023/07/wgn-tv-to-launch-new-afternoon-show-spotlight-chicago.html|website=TDogMedia|date=July 11, 2023|access-date=September 2, 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=WGN Launches Afternoon Show, 'Spotlight Chicago', Starting Sept 11|url=https://marketshare.tvnewscheck.com/2023/09/08/wgn-launches-afternoon-show-spotlight-chicago-starting-sept-11/|website=TVNewsCheck|date=September 8, 2023|access-date=September 2, 2024}} </ref>
* ''WGN-TV Political Report'', which airs Sundays at 9&nbsp;a.m. and premiered on January 12, 2020, is a weekly [[Sunday morning talk shows|political talk show]] in which hosts Paul Lisnek (who serves as WGN-TV's political analyst and hosted a similar daily evening program, ''Politics Tonight'', from 2007 until CLTV's closure in December 2019) and Tahman Bradley (who serves as the station's weekend evening anchor and political reporter) provide analysis on Chicago-area and national political issues.<ref name="cn-wgnmorenews">{{cite web |title=With CLTV now gone, WGN adds more news. |url=https://changingnewscasts.wordpress.com/2020/01/11/cltv-gone-wgn-adds-news/ |author=Roly Ortega |website=Changing Newscasts |date=January 11, 2020 |access-date=January 12, 2020}}</ref>
* ''BackStory with Larry Potash'' is a half-hour historical series that premiered on October 18, 2018. Hosted by ''WGN Morning News'' anchor/assignment reporter Larry Potash and airing Sundays at 11&nbsp;p.m., the program looks at interesting stories pertaining to history, culture, religion and science within and outside of Chicago.<ref>{{cite web |title=WGN's Larry Potash to host 'Backstory' history series |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2018/10/18/wgns-larry-potash-host-backstory-history-series/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=October 18, 2018 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release |title=WGN-TV To Air "Backstory with Larry Potash" Sunday Nights Beginning October 28 |url=http://www.tribunemedia.com/wgn-tv-to-air-backstory-with-larry-potash-sunday-nights-beginning-october-28/ |website=Tribune Media |date=October 17, 2018 |access-date=March 20, 2019 |archive-date=March 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321201005/http://www.tribunemedia.com/wgn-tv-to-air-backstory-with-larry-potash-sunday-nights-beginning-october-28/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

Channel 9 became known for its heavy schedule of local programs during the period from the 1950s through the 1980s, including some influential programs:
* ''[[The Bozo Show]]'', a long-running children's program that aired under various titles and formats—including as ''Bozo'' (1960–1961), ''Bozo's Circus'' (1961–1980) and ''The Bozo Super Sunday Show'' (1994–2001) as well as the short-lived prime time spin-off ''Big Top'' (1965–1967)—from June 20, 1960, until July 14, 2001. The program was WGN-TV's most successful local program in terms of both ratings and cultural impact, and became the most well-known iteration of the ''[[Bozo the Clown|Bozo]]'' franchise partly as a result of the exposure it received after WGN became a national superstation in 1978. ''Bozo'' originated as a live, half-hour midday broadcast (expanding to a full hour in September 1961) featuring comedy sketches, circus acts, cartoon shorts and in-studio games.<ref>{{cite news |title=So Long, Bozo: WGN Pulls Plug on 40-Year Tradition |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-03-24-0103300410-story.html |author=Allan Johnson |author2=Monica Davey |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=March 24, 2001 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Clowning around ends with taping of final Bozo show |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-bozo-story.html |author=Steve Johnson |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=June 13, 2001 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Kids' Shows No Longer Send in the Clown |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-03-28-0103280020-story.html |author=Steve Johnson |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=March 28, 2001 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> The titular clown was portrayed by [[Bob Bell (actor)|Bob Bell]] until 1984 and by [[Joey D'Auria]] thereafter, and featured additional characters such as Ringmaster Ned ([[Ned Locke]], 1961–1976), Sandy the Tramp ([[Don Sandburg]], 1961–1969), Oliver O. Oliver ([[Ray Rayner]], 1961–1971), Cooky the Cook ([[Roy Brown (clown)|Roy Brown]], 1968–1994), Wizzo the Wizard ([[Marshall Brodien]], 1968–1994) and the circus manager ([[Frazier Thomas]], 1976–1985). At the peak of its popularity, ticket reservations for the show's studio audience surpassed a ten-year backlog. (WGN-TV management discontinued the wait list in 1990 and began awarding tickets through a contest-style giveaway.) In response to [[Chicago Public Schools]] rule changes that disallowed students from going home for lunch, the program was moved to weekday mornings and switched to a pre-taped format in August 1980; to accommodate the launch of the ''WGN Morning News'', ''Bozo'' was relegated to Sunday mornings in September 1994, remaining there until it was controversially discontinued by station management in 2001. For the final four years of its run, ''The Bozo Super Sunday Show'' was restructured to incorporate segments compliant with FCC [[Children's Television Act|educational programming requirements]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Bozo takes final bow in Chicago |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/television/2001-06-11-bozo-show.htm |newspaper=USA Today Company |date=June 11, 2001 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Is This Idea a Real Bozo? |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-02-07-9402070043-story.html |author=Bob Greene |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 7, 1994 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN Catches Flak for Shifting 'Bozo' So Kids Can Watch |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-02-08-9402080024-story.html |author=Jennifer Mangan |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 8, 1994 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>
* {{lang|es|Charlando}} ({{translation}} ''Chatting''), a Spanish-language talk show focusing on Chicago's Hispanic and Latino community (originally airing on Saturday mornings until 1992, when it was moved to Sundays) that aired from 1964 to 1999. Peter Nuno hosted the program for its entire 35-year run before retiring from WGN-TV in December 1999.<ref>{{cite news |title=TV Alternative—Fluent Spanish is Not Required |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-07-31-8801190393-story.html |author=Judy Hevrdejs |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=July 31, 1988 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref name="trib-wgnchurchtie">{{cite news |title=WGN-Church Tie Was Boon to Both |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-01-10-9201030526-story.html |author=Michael Hirsley |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 10, 1992 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Channel 2 Newscast May Take on a Political Air |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-12-08-9912080329-story.html |author=Jim Kirk |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 8, 1999 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>
* ''[[Creature Features]]'', a local version of the horror film franchise which aired Saturday nights from September 19, 1970, until May 19, 1976, showcasing classic horror and science fiction films released between the 1930s and the 1950s (many of which were [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] releases). The films were presented by a disembodied voice known only as "The Creature" (voiced, at respective times, by WGN news anchors Carl Greyson and Marty McNeeley). After the WGN version ended, the title (unpluralized as "Creature Feature") was used by WFLD for its weekend horror movie presentations until their replacement by the ''[[Son of Svengoolie]]'' showcase in 1979.
* ''[[Family Classics]]'', a showcase of family-oriented feature films that originally ran from September 14, 1962, to [[Christmas|December 25]], 2000 and was co-created by Frazier Thomas and [[Fred Silverman]] (then a programming executive at WGN-TV).<ref>{{cite web |title=WGN 9 Chicago "Family Classics" Movie Timeline |url=https://wgntv.com/family-classics/ |website=WGN-TV |date=January 27, 2017 |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> As host, Thomas also was responsible for selecting the program's featured film titles and edited them to remove certain scenes he deemed unfit for family viewing; [[Roy Leonard]] took over hosting duties following Thomas's death in April 1985 from complications tied to a [[stroke]], and remained in that role until ''Family Classics'' ended its initial run. (After airing weekly throughout the fall-to-spring television season—first on Friday nights until 1986, and then on Sunday afternoons thereafter—for most of its run, the program began airing sporadically during the [[holiday season]] from November 1993 until the conclusion of the program's original run.) ''Family Classics'' was revived as an occasional series on December 8, 2017, with longtime entertainment reporter [[Dean Richards (reporter)|Dean Richards]] as host.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chicago's Merry Own: 'Family Classics' returns to WGN-TV for special holiday showing of 'Scrooge' hosted by Dean Richards |url=http://wgntv.com/2017/11/10/wgn-tv-becomes-chicagos-merry-own-for-the-holidays-family-classics-returns-for-special-holiday-showing-of-scrooge-hosted-by-dean-richards/ |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |date=November 11, 2017 |access-date=March 20, 2019 |archive-date=January 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180118101927/http://wgntv.com/2017/11/10/wgn-tv-becomes-chicagos-merry-own-for-the-holidays-family-classics-returns-for-special-holiday-showing-of-scrooge-hosted-by-dean-richards/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* ''[[Garfield Goose and Friends]]'', a children's program that aired on WGN-TV from September 1955 to October 1976 (originating on WBKB/WBBM-TV and then WBKB/WLS-TV under the unpluralized title ''Garfield Goose and Friend'' from 1952 to 1955). Considered the longest-running puppet show on television, the series was hosted by Frazier Thomas as the "[[prime minister]]" to the titular clacking goose puppet (puppeteered by Roy Brown) who designated himself as "King of the United States". The WGN-TV run of the program featured a mix of puppet characters developed by Brown before and after the show's move to Channel 9 such as Romberg Rabbit, Macintosh Mouse, Christmas "Chris" Goose (Garfield's nephew) and sleepy [[bloodhound]] Beauregard Burnside III (a character named after two [[American Civil War|Civil War]] generals). In addition to skits, the show also featured animated shorts (such as ''[[Clutch Cargo]]'' and ''[[Space Angel]]'') that were introduced by the camera zooming into the "Little Theater Screen", as well as educational feature segments.<ref>{{cite news |title=The Children's 'Prime Minister' |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/05/19/the-childrens-prime-minister/ |author=Patricia Best |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=May 19, 1985 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>
* ''Issues Unlimited'', a Sunday morning public affairs program moderated by ''Chicago Bulletin'' editor and columnist Hurley Green Sr. from 1971 to 1987; the program featured a panel of local media representatives interviewing local and national newsmakers.<ref>{{cite news |title=Death of Hurley Green Sr, Elder Black Journalist—Tribute by Hurley Green III, and National Black Wall Street Leader |url=http://www.chicagonow.com/and-the-ordinary-people-said/2012/10/death-of-hurley-green-sr-elder-black-journalist-tribute-by-hurley-green-iii-and-national-black-wall-street-leader/ |author=Mark S. Allen |website=ChicagoNow |date=October 30, 2012 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>
* ''Ray Rayner and His Friends'' (originally ''Breakfast with [[Bugs Bunny]]'' from 1962 to 1964), a long-running children's program hosted by Ray Rayner from 1962 to 1980. The program featured animated shorts (including [[Looney Tunes]] and [[Merrie Melodies]] cartoons), arts and crafts segments, animals (such as Chelveston the Duck, named after the [[RAF Chelveston|military base]] where Rayner was stationed during [[World War II]]), science segments conducted with J. Bruce Mitchell of the [[Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)|Museum of Science and Industry]] and a viewer mail segment in which Rayner appeared alongside a talking orange dog puppet, [[Cuddly Dudley]] (voiced by Roy Brown), which was originally created by the ''Chicago Tribune'' as a promotional item.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ray Rayner |url=http://chicagotelevision.com/rayner.htm |website=Chicago Television |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Rayner's Pecking Pal In Duck Heaven |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/11/08/rayners-pecking-pal-in-duck-heaven/ |author=Harlene Ellin |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 8, 1991 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>

In addition, Channel 9 broadcasts several local events including the [[Chicago Thanksgiving Parade]] (which has aired since 2007, under an agreement with the Chicago Festival Association in which the WGN national feed—which continues to carry the parade despite WGN America's December 2014 programming separation from WGN-TV—was given national simulcast rights),<ref>{{cite news |title=Chicago's Thanksgiving Day Parade 80 years young |url=http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/792373/chicagos-thanksgiving-day-parade-80-years-young |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=November 26, 2013 |access-date=September 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017035638/http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/792373/chicagos-thanksgiving-day-parade-80-years-young |archive-date=October 17, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> the Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade (which aired from 1949 to 2002), the [[Chicago Auto Show]] (from 1952 to 1992 and again since 1999)<ref name="tribune-lotteryauto">{{cite news |title=New Channels for Auto Show, Lottery Telecast |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-11-13-9204130011-story.html |author=Pat Widder |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 13, 1992 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Well Spoken |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-02-12-9902120104-story.html |author=Katherine Sopranos |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 12, 1999 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> and the Philadelphia-based [[Mummers Parade]] (by arrangement with sister station WPHL-TV). Local events that WGN-TV aired in previous years have included the [[Bud Billiken Parade]] (from 1978 to 2011, with WCIU-TV obtaining primary rights to the broadcast beginning in 2012, before shifting exclusively to WLS-TV—which had been a partial rightsholder for the parade since 1984—in 2014).<ref>{{cite web |title=The 2012 Bud Billiken Parade To Air Live On WLS-TV & WCIU-TV |url=http://www.chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/2679-the-2012-bud-billiken-parade-to-air-live-on-wls-tv-a-wciu-tv |website=Chicagoland Radio and Media |date=August 8, 2012 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The 2013 Bud Billiken Parade To Air Live On WLS-TV |url=http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/5848-the-2013-bud-billiken-parade-to-air-live-on-wls-tv |website=Chicagoland Radio and Media |date=August 9, 2013 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref>

The station's Bradley Place studios, in addition to housing a large number of its own programs, have also served as the production facilities for nationally syndicated programs, including ''[[The Phil Donahue Show|Donahue]]'' (which shifted production from the [[Dayton, Ohio]] studios of WLWD [now sister station [[WDTN]]] to the WGN-TV facilities in Chicago in 1974, where production of the daytime talk show remained before moving to WBBM-TV's [[Streeterville]] studios in January 1982),<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Monitor: Donahue switch. |periodical=Broadcasting |page=35 |date=October 1, 1981}}</ref> ''[[U.S. Farm Report]]'' (which originated from the Bradley Place facility from the agriculture program's national syndication debut in 1975 until production moved to [[South Bend, Indiana]] after ''Farm Journal''{{'}}s production unit assumed distribution rights from the defunct Tribune Entertainment in 2008), and ''[[At the Movies (1982 TV program)|At the Movies]]'' (which was produced from the facility from 1982 until 1990, three years after [[Gene Siskel]] and [[Roger Ebert]] left the program amid a 1986 contract dispute with Tribune Entertainment to develop ''[[At the Movies (1986 TV program)|Siskel & Ebert & the Movies]]'' with [[Disney–ABC Home Entertainment and Television Distribution|Buena Vista Television]], which was produced out of WBBM-TV's studios and later WLS-TV's North State Street studios).

Channel 9 formerly served as the [[Muscular Dystrophy Association]] (MDA)'s "[[MDA Labor Day Telethon#Love Network|Love Network]]" station for Chicago, carrying the charity's [[MDA Labor Day Telethon|annual telethon]] on [[Labor Day]] and the preceding Sunday night each September from 1973 to 2012 (in its original 21½-hour format that existed until 2010, the six-hour evening format used in 2011 and the three-hour prime-time-only format used in 2012). For most of its run on the station (except in 1994, due to the [[1994 Major League Baseball strike|Major League Baseball strike]] that year), WGN-TV would preempt portions of the telethon on Labor Day to carry Chicago Cubs or White Sox games held during the afternoon of the holiday. Through its national distribution, beginning with the 1979 event, donations to the WGN-produced local segments of the telethon were also pledged by viewers in other parts of the United States and Canada. The broadcast moved from syndication to ABC in September 2013 (by then reduced to a two-hour special), airing thereafter by association on WLS-TV until the final telecast of the retitled ''MDA Show of Strength'' in August 2014.<ref>{{cite news |date=June 17, 2013 |title='MDA' Telethon Heads to Primetime on ABC |periodical=[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]] |url=https://variety.com/2013/tv/news/mda-telethon-heads-to-primetime-on-abc-1200497737/}}</ref>

===Lottery===
WGN-TV served as the originating station for the [[Illinois Lottery]] beginning at its July 1974 inception. Live drawings initially aired as a half-hour Thursday night broadcast (then hosted by Ray Rayner) held at its Bradley Place studios. Channel 9 shared the drawing rights with WSNS-TV from March to May 1975 and again from September 1975 until August 1977, when WGN gained exclusivity over the telecasts. With the introduction of the Daily Game (now Pick 3) in February 1980, drawings began airing on the station at 6:57&nbsp;p.m. nightly.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Gaming shows a winner in Ohio, Illinois |periodical=Broadcasting |page=48 |date=June 2, 1975}}</ref> After a three-year run on WFLD (which assumed drawing rights in January 1984), the Lottery migrated the drawing telecasts back to WGN-TV in January 1987. In August 1992, the Lottery awarded the telecast rights to its drawings and game show to CBS-owned WBBM—which beat out competing offers from WGN and WLS-TV, and saw the move as a way to help improve viewership for its third-place-ranked 10&nbsp;p.m. newscast—effective December 28. WBBM's bid was chosen for its offers to hold the drawings during its late newscast (which ultimately produced no beneficial ratings impact) and agreed to handle promotional responsibilities and production costs.<ref name="tribune-lotteryauto"/> Citing in part the station's statewide cable distribution (which, after the SyndEx rules were implemented, would occasionally subject the evening drawings to preemption associated with that of the delayed 9&nbsp;p.m. newscast when sports clearance restrictions applied to the WGN national feed), the Lottery moved its telecasts back to WGN on January 1, 1994; with this move, citing declining revenues under the WBBM contract partly under the later drawing timeslot, the live evening results were shifted to 9:22&nbsp;p.m. Midday drawings for Pick 3 and Pick 4 were added upon their introduction on December 20, 1994. (The 12:40&nbsp;p.m. drawings were shown during WGN's noon newscast on weekdays, while the Saturday drawing was usually not shown live nationally because of programming substitutions.)<ref>{{cite news |title=Lottery Considering Changing Channels |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-11-19-9311190074-story.html |author=Michael A. Lev |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 19, 1993 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Channel 9 Beats Out Channel 2 for Lottery Drawing |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-11-23-9311230040-story.html |author=Michael A. Lev |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=August 2, 1989 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref name="illlottery-history"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Drawing Fact Sheet |url=http://www.illinoislottery.com/subsections/drawfact.htm/ |website=[[Illinois State Lottery]] |access-date=December 15, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101124013052/http://illinoislottery.com/subsections/drawfact.htm |archive-date=November 24, 2010}}</ref>

In addition to the live drawing results, WGN also carried two lottery-produced weekly game shows. From September 16, 1989, to December 19, 1992, and from January 8 to July 2, 1994, the station aired ''[[$100,000 Fortune Hunt]]''. It was originally hosted by [[Jeff Coopwood]], with co-host Linda Kollmeyer, and subsequently with Mike Jackson as host. The program saw six contestants selected from a preliminary [[scratch-off]] entry ticket drawing choose panels from a numbered 36-panel game board containing various dollar amounts. The player with the highest prize amount after five rounds won $100,000 and their two chosen at-home partners won $500 each; the remaining on-air contestants kept their existing winnings, with their partners receiving $100. (Initially, each on-air contestant was given the option of keeping their winnings or trading them for other prizes.)<ref>{{cite news |title=Lottery, WGN-TV Team Up for Show |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-08-02-8901010451-story.html |author=Sumeeta Rai |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=August 2, 1989 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref name="illlottery-history">{{cite web |title=Lottery History |url=https://www.illinoislottery.com/illinois-lottery/lottery-history |website=Illinois State Lottery |access-date=March 20, 2019 |archive-date=March 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321201006/https://www.illinoislottery.com/illinois-lottery/lottery-history |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Smile! It's lottery lady Linda Kollmeyer |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-lottery-lady-linda-kollmeyer-20150930-story.html |author=Kevin Pang |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 30, 2015 |access-date=October 1, 2015}}</ref> Its successor, ''Illinois Instant Riches'' (retitled ''Illinois' Luckiest'' in 1998), ran from July 9, 1994, to October 21, 2000, with [[Mark Goodman]] and Kollmeyer as co-hosts. Produced in conjunction with [[Mark Goodson|Mark Goodson Productions]] (later [[Jonathan Goodson Productions]]), it featured a similar drawing format as its predecessor, but had individual contestants chosen randomly by a wheel spun by Kollmeyer each round (which was hooked to lights above each contestant's seat) play various mini-games.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Goodson takes chance on state lotteries |author=David Tobenkin |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=21 |date=August 8, 1994}}</ref>

In September 1996, the station began carrying The Big Game multi-state drawing (replaced by [[Mega Millions]] in May 2002) each Tuesday and Friday; [[Powerball]] drawings were eventually added upon Illinois joining that multi-state lottery in January 2010. WGN America ceased carrying the drawings nationally on December 12, 2014; the Lottery ceased televising its daily drawings outright and moved the results for the Pick 3, Pick 4, Lotto with Extra Shot and Lucky Day Lotto (formerly Little Lotto until 2011) games exclusively to its website on October 1, 2015, upon switching to a [[random number generator]] structure.<ref>{{cite news |title=WGN America dropping Illinois Lottery drawings |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-wgna-lottery-1215-biz-20141212-story.html |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 12, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Last WGN-TV Live Lottery Marks End of an Era |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-wgn-lottery-met-20150930-story.html |author=Angie Leventis Lourgos |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 30, 2015 |access-date=October 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Illinois Lottery moves drawings from TV to online |url=https://wgntv.com/2015/09/25/illinois-lottery-moves-drawings-from-tv-to-online/ |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |date=September 25, 2015 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=No more numbered balls or live telecasts as Illinois Lottery drawings going digital |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/no-more-numbered-balls-or-live-telecasts-as-illinois-lottery-drawings-going-digital/ |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=September 29, 2015 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>

===Sports programming===
{{Main|WGN Sports}}

Throughout its history, WGN-TV has had a long association with Chicago sports, with most of the city's major professional sports franchises—particularly the Chicago Cubs, White Sox, [[Chicago Bulls|Bulls]] and [[Blackhawks]]—and several local and regional collegiate teams (including the [[Illinois Fighting Illini]], the [[Northwestern Wildcats]], the [[DePaul Blue Demons]] and the [[Notre Dame Fighting Irish]] as well as various [[Big Ten Conference]] universities) having regularly televised their games over channel 9.

The Cubs and White Sox were the first teams to be carried on the station, when on April 23, 1948, WGN aired a [[Cubs–White Sox rivalry|crosstown rivalry game]] that the Sox won, 4–1. (The Tribune Company wholly owned the Cubs from 1981 until 2008, and retained a minority interest in the team until January 2019.)<ref>{{cite news |title=Wrigley 100 4/16: WGN-TV 1st Wrigley Broadcast |url=https://wgntv.com/2014/04/16/wrigley-100-416-wgn-tv-1st-wrigley-broadcast/ |author=Bob Vorwald |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |date=April 16, 2014 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Today in Chicago Cubs history: The very first WGN-TV baseball telecast |url=https://www.bleedcubbieblue.com/2018/4/16/17203600/today-chicago-cubs-history-first-wgn-tv-baseball-telecast |author=Al Yellon |website=BleedCubbieBlue |date=April 16, 2018 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Chicago Cubs Are Sold by Wrigley to Tribune Co. for $20.5 Million |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/17/sports/chicago-cubs-are-sold-by-wrigley-to-tribune-co-for-20.5million.html |author=Neil Amdur |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 17, 1981 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> Over the years, the number of Cubs and White Sox games on WGN had gradually decreased (down to about 70 per season for each team by 2008) as a result of the two [[Major League Baseball]] clubs—as well as the [[NBA]]'s Bulls—migrating some of their local game telecasts to cable-originated [[regional sports network]]s, Fox Sports Net Chicago (later [[FSN Chicago]]) from 1999 until 2003 and then Comcast SportsNet Chicago (now [[NBC Sports Chicago]]) beginning in 2004. Beginning in 2015, WGN-TV began sharing the over-the-air rights to Cubs games with WLS-TV, resulting in Channel 9 reducing its coverage schedule to 45 games per season as part of a four-year contract involving the two stations.<ref>{{cite news |title=Cubs exercise option to end WGN-TV contract after next season |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-chicago-cubs-wgn-tv-20131106-story.html |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 6, 2013 |access-date=September 1, 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Cubs reach deal with WGN-TV for remaining 45 broadcasts |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2015/01/07/cubs-reach-deal-with-wgn-tv-for-remaining-45.html |newspaper=Chicago Business Journal |date=January 7, 2015 |access-date=January 10, 2015}}</ref> WGN carried the White Sox until [[1972 Chicago White Sox season|1972]], before returning to the station for one season in [[1981 Chicago White Sox season|1981]]; the White Sox moved its local telecasts to WGN-TV after an eight-year absence in [[1990 Chicago White Sox season|1990]].<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Two UHF's land major-league teams |periodical=Broadcasting |page=26 |date=August 11, 1972}}</ref><ref name="ct-soxbullsleavewfldforwgn">{{cite news |title=White Sox, Bulls Leave Channel 32 for Channel 9 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1989/09/15/white-sox-bulls-leave-channel-32-for-channel-9/ |author=Steve Nidetz |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 15, 1989 |access-date=December 10, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=TV Clout On Trial In White Sox Suit |url=http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1988-10-21/sports/8803010857_1_white-sox-television-ratings-comiskey-park |author=Jeff Rusnak |newspaper=[[Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel]] |date=October 21, 1988 |access-date=October 12, 2015 |archive-date=December 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151210190306/http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1988-10-21/sports/8803010857_1_white-sox-television-ratings-comiskey-park |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Bulls began carrying their games with its inaugural season in [[1966–67 Chicago Bulls season|1966]]; after airing their games on WFLD for four years, the Bulls returned to WGN-TV for the [[1989–90 Chicago Bulls season|1989–90 season]], overlapping with the start of the team's NBA championship dynasty during [[Michael Jordan]]'s tenure with the team.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Chicago Bulls for WGN-TV |periodical=Broadcasting |page=10 |date=August 29, 1966}}</ref><ref name="ct-soxbullsleavewfldforwgn"/> WGN initially carried Blackhawks [[NHL]] games (which, per prohibitions on televised home games imposed by then-owner [[Bill Wirtz]] in order to sustain ticket sales, were restricted to away games) from [[1961–62 Chicago Black Hawks season|1961]] until [[1974–75 Chicago Black Hawks season|1975]]. The Blackhawks returned to the station during the [[2008–09 Chicago Blackhawks season|2008–09 season]], with a package of both home and away games (the result of [[Rocky Wirtz]]'s decision to end the home game television blackout after taking over the franchise's ownership following his father's death).<ref>{{cite news |title=Blackhawks to Televise All Games, Join 20th Century |url=http://slapshot.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/01/blackhawks-to-televise-all-games-join-20th-century/ |author=Stu Hackel |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 1, 2008 |access-date=October 12, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN, Comcast Deals Make History for Hawks |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-197439470 |author=Tim Sassone |newspaper=[[Daily Herald (Arlington Heights)|Daily Herald]] |via= |date=April 2, 2008 |access-date=}}{{dead link |date=July 2021}}</ref> WGN-TV carried Chicago Bears regular season football games as a [[NFL on DuMont|DuMont affiliate]] during the [[1951 NFL season]], after which the team moved their telecasts to ABC (and by association, ABC O&O WBKB-TV [now WLS-TV]) under a limited contract; the Bears aired their first game on WGN in 55 years on October 1, 2012, when the station carried the team's ''[[Monday Night Football]]'' matchup against the [[Dallas Cowboys]]. ([[NFL]] rules require national games aired by cable networks to be syndicated to broadcast stations in the participating teams' home markets.) Although WLS-TV has right of first refusal to ''MNF'' due to its corporate parent [[The Walt Disney Company]]'s majority ownership of [[ESPN]], WLS passed on carrying the game in order to air that night's live broadcast of ABC's ''[[Dancing with the Stars (American TV series)|Dancing with the Stars]]''.<ref>{{cite web |title=WGN to Simulcast Monday Night's Bears Game |url=https://www.adweek.com/tvspy/wgn-to-simulcast-monday-nights-bears-game/ |author=Kevin Eck |website=TVSpy |publisher=Mediabistro Holdings |date=September 28, 2012 |access-date=January 10, 2015}}</ref>

From November 1978 until October 2014, WGN America frequently simulcast WGN Sports broadcasts (mostly Cubs, White Sox and Bulls games) nationwide, when permitted under the station's sports contracts. (Tribune's President and CEO at the time, [[Peter Liguori]], cited the limited viewership and advertising revenue generated from televising sports on a national basis relative to their contractual expense for its decision to stop carrying WGN's sports telecasts over WGN America after the [[2014 MLB season]].)<ref>{{cite news |title=WGN America to drop Chicago sports |url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140530/NEWS01/140539978/wgn-america-to-drop-chicago-sports |author=Lynne Marek |newspaper=[[Crain's Chicago Business]] |publisher=[[Crain Communications]] |date=May 30, 2014 |access-date=June 27, 2014}}</ref> In addition, until it ceased offering sporting events in September 2019, WGN-TV also distributed its White Sox and Bulls telecasts to television stations in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa that are within their respective broadcast territories (including CW affiliate [[WISH-TV]] in Indianapolis and the subchannels of WGN sister stations [[WHO-DT]] in [[Des Moines]] and WQAD in Davenport, Iowa).<ref>{{cite news |title=WHO-TV to air select White Sox, Cubs games at Channel 13.3 |url=http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2011/05/31/who-tv-to-air-white-sox-cubs-games-at-channel-13-3 |author=David Elbert |newspaper=[[The Des Moines Register]] |date=May 31, 2011 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}{{dead link |date=January 2018 |bot=medic}}{{cbignore |bot=medic}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WQAD picking up 45 Cubs, 55 Sox games |url=http://qctimes.com/entertainment/wqad-picking-up-cubs-sox-games/article_003e47a9-bf66-5bd0-afc9-9a7ea97a59ac.html |newspaper=[[Quad-City Times]] |publisher=[[Lee Enterprises]] |date=March 5, 2015 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WISH-WNDY To Carry Cubs, White Sox |url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/83915/wishwndy-to-carry-cubs-white-sox |website=TVNewsCheck |date=March 20, 2015 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref> WGN-TV's Cubs and White Sox game broadcasts also were often carried on the [[MLB Extra Innings]] feeds available to DirecTV subscribers, sometimes including local commercials and station promotions that were not shown during the WGN America telecasts from the imposition of the SyndEx rules until the 2014 separation of the national and local feeds. (This also was the case for WGN-produced games shown on WPWR-TV, as well as WLS-TV's Cubs broadcasts.)

On January 2, 2019, the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks agreed to an exclusive multi-year deal with NBC Sports Chicago to take effect that fall. This was followed on February 13 by the announcement of the formation of the [[Marquee Sports Network]], a joint venture between the Cubs and Sinclair Broadcast Group that launched in the spring of 2020.<ref>{{cite news |title=NBC Sports Chicago Announces New Pact With White Sox, Bulls, and Blackhawks |url=https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/sports/nbc-sports-chicago-announces-new-deal-with-white-sox-bulls-and-blackhawks-503802931.html |website=[[WMAQ-TV]] |publisher=[[NBC Owned Television Stations]] |date=January 2, 2019 |access-date=January 4, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=NBC Sports Chicago announces multiyear deal with the White Sox, Bulls and Blackhawks |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/ct-spt-nbc-sports-chicago-bulls-blackhawks-white-sox-20190102-story.html |author=Teddy Greenstein |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 2, 2019 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=The Cubs are starting a new TV channel in 2020. Here's what that means for fans. |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/ct-spt-cubs-marquee-tv-channel-debut-sinclair-what-to-know-20190213-story.html |author=Phil Rosenthal |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 13, 2019 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Cubs launching a network of their own, Marquee Sports Network |url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25987146/chicago-cubs-launching-marquee-sports-network-partnering-sinclair-broadcasting-group |author=Jesse Rogers |website=[[ESPN]] |publisher=[[ESPN Inc.]] |date=February 13, 2019 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> As a consequence of the four teams electing to move their local game telecasts off broadcast television completely in favor of airing them exclusively over regional sports networks, WGN wound down its local sports coverage throughout the spring and summer of 2019—beginning with the April 1 game between the Blackhawks and the [[Winnipeg Jets]],<ref>{{cite web |title=2018–19 Chicago Blackhawks Television Schedule |url=https://nhl.bamcontent.com/images/assets/binary/300276784/binary-file/file.pdf |website=[[Chicago Blackhawks]] |publisher=[[National Hockey League]] |access-date=October 27, 2019}}</ref> and continuing with its final game telecasts involving the Bulls (an [[Madison Square Garden|away]] game against the [[New York Knicks]] on April 9)<ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-TV Announces 2018–19 Chicago Bulls TV Schedule |url=https://wgntv.com/2018/08/30/wgn-tv-announces-2018-19-chicago-bulls-tv-schedule/ |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |date=August 30, 2018 |access-date=October 23, 2019}}</ref> and the Cubs (an [[Busch Stadium|away]] game against the [[Cardinals–Cubs rivalry|rival]] [[St. Louis Cardinals]] on September 27)<ref>{{cite news |title=After Over 70 Years, The Cubs On WGN Is Coming To An End |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaredwyllys/2019/09/13/after-over-70-years-the-cubs-on-wgn-is-coming-to-an-end/#632ecbf8560b |website=[[Forbes]] |date=September 13, 2019 |access-date=October 23, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WGN's final Wrigley Field broadcast appropriately includes tributes, memories, and a Cubs loss |url=https://awfulannouncing.com/local-networks/wgn-final-wrigley-field-broadcast.html |author=Sean Keeley |website=Awful Announcing |date=September 21, 2019 |access-date=October 23, 2019}}</ref>—as the station's contracts with all four teams gradually expired.<ref>{{cite news |title=Sports media: Will Chicago teams leave WGN-TV without any sports? |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/chicago-sports-media-wgn-tv-blackhawks-bull-cubs-white-sox-marquee-sports-network-nbc-sports-chicago/ |author=Jeff Agrest |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=March 7, 2019 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref> WGN-TV's final sports telecast involving any of the station's four legacy professional sports broadcast partners was the second game of a White Sox–[[Detroit Tigers]] doubleheader at [[Guaranteed Rate Field]] on September 28, 2019.<ref>{{cite news |title=A rare Hicks-up for White Sox bullpen: Colome blows lead, Tigers gain split |url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/white-sox/2019/9/28/20889224/a-rare-hicks-up-for-white-sox-bullpen-colome-blows-lead-tigers-gain-split |author=Daryl Van Schouwen |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=September 28, 2019 |access-date=October 27, 2019}}</ref> However, on February 19, 2020, [[Chicago Fire FC]] announced a multi-year agreement with WGN-TV to broadcast their [[Major League Soccer]] (MLS) telecasts on the station, beginning with its March 7 match against the [[New England Revolution]], returning regular sporting events to Channel 9 after a seven-month hiatus.<ref name="wgn-firesoccer">{{cite news |title=WGN-TV to air 24 Chicago Fire Football Club games in landmark multi-year broadcast agreement |url=https://wgntv.com/2020/02/19/wgn-tv-to-air-24-chicago-fire-football-club-games-in-landmark-multi-year-broadcast-agreement/ |website=WGN-TV |publisher=[[Nexstar Media Group]] |date=February 19, 2020 |access-date=February 19, 2020 |archive-date=February 20, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220163146/https://wgntv.com/2020/02/19/wgn-tv-to-air-24-chicago-fire-football-club-games-in-landmark-multi-year-broadcast-agreement/ |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Chicago Fire reach a multiyear deal with WGN to televise games |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/soccer/ct-chicago-fire-wgn-tv-deal-20200219-dz5od33jdbaclojqe6c5aytrhu-story.html |author=Jeremy Mikula |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 19, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Back to play-by-play, WGN to air Chicago Fire soccer broadcasts |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2020/02/19/back-play-play-wgn-air-chicago-fire-soccer-broadcasts/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=February 19, 2020}}</ref> Those games moved to [[MLS Season Pass]] beginning in 2023, and without any NFL-style syndication rights, the [[2022 Chicago Fire FC season|2022 season]] was the final season for Fire broadcasts on any television channel.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/soccer/mls-signs-10-year-2-5-billion-plus-global-deal-with-apple-for-all-mls-matches-with-some-available-in-base-appletv-app-and-some-requiring-a-separate-subscription/ar-AAYsFzx?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=c660f06420b8435c8024f9db2e65de64 |title=MLS signs 10-year, $2.5-billion-plus global deal with Apple for all MLS matches, with some available in base AppleTV app and some requiring a separate subscription |website=[[MSN]]}}</ref> The deal also marks the first time in the station's 74-year history that Channel 9 will not have any local sports programming on the station.

Sports programming returned to WGN in 2023, when it began carrying The CW's weekend coverage of the controversial [[LIV Golf]] league in lieu of then-affiliate WCIU (a reversal of the programming relationship between the two stations during Channel 9's WB and initial CW affiliations), which declined to carry the tournament broadcasts due to already-existing weekend programming commitments.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.tdogmedia.com/2023/02/nexstar-to-air-liv-golf-matches-on-wgn-tv-and-not-wciu.html |title=Nexstar to air LIV Golf matches on WGN-TV – and not WCIU |date=February 16, 2023 |publisher=TDog Media |access-date=February 24, 2023}}</ref> Later that year, WGN also acquired rights to the network's [[Atlantic Coast Conference]] football and men's basketball game telecasts, which WCIU also chose not to clear.{{cn|date=September 2023}} The CW's sports programming moved to WGN-TV full-time upon becoming an owned-and-operated station in September 2024.

===News operation===
{{As of|September 2024}}, WGN-TV presently broadcasts {{frac|72|1|2}} hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with {{frac|12|1|2}} hours each weekday, {{frac|5|1|2}} hours on Saturdays and {{frac|4|1|2}} hours on Sundays); in regard to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest newscast output of any television station in the Chicago market and the state of Illinois, and the sixth-highest newscast output in the United States (behind [[WAGA-TV]]/Atlanta, [[WHDH (TV)|WHDH]]/Boston, [[KTVK]]/[[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]], WISH-TV/Indianapolis, and WGN sister station KTLA/Los Angeles). In addition to its conventional local newscasts, the station produces two late-evening sports news programs: ''{{'}}GN Sports'', a half-hour sports highlight and interview program (airing nightly at 10:30&nbsp;p.m.),<ref name="feder-gnsports">{{cite web |title=WGN to launch half-hour sports show at 10:30 weeknights |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2020/01/16/wgn-launch-half-hour-sports-show-1030-weeknights/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=January 16, 2020 |access-date=January 29, 2020}}</ref> and ''Instant Replay'', a 20-minute Sunday evening highlight program (airing during the final 20 minutes of the 9&nbsp;p.m. newscast).

Until regular sports telecasts on WGN-TV ended in September 2019, the station's midday, early and late evening newscasts were subject to (at least, partial) preemption or delay due to local sports telecasts overrunning into that time period; from July 8, 2010, onward, CLTV had served as an alternate broadcaster of WGN-TV newscasts that were preempted by the latter's sports broadcasts and aired live half-hour editions of ''WGN News at Nine'' on nights when Channel 9 carried a sports event being held on the [[Pacific Time Zone|West Coast]] that started locally at 9&nbsp;p.m. (An additional half-hour live newscast followed the game telecast on WGN-TV, which had originally been titled under the ''WGN News at Nine'' brand prior to the 2016 launch of its 10&nbsp;p.m. newscast.)<ref>{{cite press release |title=WGN News at Nine to Air on CLTV & Stream Live on WGNtv.com When Baseball on WGN-TV Starts at 9pm |url=http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=1978/ |website=Tribune Company |access-date=December 9, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717101340/http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=1978%2F |archive-date=July 17, 2011}}</ref> The WGN-TV weather staff also provides local weather updates for WGN Radio under an agreement that began on October 13, 2008, at the conclusion of [[The Weather Channel]]'s ten-year content partnership with the radio station.<ref>{{cite press release |title=WGN Radio to Partner With WGN-TV to Deliver Top Local Weather Reporting to Listeners |url=http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=1331/ |website=Tribune Company |date=October 13, 2008 |access-date=December 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717101505/http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=1331%2F |archive-date=July 17, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

====News department history====
[[File:Federal Center 20180613 (25).jpg|thumb|News van outside the [[Dirksen Federal Building]] in June 2018.]]
Although sports has been a major part of WGN-TV's identity, the station has also been well known in the Chicago area for its news programming, which, through its former co-ownership with the ''Chicago Tribune'', has played an important role since its launch. WGN's news department—which shared operations and management with WGN Radio until the news division was split into separate departments maintained by the respective properties in 1983—began operations along with the station on April 5, 1948, with the launch of its first regular news program, the ''Chicagoland Newsreel'', which was the first television newscast in the Chicago market to consist entirely of filmed coverage. The 15-minute broadcast—which originally aired weeknights at 6:45&nbsp;p.m., with a midday edition at 11:30&nbsp;a.m. being added in September 1949—was anchored by [[news director]] Spencer Allen (who had been a reporter and news writer for WGN Radio since 1938) and used a large staff of photographers and technicians, many of whom had previously worked for the ''Tribune''; Allen also anchored a 15-minute midday news program for Channel 9, ''Spencer Allen and the News'', from 1951 to 1953.<ref>{{cite news |title=Spencer Allen, TV News Pioneer |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-02-25-9902250178-story.html |author=Diane Struzzi |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 25, 1999 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref>

From 1948 to 1965, WGN also produced an additional 15-minute-long newscast at 6:30&nbsp;p.m., with Austin Kiplinger (to be replaced by Allen in 1953 and then by [[Lloyd Pettit]] in 1956) reading the news summary and Frann Weigel as the weather anchor; the program was expanded to a half-hour in September 1955, when ''Newsreel'' was discontinued in favor of an amended sports news segment (anchored originally by [[Vince Lloyd]]). Under Allen's leadership, WGN-TV's newscasts evolved from a "police blotter/fire alarm-type of news operation" to incorporating more in-depth and investigative reports. WGN-TV also was the first Chicago television station to televise a local appearance by a [[U.S. President]] (carrying [[Harry S. Truman]]'s 1948 visit to Chicago) and provided mobile coverage of Gen. [[Douglas MacArthur]]'s visit to the city (in April 1951); it has also provided coverage of the Republican and Democratic presidential conventions each election cycle since 1952, and provided extensive pool coverage of [[Pope John Paul II]]'s Mass at [[Grant Park (Chicago)|Grant Park]] in 1979.

In September 1951, Channel 9 began carrying a 15-minute late night edition of ''Chicagoland Newsreel'' that followed its late evening movie presentations (which began at 10&nbsp;p.m. at the time). By 1967, the program had evolved into ''Night Beat'', a 30-minute overnight newscast that—until it was discontinued in 1983—featured the main anchor (which had included, among others, Greyson, McNeeley, Cliff Mercer and [[Jack Taylor (journalist)|Jack Taylor]]) presenting a summary of local and world news headlines as well as a brief weather forecast summary. In February 1955, the station installed a coaxial cable link from the city room of the ''Chicago Tribune'' (originally done for the early newscast, ''First Edition'', which aired from 1954 to 1956) to allow ''Tribune'' reporters and contributors to provide information on developing stories being covered by the newspaper and the WGN news department.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV Gets Hot News From 'Trib' |periodical=Broadcasting |page=64 |date=February 24, 1958}}</ref> After WGN-TV became an independent station in August 1956, the evening newscast was moved to 7&nbsp;p.m.—becoming the market's first prime time newscast and often being subjected to sports-induced preemptions—before settling at 10&nbsp;p.m. in September 1959, originally under the title ''10th Hour News'' (known in later years as ''The Park-Ruddle News'' and ''[Jack Taylor/John Drury and] NewsNine''). In May 1960, the late newscast (which, by that point, was anchored by Jim Conway, who also hosted a self-titled daytime talk show at the time) became the first local television news program in the U.S. to expand to a half-hour broadcast. Standard news updates presented by various on-staff anchors—under the title ''WGN Newsbreak''—also ran during the late morning, early afternoon and prime time hours in-between programs.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN advertisement |periodical=Broadcasting |page=2 |date=October 16, 1961}}</ref>

In 1965, WGN appointed the first dual-anchor team ever employed in Chicago television news, as Gary Park (who came to the station from [[KCRA-TV]] in [[Sacramento]]) and Jim Ruddle (who previously worked at [[WTVT]] in [[Tampa]]) took the helm of the evening newscasts. On January 9, 1967, WGN shifted the 10 p.m. edition of the newscast by 15 minutes (concurrently reducing it to that length) in an attempt to improve viewership by placing the telephone quiz show ''The Name Game'' in the timeslot, reducing competition with late newscasts on WLS-TV, WMAQ-TV and WBBM-TV. (This experiment ended in May 1967, when WGN reverted to carrying the late newscast in its former 10&nbsp;p.m. slot and expanded it to 25 minutes.) The Park-Ruddle combination was broken up in June 1967, when Ruddle left to join NBC-owned WMAQ-TV, to be followed two years later by Park taking a prime time anchor role at fellow independent [[KTVU]] (now a Fox owned-and-operated station) in [[San Francisco]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Anchorman Ruddle sets sail as novelist |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2014/05/11/ex-anchorman-ruddle-sets-sail-as-novelist/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=May 11, 2014 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Anchor's Aweigh |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-11-27-8802190970-story.html |author=Michael Kilian |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 27, 1988 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV upsets Chicago news hour with no news |periodical=Broadcasting |page=9 |date=December 26, 1966}}</ref> Also in 1965, WGN premiered its first attempt at a morning news show with ''Top 'o' the Morning''; [[Orion Samuelson]]—then a farm reporter for WGN Radio, who would eventually host the syndicated ''U.S. Farm Report'' starting in 1975—and Harold Turner (later replaced by Max Armstrong) provided agricultural news and weather. The program was replaced in May 1984 by a traditional morning newscast, ''Chicago's First Report'', which was canceled due to low viewership that December.

The WGN news department has long been one of the most respected local television news operations in the United States and has earned several journalism awards throughout its history, including [[Emmy]], [[Associated Press]], [[United Press International]] and [[Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award|duPont-Columbia Awards]]. The station has also long established top-drawer talent for its newscasts, many of whom have worked at WGN-TV for more than ten years, including Jack Taylor (anchor/reporter, 1954–1984, whose run included a stint as primary weeknight anchor from 1970 to 1979),<ref>{{cite news |title=Jack Taylor Finds 'Freedom' |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-07-18-8902180368-story.html |author=Rick Kogan |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=July 18, 1989 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref> Carl Greyson (anchor, reporter and staff announcer, 1955–1980),<ref>{{cite news |title=WGN Announcer Carl Greyson |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-08-01-8901010140-story.html |author=Kenan Heise |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=August 1, 1989 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref> Marty McNeeley (anchor/reporter, 1969–1986),<ref>{{cite news |title=Marty McNeeley, 1926–2013 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2013-04-03-ct-met-mcneeley-obit-20130403-story.html |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=April 3, 2013 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref> [[Robert Jordan (newscaster)|Robert Jordan]] (anchor/reporter, 1973–1978 and 1980–2016), Muriel Clair (assignment reporter, 1978–present, part-time since December 2011),<ref>{{cite news |title=Muriel Clair semi-retiring from WGN-Ch.9 after 33 years |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-xpm-2012-01-13-chi-muriel-clair-semiretiring-from-wgnch9-after-33-years-20120113-story.html |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 13, 2012 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref> Dan Roan (sports director, 1984–2022),<ref>{{cite news|title= WGN sports anchor Dan Roan sets May 26 retirement date|url=https://robertfeder.dailyherald.com/2022/04/11/wgn-sports-anchor-dan-roan-sets-may-26-retirement-date/|author=Robert Feder|newspaper=[[Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, Illinois)|Daily Herald]]|date=April 11, 2022|access-date=September 2, 2024}}</ref> and Steve Sanders (anchor/reporter, 1982–2020).<ref>{{cite web |title=Anchorman Steve Sanders to retire after 'amazing run' at WGN |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2020/02/03/anchorman-steve-sanders-retire-amazing-run-wgn/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=February 3, 2020}}</ref> [[John Drury (television anchor)|John Drury]] joined WGN-TV in 1967 for what became a three-year stint as anchor of its 10&nbsp;p.m. news as well as occasionally serving as anchor of ''Night Beat''. After working for WLS-TV for nine years, Drury returned to his former role at WGN in 1979, displacing Jack Taylor as 10&nbsp;p.m. ''NewsNine'' anchor. During his second stint at WGN, Drury took on an expanded role doing assignment and investigative reporting (often producing the reports with investigative reporter Alex Burkholder). In 1982, then-Mayor [[Jane Byrne]], accompanied by members of her public relations and cabinet staff, tried to talk Drury into shelving a report on Byrne's use of public funds towards city festivals designed to promote her administration in relation to her stint residing in the [[Cabrini-Green]] housing project. Drury went forward with the investigative report, which aided in Byrne's loss to [[Harold Washington]] in the 1983 Democratic mayoral primary and helped earn Drury a Chicago Emmy Award for Individual Excellence (the first of four Emmys during his career).<ref>{{cite news |title=Drury's verdict |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-03-01-0203010119-story.html |author=Jon Anderson |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=March 1, 2002 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=John Drury: 1927—2007 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-11-26-0711260130-story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321200718/https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2007-11-26-0711260130-story.html |archive-date=March 21, 2019 |author1=Karoun Demirjian |author2=William Presecky |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 26, 2007 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref>

Another mainstay of WGN-TV was [[Tom Skilling]], who joined WGN in August 1978 to succeed [[Harry Volkman]] (who presented weather reports for the station from 1967 until 1970 and again from 1974 until the summer of 1978) as the station's main evening meteorologist. Skilling—who was rumored to have been the highest paid local television meteorologist in the United States—became known for presenting his on-air forecasts with detailed but fairly easy-to-understand analysis and striking accuracy (most noted by his predictions of the [[Groundhog Day blizzard]] two weeks before it created paralyzing effects on the Chicago area in late January and early February 2011), and with routine usage of ensemble computer models to illustrate expected weather scenarios. Skilling also occasionally hosted half-hour documentary specials explaining extreme weather phenomenon and advancements in forecasting technology (including 1991's ''It Sounded Like a Freight Train'', focusing on the science of the Chicago area's climatological history with tornadoes, and 1992's ''When Lightning Strikes'', centering on the science and dangers of lightning), which have earned several Chicago Emmy nominations and award wins, as well as a weekly feature on the 9&nbsp;p.m. newscast, ''Ask Tom Why'', in which Skilling answered viewer-submitted weather questions (and which served as the basis for a similarly formatted column featured in the ''Tribune''{{'}}s weather page). Under Skilling, WGN also coordinated the centralization of its weather operations to encompass WGN-TV, WGN Radio, CLTV, and the ''Tribune'', and, in May 2007, became a broadcast partner in the [[WeatherBug]] real-time [[Automated weather station|automated weather observation]] network (the largest station member by market size). Skilling holds the record as the longest-serving television meteorologist at a single station in the Chicago market, having served as chief meteorologist at WGN-TV for 45 years until he retired from broadcasting on February 28, 2024. (Volkman holds the record as Chicago's longest-serving television meteorologist overall, having worked in the market from 1959 until he retired from broadcasting in 2004, including other stints at WMAQ-TV and WFLD as well as an 18-year run as chief meteorologist at WBBM-TV.)<ref>{{cite web |title=The Cult of Tom |url=http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/June-2008/The-Cult-of-Tom/ |periodical=[[Chicago Magazine]] |date=June 1, 2008 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-TV Celebrates 40 Years with Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling |url=https://wgntv.com/2018/08/09/wgn-tv-celebrates-40-years-with-chief-meteorologist-tom-skilling/ |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |date=August 9, 2018 |access-date=March 25, 2019 |archive-date=March 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321200646/https://wgntv.com/2018/08/09/wgn-tv-celebrates-40-years-with-chief-meteorologist-tom-skilling/ |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=For Skilling, There Is No Such Thing as Bad Weather |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/business/media/for-tom-skilling-no-such-thing-as-bad-weather.html |author=Dan McGrath |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 24, 2011 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tom Skilling |url=https://qctimes.com/tom-skilling/article_fc7eb39e-585d-11df-a522-001cc4c002e0.html |newspaper=[[Quad-City Times]] |publisher=[[Lee Enterprises]] |date=May 5, 2010 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WGN-TV and WeatherBug Partner to Offer Viewers Live, Neighborhood-Level Weather Reporting—On-air and Online Starting Tuesday |url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WGN-TV+and+WeatherBug+Partner+to+Offer+Viewers+Live%2c...-a0163701102/ |agency=PR Newswire |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |via=The Free Library |date=May 21, 2007 |access-date=December 10, 2010 |archive-date=October 22, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022044743/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/WGN-TV+and+WeatherBug+Partner+to+Offer+Viewers+Live,...-a0163701102/ |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Tom Skilling's final forecast — longtime WGN-TV meteorologist signs off amid laughter and tears|url=https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2024/02/29/tom-skilling-final-forecast-longtime-wgn-tv-meteorologist-signs-off-amid-laughter-and-tears|author=Miriam Di Nunzio|newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|date=February 28, 2024}}</ref>

The late newscast was moved into prime time on March 10, 1980, concurrently becoming known as ''The Nine O'Clock News'' (later retitled ''WGN News at Nine'' in May 1993, as part of a uniform retitling of its newscasts under the ''WGN News'' moniker used in some promotions and report sign-offs since 1981). The shift to the 9&nbsp;p.m. hour briefly made it the first hour-long prime time newscast in the Midwest and, for its first seven years in that slot, it was the Chicago market's only local television newscast at 9 p.m. Initially airing five nights a week for one hour, the revamped weeknight-only newscast was first anchored by the prior ''NewsNine'' team of Drury, Skilling, sports anchor Bill Frink and commentator Len O'Connor. On June 9 of that year, the program switched to a hybrid local-national format that incorporated the ''[[Independent Network News (TV program)|Independent Network News]]'' (''INN'')—a Tribune-syndicated nightly news program, later retitled ''INN: The Independent News'' in September 1984 and ''USA Tonight'' in January 1987, originating from New York sister station WPIX—in place of the locally produced segments that had occupied the 9:30&nbsp;p.m. half-hour since the March format change. After briefly being relegated to weeknights following the shift to prime time, half-hour weekend editions of the 9&nbsp;p.m. broadcast were added on October 4, 1980, anchored originally by Larry Roderick and Robert Jordan.<ref>{{cite news |title=WGN trying to outdo Channel 32's challenge |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/arlington-heights/daily-herald-suburban-chicago/1980/02-26/page-32 |author=Diane Mermigas |newspaper=[[Daily Herald (Arlington Heights)|Daily Herald]] |via=Newspaper Archive |page=32 |date=February 26, 1980 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=War only a subplot in seamy 'Eternity' |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/arlington-heights/daily-herald-suburban-chicago/1980/03-10/page-15 |author=Diane Mermigas |newspaper=Daily Herald |via=Newspaper Archive |page=15 |date=March 10, 1980 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Newscast to link 30 independent stations |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/arlington-heights/daily-herald-suburban-chicago/1980/05-02/page-27 |newspaper=Daily Herald |via=Newspaper Archive |page=27 |date=May 2, 1980 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=INN is in business |periodical=Broadcasting |page=79 |date=June 16, 1980}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=INN is in business |periodical=Broadcasting |page=80 |date=June 16, 1980}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN blazes new trail in battle for viewers |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/arlington-heights/daily-herald-suburban-chicago/1980/09-08/page-16 |author=Diane Mermigas |newspaper=Daily Herald |via=Newspaper Archive |page=16 |date=September 8, 1980 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WLS-TV gambles on boost in ratings from news facelift |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/arlington-heights/daily-herald-suburban-chicago/1980/07-21/page-32 |newspaper=Daily Herald |via=Newspaper Archive |page=32 |date=July 21, 1980 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=INN to Feature a New Approach |author=Steve Daley |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |page=5 |date=January 9, 1987 |id={{ProQuest|290997656}}}}</ref> By 1985, Drury (who returned to his previous role as main co-anchor at WLS-TV in late 1984) and Denise Cannon (who became the former's co-anchor in 1981 and departed at the end of 1984) were succeeded as principal anchors by Rick Rosenthal and [[Pat Harvey]].

Since the reformatting as a prime time newscast, WGN-TV has been the ratings leader in the 9&nbsp;p.m. timeslot, with or without news competition in the arena and even at times when weaker-rated shows led into the newscast, and typically holds a larger audience than the 10&nbsp;p.m. newscast on WBBM-TV. The 9&nbsp;p.m. newscast's dominance was to such an extent that, from 1984 until 1989 (when it was unseated by KTVU in San Francisco), it had the largest viewership of any prime time local newscast in the United States. Legitimate competition sprang up for ''The Nine O'Clock News'' on November 16, 1987, when Fox O&O WFLD debuted an hour-long 9 p.m. broadcast, replacing the separate half-hour 7 and 11&nbsp;p.m. newscasts it had been producing since its full-scale news operation launched three months earlier.<ref name="tvra-wgnnews">{{cite magazine|title=News makes TV rating news |periodical=Television/Radio Age |publisher=Television Editorial Corp.|page=A34 |date=March 6, 1989}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=News makes TV rating news |periodical=Television/Radio Age |publisher=Television Editorial Corp. |page=A36 |date=March 6, 1989}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WFLD-TV Rolls the Dice with its Nightly News Slot |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1987/11/20/wfld-tv-rolls-the-dice-with-its-nightly-news-slot/ |author=Steve Daley |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 20, 1987 |access-date=September 5, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Fox flashback: When Murdoch put his mark on local news |url=https://www.timeout.com/chicago/tv/fox-flashback-when-murdoch-put-his-mark-on-local-news |author=Robert Feder |website=[[Time Out Chicago]] |date=July 31, 2012 |access-date=September 3, 2015 |archive-date=October 5, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151005061235/http://www.timeout.com/chicago/tv/fox-flashback-when-murdoch-put-his-mark-on-local-news |url-status=dead}}</ref> Although WFLD aggressively marketed its fledgling newscast towards younger audiences as having a fresher style compared to WGN's more traditional news format, viewer loyalty has continued to propel Channel 9 to first place at 9 p.m. to the present day (with one of the only exceptions being a tie with Channel 32 in the May 1996 sweeps period), even with the WFLD newscast having the Fox prime time lineup as its lead-in. For this reason, WFLD moved its newscast back to its original 7&nbsp;p.m. timeslot in September 1988, only to return it to 9&nbsp;p.m. the following year to accommodate the planned expansion of Fox's prime time lineup. A sports highlight and interview program, ''Instant Replay'', originally hosted by sports director Dan Roan until his retirement in May 2022, began accompanying the Sunday edition of the newscast in August 1987. WGN re-expanded its prime time newscast to one hour on June 4, 1990, after Tribune discontinued production of ''USA Tonight'' under a collaborative agreement between Tribune and Turner Broadcasting in which the Tribune stations were granted access to [[CNN Newsource]] content and began feeding video footage to the [[CNN]] video wire service.<ref>{{cite news |title=TV linkup for Tribune, Turner |author=James Warren |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=April 10, 1990 |id={{ProQuest|282641212}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=TBS-Tribune join hands for programing |periodical=Broadcasting |page=58 |date=May 28, 1990}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Fox gets news edge in L.A., Chicago |author=Cynthia Littleton |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=38 |date=June 3, 1996}}</ref>

WGN began programming long-form news outside its established 9&nbsp;p.m. slot on September 19, 1983, when it debuted ''Midday Newscope'', which grew out of the three-minute-long local news segments that had aired during the ''INN Midday Edition'' (which followed the newscast until that program's September 1985 cancellation) since January 1983. Originally anchored by Rick Rosenthal (who was replaced by Steve Sanders, after Rosenthal replaced Drury as 9&nbsp;p.m. co-anchor in 1984), the newscast—a local version of [[Telepictures]] and [[Gannett|Gannett Broadcasting]]'s short-lived syndicated format, ''Newscope''—featured a hybrid of local news headlines and weather forecasts and in-depth consumer, financial, entertainment and lifestyle features. The program was reformatted into a more traditional newscast, retitled ''Chicago's Midday News'', on September 17, 1984, and later expanded to an hour in September 1985.<ref name="tvra-wgnnews"/><ref>{{cite news |title=Channels 9 and 32 add original programming |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/us/illinois/arlington-heights/daily-herald-suburban-chicago/1983/09-18/page-50 |author=Gordon Walek |newspaper=Daily Herald |via=Newspaper Archive |page=50 |date=September 18, 1983 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Daily news series to be offered by Gannett/Telepictures |periodical=Broadcasting |page=30 |date=August 23, 1982}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title='Newscope' service scheduled to be discontinued |periodical=Broadcasting |page=79 |date=June 11, 1984}}</ref> The midday newscast—which concurrently rebranded from ''WGN News at Noon'' to the ''WGN Midday News'' with the expansion—eventually expanded to 90 minutes (moving to an 11:30&nbsp;a.m. start) on September 15, 2008; it was subsequently expanded to two hours (moving to 11&nbsp;a.m.) on October 5, 2009.<ref name="tvnc-wgnmiddayeveningnews">{{cite web |title=WGN Launching 11:30 A.M., 5:30 P.M. News |url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/25379/wgn-launching-1130-am-530-pm-news |website=TVNewsCheck |date=September 11, 2008}}</ref><ref name="b&c-wgnnewsboost">{{cite web |title=WGN Boosts News |url=https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/wgn-boosts-news-27627 |author=Michael Malone |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |date=July 7, 2008 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref name="trib-paynematerre">{{cite news |title=WGN's Allison Payne moves to expanded noon news; Micah Materre officially gets 9 p.m. slot |url=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/09/wgns-allison-payne-moves-to-expanded-noon-news-micah-materre-officially-gets-takes-9-pm-slot.html#more |author=Phil Rosenthal |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 16, 2009}}</ref> On September 19, 1988, WGN became the first Chicago television station to [[closed caption]] its newscasts for the [[hearing impaired]].

On January 25, 1992, the station debuted hour-long 8&nbsp;a.m. newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays. To accommodate the launch of ''Chicago's Weekend Morning News'' (which marked the first major weekend morning news attempt in Chicago television and one of the only instances of a television station carrying a morning newscast on weekends without already having a weekday equivalent) and the concurring moves of {{lang|es|Charlando}} and ''People to People'' to Sundays, WGN dropped three long-running religious programs—''What's Nu'' (produced by the Chicago Board of Rabbis), ''Heritage of Faith'' (produced by [[Protestant]] group Greater Chicago Broadcast Ministries) and ''Mass for Shut-ins'' (produced by the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago]])—from its Sunday morning lineup, a move that was criticized by the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago and other religious groups on grounds that the programs catered to diverse religious audiences in fulfillment of the station's public service programming obligations. (The latter two programs were subsequently acquired by WGBO-TV, under an agreement which allowed them to continue to be produced out of the WGN-TV studios.) The Sunday edition was discontinued after the September 4, 1994, broadcast; the Saturday edition followed suit four years later on December 19, 1998, with then-news director Steve Ramsey citing the need to provide more resources for its weekday morning newscasts. Weekend morning newscasts returned on October 2, 2010, with the debut of hour-long editions at 6&nbsp;a.m. (shifted to a two-hour block at 7&nbsp;a.m. on September 10, 2016, following Channel 9's disaffiliation from The CW, and expanded to a third hour on Saturdays until 10&nbsp;a.m. on January 11, 2020).<ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-church tie was boon to both |author=Michael Hirsley |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 10, 1992 |id={{ProQuest|283130772}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Religious shows find new home |author=Michael Hirsley |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 26, 1992 |id={{ProQuest|283297012}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title='Sports Writers' May Be Near Fox Finish |author=Jim Kirk |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=December 9, 1998 |id={{ProQuest|418616840}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-Ch. 9 plans new early morning weekend news |url=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2010/08/wgn-ch-9-plans-new-early-morning-weekend-news.html |author=Phil Rosenthal |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=August 23, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WGN will expand its weekend morning newscast once it becomes an Independent |url=https://changingnewscasts.wordpress.com/2016/08/22/wgn-expand-weekend-morning-news-once-becomes-independent/ |author=Roly Ortega |website=The Changing Newscasts Blog |date=August 22, 2016 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref name="cn-wgnmorenews"/>

Morning news programming was extended to weekdays on September 6, 1994, with the ''[[WGN Morning News]]'' debuting as a one-hour broadcast from 7 to 8&nbsp;a.m., anchored originally by Dave Eckert, Sonja Gantt and meteorologist Paul Huttner. In an effort to improve viewership, the program—which replaced children's programs (including ''The Bozo Show'', which displaced the Sunday edition of the morning newscast) that had previously aired in that time period—was soon reformatted from a more traditional newscast to feature a mix of straight news and entertainment and lifestyle features that use a looser style similar to morning radio programs. This reformatting helped the ''Morning News'' to eventually begin beating competing local and national morning news programs—including its closest initial competitor, WFLD's ''Fox Thing in the Morning'' (now ''Good Day Chicago'')—in the 25–54 age demographic and in total viewers. (The program expanded to two hours, extending until 9&nbsp;a.m., on January 8, 1996, with a later hour-long expansion [to 10&nbsp;a.m.] on September 3, 2013.) An hour-long 6&nbsp;a.m. "''Early Edition''" of the newscast debuted on August 5, 1996; this block of the newscast gradually expanded to three hours, beginning with the addition of a 5:30&nbsp;a.m. half-hour in January 2001 and ending with its July 11, 2011, extension to 4&nbsp;a.m.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dahl's Final Surprise Chills Departing Meier |author=Steve Nidetz |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=September 4, 1994 |id={{ProQuest|283943365}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Attention Early Birds! WGN Morning News Starts at 4:00AM Beginning July 11 |url=http://www.wgntv.com/about/station/pressrelease/wgntv-early-birds-wgn-morning-news-starts-at-4am-20110616,0,5721549.story |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |date=June 16, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914071444/http://www.wgntv.com/about/station/pressrelease/wgntv-early-birds-wgn-morning-news-starts-at-4am-20110616,0,5721549.story |archive-date=September 14, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WGN Morning News To Expand Starting September 3 |url=http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/5702-wgn-morning-news-to-expand-starting-september-3 |website=Chicagoland Radio and Media |date=June 24, 2013 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WGN Announces Morning Show Expansion and Changes to On-Air Lineup |url=http://www.adweek.com/tvspy/wgn-announces-morning-show-expansion-and-changes-to-on-air-lineup/102548 |author=Kevin Eck |website=[[AdWeek|TVSpy]] |publisher=[[Prometheus Global Media|Mediabistro Holdings]] |date=August 22, 2013 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref> (The ''WGN Morning News'' became the first WGN-TV newscast to be denied clearance on the national feed in September 1996, with its forced removal reportedly being due to self-imposed exclusivity restrictions concerning the newscast's paid segments and rate charges that the station's sales department would have to pay if the segments aired nationally; simulcasts of the ''WGN Morning News'' temporarily returned to WGN America on February 3, 2014, when it began airing the 4&nbsp;a.m. hour.)

In July 1996, WGN-TV began using a [[Eurocopter AS350 B2]] helicopter for newsgathering, "Skycam 9", which is used for certain breaking news events and traffic reporting.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN sends Skycam 9 aloft |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=56 |date=July 15, 1996}}</ref> In October 1999, freelance reporter Jane Boal made headlines when she was hit from behind while trying to move away from a car attempting to drive away from an accident with another vehicle during a live midday report about a carbon monoxide leak that forced the evacuation of a school in the [[Rogers Park]] neighborhood; Boal (who was laid off by the station in May 2009) suffered cartilage and ligament injuries to both of her legs after being pinned between the car involved in the accident and a WGN live truck, but was able to resume work in early November.<ref>{{cite news |title=Disturbing Footage Thrusts a Reporter Into the News |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-10-07-9910070134-story.html |author=Jim Kirk |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=October 7, 1999 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Reporter Hit by Car Returns to Work |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1999-11-02-9911020267-story.html |author=Jim Kirk |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=November 2, 1999 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-TV cuts Jane Boal, others |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-bn-xpm-2009-05-14-28525563-story.html |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=May 14, 2009 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref> In 2000, WGN-TV constructed a new {{convert|26,000|sqft|m2|0|adj=on}} newsroom covering two floors on the eastern portion of its studio facility, increasing the building's size to approximately {{convert|131,000|sqft|m2|0}}; the original newsroom was renovated for use by the station's weather department.<ref name="WGN Studios">{{cite web |title=Chicago Architecture Info: WGN Television |url=http://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/Building/1334/WGN-Television.php |website=Chicago Architecture Info |publisher=Artefaqs Corporation |access-date=May 1, 2011 |archive-date=December 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151207171144/http://www.chicagoarchitecture.info/Building/1334/WGN-Television.php |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=New WGN Facility Leaves Room for Speculation |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2000-03-08-0003080047-story.html |author=Jim Kirk |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=March 8, 2000 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref>

WGN scored a major coup in April 2008, when it persuaded veteran WMAQ-TV and WFLD anchor [[Mark Suppelsa]]—who turned down a contract with the latter station due to a proposed salary cut—to take over as lead anchor of the 9&nbsp;p.m. newscast, replacing Steve Sanders (who was moved to the midday newscast and was later joined in September 2009 by his former co-anchor on the 9&nbsp;p.m. broadcast from 1993 until Suppelsa's appointment, [[Allison Payne]], after Micah Materre moved to the prime time newscasts full-time). Suppelsa remained a main co-anchor of the weeknight newscasts until his retirement from broadcasting in December 2017, and was replaced two months later by Joe Donlon (who served a similar role at [[KGW]] in [[Portland, Oregon]], and himself departed WGN-TV in June 2020 to become main co-anchor of sister network WGN America{{'}}s fledgling prime time newscast ''[[NewsNation (WGN America)|NewsNation]]'').<ref>{{cite news |title=Suppelsa's hiring not the end for Sanders |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2008-07-08-0807070508-story.html |author=Phil Rosenthal |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=July 8, 2008 |access-date=March 25, 2019}}</ref><ref name="trib-paynematerre"/><ref>{{cite web |title=It's official: WGN hires news anchor Joe Donlon |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2018/02/13/official-wgn-hires-news-anchor-joe-donlon/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=February 13, 2018 |access-date=March 26, 2019}}</ref> On July 19, 2008, beginning with that night's edition of the 9&nbsp;p.m. newscast, WGN-TV became the third television station in the Chicago market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in [[High-definition television|high definition]]. Video from remote and field equipment was initially broadcast in [[480p]] standard definition following the transition; high definition cameras began to be used for field reports in July 2010, a move which made WGN-TV the first station in the market to broadcast all locally originated portions of its newscasts (including live field reports) in HD.

Starting under the direction of now-former news director Greg Caputo, WGN-TV spearheaded a major expansion of its news programming. In addition to the expansions of its existing newscasts, WGN first launched an early-evening newscast on September 15, 2008, when the ''WGN Evening News'' premiered as a half-hour weeknight broadcast at 5:30&nbsp;p.m.<ref name="tvnc-wgnmiddayeveningnews"/><ref name="b&c-wgnnewsboost"/> The newscast expanded to one hour (starting at 5&nbsp;p.m.) on October 5, 2009, with Saturday and Sunday editions being added on July 12, 2014.<ref name="trib-paynematerre"/><ref>{{cite web |title=WGN adds 5 p.m. news on weekends |url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/06/23/wgn-adds-5-p-m-news-on-weekends/ |author=Robert Feder |author-link=Robert Feder |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=June 23, 2014}}</ref> The weekday editions of the newscast were later expanded to include a second hour (starting at 4&nbsp;p.m.) on September 8, 2014, and then to three hours (extending it to the 6&nbsp;p.m. hour) on April 4, 2017. (The superstation feed did not clear any of the expanded newscasts up until the conversion of WGN America into a conventional cable channel.)<ref>{{cite news |title=Tribune Co.'s WGN-Channel 9 to add more weekend newscasts |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2014/06/24/tribune-co-s-wgn-channel-9-to-add-more-weekend.html |author=Lewis Lazare |newspaper=Chicago Business Journal |date=June 24, 2014 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN shuffles anchors as it expands evening news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-wgn-shuffles-anchors-expands-evening-news-20140819-story.html |author=Robert Channick |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=August 19, 2014}}</ref><ref name="robfeder-wgn6pmnews">{{cite web |title=WGN adds 6 p.m. newscast; teams Bradley & Duarte at 4 p.m. |url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2017/03/02/wgn-adds-6-p-m-newscast-teams-bradley-duarte-4-p-m/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=March 2, 2017 |access-date=April 14, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-Channel 9 adding more local news as appetite for it diminishes in Chicago |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2017/03/03/wgn-channel-9-adding-more-local-news-as-appetite.html |author=Lewis Lazare |newspaper=Chicago Business Journal |date=March 3, 2017 |access-date=April 14, 2017}}</ref> In 2009, WGN-TV began streaming its weekday midday and 5&nbsp;p.m. newscasts live on its website. On February 22, 2010, WGN-TV became the first television station in the Chicago market to allow [[iPhone]] users to watch live streams of its newscasts; the 6 to 9&nbsp;a.m. block of the ''WGN Morning News'', the midday and 5&nbsp;p.m. newscasts were initially available for streaming to iPhone users. (At present, all newscasts are streamed through the station's website and on [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] devices, though sports segments are blacked out—presented only with the audio feed—due to streaming restrictions on sports highlights imposed by the major sports leagues.)<ref>{{cite press release |title=WGN-TV First in Chicago to Stream Newscasts |url=http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=1689/ |date=February 22, 2010 |access-date=December 9, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717101642/http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=1689%2F |archive-date=July 17, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

On October 5, 2015, the station restored a 10&nbsp;p.m. newscast—originally only airing Monday through Friday nights—to its schedule after a 35-year absence; weekend editions of the 10 p.m. broadcast were added on January 11, 2020.<ref>{{cite news |title=WGN enters 10 p.m. news battle |url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2015/08/18/wgn-enters-10-p-m-news-battle/ |author=Robert Feder |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=August 18, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tribune Media's WGN-Channel 9, in surprise move, adds 10 p.m. local newscast |url=http://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/news/2015/08/18/tribune-mediaswgn-channel-9-in-surprise-move-adds.html |author=Lewis Lazare |newspaper=Chicago Business Journal |date=August 18, 2015 |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref><ref name="cn-wgnmorenews"/> A secondary live sports news show, ''GN Sports'', premiered on January 28, 2020, as the lead-out program for the weeknight 10&nbsp;p.m. newscasts; originally co-hosted by Dan Roan and Jarrett Payton, the program focuses on sports news and highlights, feature segments and in-studio interviews in a similar format as ''Instant Replay'', as well as including sports gaming and fantasy sports analysis. (Payton formerly co-hosted the similar CLTV program ''Sports Feed''—alongside WGN sports reporter Josh Frydman, who serves as a ''GN Sports'' contributor—from 2015 until Nexstar shut down the cable news channel in December 2019.)<ref name="feder-gnsports"/><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-TV is introducing 'GN Sports,' a weeknight sports show hosted by Dan Roan and Jarrett Payton |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/breaking/ct-wgn-tv-weeknight-sports-program-20200117-zkewckb6qrhwhmpcinashnxqtm-story.html |author=Phil Rosenthal |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 16, 2020 |access-date=January 29, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=WGN-TV to debut 'GN Sports'—new weeknight sports show |url=https://wgntv.com/2020/01/16/wgn-tv-to-debut-gn-sports-new-weeknight-sports-show/ |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Nexstar Media Group |date=January 16, 2020 |access-date=January 29, 2020}}</ref> Weekend editions of ''GN Sports'' were added on August 14, 2021, with the Sunday broadcast replacing the cuisine and tourism program ''Chicago's Best'' (which had aired on WGN for ten years from January 2011 until August 8, 2021).<ref>{{cite web |title=Robservations: WGN drops 'Chicago's Best,' expands 'GN Sports' to weekends |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2021/07/16/robservations-wgn-drops-chicagos-best-expands-gn-sports-weekends/ |author=Robert Feder |website=Robert Feder.com |date=July 16, 2021 |access-date=August 26, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Brittney Payton gets new co-host on 'Chicago's Best' |url=http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/792040/brittney-payton-gets-new-co-host-on-chicagos-best |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=November 15, 2013 |access-date=September 3, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151017035638/http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/71/792040/brittney-payton-gets-new-co-host-on-chicagos-best |archive-date=October 17, 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Robservations: Two new co-hosts join WGN's 'Chicago's Best' |url=https://www.robertfeder.com/2018/04/19/robservations-two-new-co-hosts-join-wgns-chicagos-best/ |author=Robert Feder |website=RobertFeder.com |date=April 19, 2018 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</ref>

=== Notable on-air staff ===
;Current staff
* [[Jackie Bange]] – weekend evening anchor
* [[Lourdes Duarte]] – weekday afternoon anchor
* [[Tim Joyce]] – weekend morning meteorologist
* [[Paul M. Lisnek]] – political analyst
* [[Dan Ponce]] – weekday morning anchor
* [[Dean Richards (reporter)|Dean Richards]] – entertainment reporter and film critic

;Former staff
{{div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Fran Allison]]
* [[Mike Barz]]
* [[Brigid Bazlen]]
* [[Bob Bell (actor)|Bob Bell]]<ref name=WGN>{{cite web |title=Bob Bell, the first 'Bozo the Clown' on WGN-TV, Dies |url=http://wgntv.com/bell.html |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |date=December 8, 1997 |access-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981205133533/http://www.wgntv.com/bell.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 5, 1998}}</ref>
* [[Steve Bell (news anchor)|Steve Bell]]
* [[Lou Boudreau]]
* [[Thom Brennaman]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Thom Brennaman |url=http://wgngold.com/people/brennaman-thom.htm |website=WGN Gold |access-date=January 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100205152612/http://wgngold.com/people/brennaman-thom.htm |archive-date=February 5, 2010}}</ref>
* [[Jack Brickhouse]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Jack Brickhouse |url=http://radiohof.org/sportscasters/jackbrickhouse.html |publisher=Radio Hall of Fame |access-date=January 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123093647/http://www.radiohof.org/sportscasters/jackbrickhouse.html |archive-date=January 23, 2013}}</ref>
* [[Marshall Brodien]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Marshall Brodien, who played 'Wizzo the Wizard' on The Bozo Show, has died |url=https://wgntv.com/2019/03/08/marshall-brodien-who-played-wizzo-the-wizard-on-the-bozo-show-has-died/ |author=Dean Richards |website=WGN-TV |date=March 8, 2019 |access-date=March 8, 2019 |archive-date=March 21, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190321200648/https://wgntv.com/2019/03/08/marshall-brodien-who-played-wizzo-the-wizard-on-the-bozo-show-has-died/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* [[Lorn Brown]]<ref name=tribune2>{{cite news |title=Former Sox, Bulls announcer Lorn Brown dies |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2010/06/26/former-sox-bulls-announcer-lorn-brown-dies/ |author=Oscar Avila |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=June 26, 2010 |access-date=June 27, 2010}}</ref>
* [[Roy Brown (clown)|Roy Brown]]<ref name=WGN2>{{cite web |title=Roy Brown, who portrayed 'Cooky the Cook' on WGN-TV's 'Bozo Show' and was puppeteer for 'Garfield Goose and Friends', dies |url=http://wgntv.com/kids/bozo/cooky.html |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |date=January 22, 2001 |access-date=June 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010216065014/http://wgntv.com/kids/bozo/cooky.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 16, 2001}}</ref>
* [[Cheryl Burton]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Cheryl Burton Bio |url=http://abc7chicago.com/about/newsteam/cheryl-burton/ |website=[[WLS-TV]] |publisher=[[ABC Owned Television Stations]] |access-date=September 3, 2015}}</ref>
* [[Chip Caray]]<ref>{{cite news |title=TV SPORTS; Caray Family Is Touched by Fans Honoring Harry |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/03/sports/tv-sports-caray-family-is-touched-by-fans-honoring-harry.html |author=Richard Sandomir |author-link=Richard Sandomir |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 3, 1998 |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Harry Caray]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Harry Caray |url=http://www.radiohof.org/sportscasters/harrycaray.html |publisher=Radio Hall of Fame |access-date=January 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123093609/http://www.radiohof.org/sportscasters/harrycaray.html |archive-date=January 23, 2013}}</ref>
* [[Susan Carlson]]
* [[Bob Collins (broadcaster)|Bob Collins]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Bob Collins |url=http://wgngold.com/people/collins-bob.htm |website=WGN Gold |access-date=January 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120814024902/http://www.wgngold.com/people/collins-bob.htm |archive-date=August 14, 2012}}</ref>
* [[Bob Costas]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Bob Costas Bio |url=http://www.celebrityspeakersbureau.com/talent/bob-costas/ |publisher=Celebrity Speakers' Bureau |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Joey D'Auria]]<ref name=Timeline80>{{cite web |title=Bozo Timeline-1980s |url=http://wgntv.com/station/bozotime/tln1980s.htm |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |access-date=February 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010709002204/http://wgntv.com/station/bozotime/tln1980s.htm |archive-date=July 9, 2001}}</ref>
* [[Merri Dee]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Merri Dee leaving WGN after nearly four decades |url=http://www.chicagodefender.com/article-1667-merri-dee-leaving-wgn-after-nearly-four-decades.html |author=Theresa Fambro Hooks |newspaper=[[The Chicago Defender]] |date=August 27, 2008 |access-date=January 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612132914/http://www.chicagodefender.com/article-1667-merri-dee-leaving-wgn-after-nearly-four-decades.html |archive-date=June 12, 2012}}</ref>
* [[Phil Donahue]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Station History |url=http://wgntv.com/station-history/ |website=WGN-TV |date=December 6, 2012 |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Mike Douglas]]
* [[John Drury (television anchor)|John Drury]]<ref name=ABC7>{{cite web |title=John Drury's ABC7 Bio |url=http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=bios&id=3397035 |website=WLS-TV |publisher=ABC Owned Television Stations |access-date=August 7, 2007 |archive-date=April 29, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060429094113/http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=bios&id=3397035 |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Jim Durham]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Jim Durham, N.B.A. Broadcaster, Is Dead at 65 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/07/sports/basketball/jim-durham-nba-broadcaster-is-dead-at-65.html?_r=0 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=November 4, 2012 |access-date=January 20, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Judie Garcia]]
* [[Milo Hamilton]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Milo Hamilton Never Did Make Peace With Harry Caray |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/02/22/milo-hamilton-never-did-make-peace-with-harry-caray/ |author=Phil Rogers |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 22, 1998 |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Pat Harvey]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Pat Harvey Bio |url=http://cbs2.com/bios/Pat.Harvey.cbs.9.538057.html |website=[[KCBS-TV]] |publisher=[[CBS Television Stations]] |access-date=January 21, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090208152452/http://cbs2.com/bios/Pat.Harvey.cbs.9.538057.html |archive-date=February 8, 2009}}</ref>
* [[Frances Horwich]]
* [[Bill Jackson (television personality)|Bill Jackson]]
* [[Bob Jordan (newscaster)|Bob Jordan]] (retired)
* [[Johnny "Red" Kerr]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Kerr, 76, dies of prostate cancer |url=https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=3938770 |website=[[ESPN]] |publisher=[[ESPN Inc.]] |date=February 27, 2009 |access-date=January 20, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Rich King (sportscaster)|Rich King]]
* [[Wayne Larrivee]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Wayne Larrivee |url=http://www.wgngold.com/people/larrivee-wayne.htm |website=WGN Gold |access-date=January 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110914101840/http://www.wgngold.com/people/larrivee-wayne.htm |archive-date=September 14, 2011}}</ref>
* [[Roy Leonard]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Roy Leonard |url=http://www.wgngold.com/people/leonard-roy.htm |website=WGN Gold |access-date=January 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121207002743/http://www.wgngold.com/people/leonard-roy.htm |archive-date=December 7, 2012}}</ref>
* [[Vince Lloyd]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Vince Lloyd |url=http://wgngold.com/people/lloyd-vince.htm |website=WGN Gold |access-date=January 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705152228/http://wgngold.com/people/lloyd-vince.htm |archive-date=July 5, 2008}}</ref>
* [[Ned Locke]]<ref name=Obit>{{cite web |title=Ned Locke of Bozo's Circus |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1992/02/05/ned-locke-of-bozos-circus/ |author=Jerry Crimmins |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 5, 1992 |access-date=February 6, 2011}}</ref>
* [[Nancy Loo]]
* [[Jim Lounsbury]]
* [[Joe McConnell]]<ref name=partners>{{cite news |title=Harry's Partners In The Broadcast Booth |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/02/27/harrys-partners-in-the-broadcast-booth/ |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=February 27, 1998 |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Elaine Mulqueen]]
* [[Allison Payne]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Allison Payne returning to WGN-TV |url=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/01/allison-payne-r.html |author=Phil Rosenthal |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 9, 2009 |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Lloyd Pettit]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Pettit found his calling in Blackhawks' booth |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1683&dat=20031114&id=GsQcAAAAIBAJ&pg=6595,1650379 |newspaper=[[Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]] |date=November 14, 2003 |access-date=January 20, 2014}}{{Dead link |date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>
* [[Jimmy Piersall]]<ref name=partners/>
* [[Ray Rayner]]<ref name=Tribune>{{cite web |title=WGN personality Ray Rayner dead at 84 |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-040121rayner-story,0,4988558.story |author=William Hageman |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 21, 2004 |access-date=February 9, 2011}}</ref>
* [[Ron Rivera]]
* [[Randy Salerno]]
* [[Don Sandburg]]<ref name=Timeline60>{{cite web |title=Bozo Timeline-1960s |url=http://wgntv.com/station/bozotime/tln1960s.htm |website=WGN-TV |publisher=Tribune Broadcasting |access-date=February 16, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010709002133/http://wgntv.com/station/bozotime/tln1960s.htm |archive-date=July 9, 2001}}</ref>
* [[John Schubeck]]<ref>{{cite news |title=Paid Notice: Deaths SCHUBECK, JOHN |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/28/classified/paid-notice-deaths-schubeck-john.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 28, 1997 |access-date=January 20, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Tom Skilling]] – chief meteorologist (retired February 28, 2024)
* Keenan Smith<ref>{{cite web |title=Keenan Smith Bio |url=https://www.wxyz.com/keenan-smith |website=[[WXYZ-TV]] |publisher=[[E. W. Scripps Company|Scripps Broadcasting]] |access-date=February 5, 2019}}</ref>
* [[Wendell Smith (sportswriter)|Wendell Smith]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Wendell Smith, a civic-minded writer |url=http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/1444/Wendell_Smith_a_civic_minded_writer |website=African-American Registry |access-date=January 21, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301081919/http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/1444/Wendell_Smith_a_civic_minded_writer |archive-date=March 1, 2010}}</ref>
* [[Mark Suppelsa]] (retired)
* [[Chuck Swirsky]]
* [[Jack Taylor (journalist)|Jack Taylor]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Jack Taylor |url=http://www.wgngold.com/people/taylor-jack.htm |website=WGN Gold |access-date=January 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722120013/http://www.wgngold.com/people/taylor-jack.htm |archive-date=July 22, 2012}}</ref>
* [[Roseanne Tellez]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Roseanne Tellez Bio |url=http://cbs2chicago.com/bios/roseanne.tellez.wbbm.9.291760.html |website=WBBM-TV |publisher=CBS Television Stations |access-date=January 21, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100302001319/http://cbs2chicago.com/bios/roseanne.tellez.wbbm.9.291760.html |archive-date=March 2, 2010}}</ref>
* [[Frazier Thomas]]<ref name=Frazier>{{cite web |title=Frazier Thomas, TV Kids' Pal For 35 years |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1985/04/04/frazier-thomas-kids-tv-pal-for-35-years/ |author=Kenan Heise |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=April 4, 1985 |access-date=February 18, 2011}}</ref>
* [[Bob Trendler]]
* [[Robert Urich]]<ref name="cnn">{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/16/obit.urich/ |title=Actor Robert Urich dead at 55 |date=April 16, 2002 |work=CNN |access-date=January 4, 2013}}</ref>
* [[Harry Volkman]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Legendary Chicago TV Weatherman Harry Volkman Releases Autobiography |url=http://chicagoradioandmedia.com/news/1593-legendary-chicago-tv-weatherman-harry-volkman-releases-autobiography |website=Chicagoland Radio and Media |date=April 25, 2011 |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Jenniffer Weigel]]
* [[Jim Williams (news anchor)|Jim Williams]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Jim Williams Bio |url=http://chicago.cbslocal.com/personality/jim-williams/ |website=[[WBBM-TV]] |publisher=CBS Television Stations |access-date=January 21, 2014}}</ref>
* [[Bill Weir]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Bill Weir |url=https://www.cnn.com/profiles/bill-weir-profilel |website=CNN |publisher=[[WarnerMedia|WarnerMedia News and Sports]] |access-date=February 5, 2019}}</ref>
{{Div col end}}

==Technical information==
===Subchannels===
WGN-TV is broadcast from atop the [[Willis Tower]].{{r|FCC-LMS-72115}} The station's signal is [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of WGN-TV<ref name="rei">{{cite web |title=RabbitEars TV Query for WGN-TV |url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WGN#station |access-date=September 1, 2015 |website=[[RabbitEars]]}}</ref>
! [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! Short name
! Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 9.1
| [[1080i]] || [[16:9]] || WGN || [[The CW]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 9.2
| rowspan="4" |[[480i]] || [[4:3]] || ANTENNA || [[Antenna TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 9.3
| rowspan="3" |16:9 || GRIT || [[Grit (TV network)|Grit]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 9.4
| REWIND || [[Rewind TV]]<ref name="RewindTV">{{cite web |url=https://www.nexttv.com/news/nexstar-to-launch-rewind-tv-digital-channel-airing-classics |title=Nexstar to Launch Rewind TV, Digital Channel Airing Classics |last=Lafayette |first=Jon |work=Broadcasting & Cable |date=April 26, 2021 |accessdate=July 10, 2021}}</ref><ref name="RewindTV2">{{cite web |url=https://www.nexstar.tv/nexstar-media-inc-to-launch-rewind-tv-on-september-1/ |title=Nexstar Media Inc. to Launch "Rewind TV" on September 1 |work=Nexstar.TV |date=April 26, 2021 |accessdate=July 10, 2021}}</ref>
|-
! scope = "row" | 9.5
| TheNest || [[The Nest (TV network)|The Nest]]
|- style="background-color:#DFEBF6; border-top: 2px solid #003399;"
! scope = "row" | [[WBBM-TV|2.1]]
| 1080i || 16:9 || CBS2-HD || [[CBS]] ([[WBBM-TV]])
|}
{{legend|#DFEBF6|Broadcast on behalf of another station}}

The main 2.1 subchannel of WBBM-TV is also broadcast on the WGN-TV multiplex; WBBM-TV, Chicago's high-power [[ATSC 3.0]] (NextGen TV) station, carries WGN-TV in that format.{{r|rei}}

===Analog-to-digital transition===
WGN-TV began transmitting a [[digital terrestrial television|digital television]] signal on UHF channel 19 on January 4, 2001, operating from a transmitter located {{convert|1,486|ft|m}} atop the [[Sears Tower]]. (Incidentally, WGN-TV was one of six, originally eight, Chicago television stations that declined offers to move their analog transmitters to the Sears Tower antenna farm ahead of the building's 1973 completion.)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=8 Chicago TV's reject Sears plan |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=54 |date=May 8, 1972}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=In Brief: Staying put. |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=5 |date=October 29, 1973}}</ref> The station shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 9, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States [[Digital television transition in the United States|transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts]] under federal mandate. The WGN-TV digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 19, with digital television receivers continuing to display WGN-TV's [[virtual channel]] as its former VHF analog channel 9. As a consequence, WGN-TV permanently ceased transmissions from the John Hancock Center's west antenna tower, establishing its existing digital facilities at the Sears Tower digital antenna as its main transmitter.<ref>{{cite web |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]] |access-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |archive-date=August 29, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=CDBS Print<!-- Bot generated title --> |url=http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101231326&formid=387&fac_num=72115 |publisher=U.S. Federal Communications Commission |access-date=March 24, 2012}}</ref>

Though not a participant in the [[SAFER Act]], WWME-CA carried simulcasts of WGN-TV's 9&nbsp;p.m. newscast—except in the event of sports delays—and WMAQ-TV's morning and early evening newscasts until July 12 to provide an analog "lifeline" for viewers that were unprepared for or who had reception issues following the digital transition.<ref>{{cite news |title=WMAQ-TV, WGN-TV partner with Weigel Broadcasting for analog 'lifeline' |url=http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/towerticker/2009/06/wmaqtv-wgntv-partner-with-weigel-broadcasting-for-analog-lifeline.html |author=Phil Rosental |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=June 11, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=WCIU, WMAQ, WGN Form Chicago 'Lifeline' |url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/32976/wciu-wmaq-wgn-form-chicago-lifeline |website=TVNewsCheck |date=June 11, 2009 |access-date=September 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Weigel's Analog Nightlight Could Help Chicago Stations With Reception Issues |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/technology/weigels-analog-nightlight-could-help-chicago-stations-reception-issues/46911 |author=John Eggerton |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |date=June 17, 2009}}</ref>

==Canadian distribution==
In April 1985, the [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] (CRTC) approved eligibility for the signals of WGN-TV and fellow American superstations WTBS, WOR-TV and WPIX to be retransmitted as [[List of foreign television channels available in Canada#American Superstations eligible for national distribution|foreign services]] by multichannel television providers within [[Canada]]. Under CRTC linkage rules first implemented in 1983 that require providers to offer U.S.-based program services in [[A la carte cable television|discretionary tiers]] tied to Canadian services, WGN-TV/WGN America and other authorized U.S. superstations typically have been sold to prospective subscribers of one or more domestic premium services—such as [[Crave (TV network)|Crave]] (formerly First Choice and The Movie Network), [[Starz (Canada)|Starz]] (formerly Moviepix and The Movie Network Encore), [[Super Channel (Canadian TV channel)|Super Channel]], [[Super Écran]] and [[Western Canada]]-based regional pay services [[Movie Central]] (the original user of the Superchannel name, now defunct) and [[Encore Avenue]] (also now defunct). However, some providers have chosen to offer WGN in a specialty tier under a related rule that allows for an eligible superstation of the provider's choice to be carried on a non-premium tier. (Although KWGN-TV has also been authorized for carriage by the CRTC since that point, the Denver sister station is not carried on any multichannel television providers within Canada.)<ref>{{cite web |title=Public Notice CRTC 1985-72—Optional Canadian and Non-Canadian Satellite Services |url=http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1985/PB85-72.htm |website=[[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] |date=April 4, 1985 |access-date=October 25, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=ARCHIVED—Public Notice CRTC 84–81 |url=https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/1984/pb84-81.htm |website=Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission |date=April 2, 1984 |access-date=April 7, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=A look at Tier III: Launched in October 1997, much doom was predicted for the launch of Tier III. Looking at those channels now, there sure isn't much to nit-pick about. |url=http://www.mediacastermagazine.com/issues/story.aspx?aid=1000111924&type=Print%20Archives |author=Greg O'Brien |periodical=Mediacaster Magazine |publisher=Business Information Group |date=January 1, 2002 |access-date=October 25, 2010}}{{dead link|date=March 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>

After United Video began offering a separate national feed of WGN upon the stateside implementation the Syndex rules in January 1990, most Canadian cable providers began to replace the Chicago signal with the superstation feed as well. (Among the country's satellite providers, Star Choice [now [[Shaw Direct]]] began carrying the national feed upon the satellite provider's 1994 launch; Bell ExpressVu [now [[Bell Satellite TV]]] began distributing the Chicago-area signal when it commenced operations in 1996.) As a network affiliate, WGN-TV provided WB and CW programs to areas of Canada distant from the [[Canada–United States border|Canadian–U.S. border]] that could not receive over-the-air signals of other WB/CW affiliates from American cities. The WGN local feed was subjected to fewer sports blackouts than WGN America had been subjected to prior to the separation of the national and local feeds, as blackouts of programming to which Canadian broadcasters hold domestic rights apply only to imported U.S.-based specialty channels. However, [[simultaneous substitution]] rules have applied to certain CW programs that were also carried by Canadian-based terrestrial networks (such as [[Global Television Network|Global]], [[Citytv]] and [[CTV 2]]). The WGN-TV feed had also previously been available as part of the [[NHL Centre Ice]] sports package, primarily for simulcasts of Chicago Blackhawks games that WGN-TV aired until the [[2018–19 Chicago Blackhawks season|2018–19 season]].

On January 17, 2007, WGN's main Canadian uplink carrier, [[Shaw Broadcast Services]], switched its distributed feed of the station to the Chicago signal, a decision believed to have resulted from increased licensing fees for the then-superstation feed; despite this, some providers (including [[Manitoba Telecom Services|MTS TV]] and [[Cogeco Cable]]) continued to carry the superstation feed in place of or in conjunction with the Chicago signal. Despite this, some providers continued to carry the national WGN channel in lieu of or—as was the case with providers such as MTS TV and Cogeco Cable—in tandem with the Chicago feed, resulting in the duplication of CW network and many syndicated programs that are available within the country on other networks (such as fellow superstations KTLA and Boston-based [[WSBK-TV]]). While the CRTC had approved the Chicago station's broadcast signal ''and'' its national cable feed for carriage on any domestic multichannel television provider (including cable, satellite, IPTV and [[MMDS]] services), because of the conversion of WGN America from a superstation into an independent general-entertainment service and its resulting programming separation from WGN-TV, on December 15, 2014, Tribune Broadcasting sent notice that it would terminate all Canadian distribution rights for WGN America, effective January 1, 2015;<ref>{{cite web |title=Notice from Cogeco |url=https://www.facebook.com/Cogeco/posts/975584402457889 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/198251703524500/975584402457889 |archive-date=February 26, 2022 |url-access=limited |website=[[Facebook]] |via=[[Cogeco]] |date=December 15, 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref><!-- Yes, the source is from Cogeco Cable's Facebook account. They did not issue a formal press release on the matter. This public posting is the only evidence the stations have been removed.--> the move was likely done to comply with CRTC genre protection rules in effect at the time, which prohibited the utilization of general entertainment programming formats by domestic or foreign cable channels. The WGN-TV Chicago feed, however, remains authorized for domestic distribution as a superstation. It is carried on Bell Satellite TV channel 1232 across Canada.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.tvchannellists.com/List_of_Bell_Satellite_TV_channels |title=List of Bell Satellite TV channels – TVCL – TV Channel Lists |access-date=December 9, 2020 |archive-date=November 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125192008/https://www.tvchannellists.com/List_of_Bell_Satellite_TV_channels |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|WGN-TV}}
* {{Official website|https://wgntv.com/}}
* {{FCC-LMS-Facility|55344|K32MF-D}} (Red Lake, MN)

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[[Category:1948 establishments in Illinois]]
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