WGN-TV

This article is about the local Chicago television station. For the AM radio station, see WGN (AM). For the national feed of WGN-TV, see WGN America.

Not to be confused with its co-owned television station in Denver, Colorado, KWGN-TV.

WGN-TV

Chicago, Illinois
Branding	WGN 9, Chicago's CW; WGN (general) WGN News (newscasts) WGN Sports (sports telecasts)
Slogan	Chicago's Very Own (station) Very Chicago. (online)
Channels	Digital: 19 (UHF) Virtual: 9 (PSIP)
Subchannels	(see article)
Affiliations	The CW
Owner	Tribune Broadcasting (WGN Continental Broadcasting Company, LLC)
First air date	April 5, 1948 (1948-04-05)
Call letters' meaning	World's Greatest Newspaper (referring to the Chicago Tribune)
Sister station(s)	WGN (AM) WGN America CLTV
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 9 (VHF, 1948–2009)
Former affiliations	CBS (1948–1953) DuMont (1948–1956) Independent (1956–1995) The WB (1995–2006)
Transmitter power	645 kW
Height	454 m
Facility ID	72115
Transmitter coordinates	41°52′44″N 87°38′10.2″W
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.wgntv.com

WGN-TV, channel 9, is the CW-affiliated television station located in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship television property of the Tribune Company, and is operated through the company's broadcasting division. The station's studios and offices are located in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago, and its transmitter is located atop the Sears Tower.

Locally, WGN Television is co-owned with radio station WGN (720 AM) and the Chicago Tribune newspaper, whose slogan ("World's Greatest Newspaper") was the basis for the call letters used by the TV and radio stations. The Tribune Company also operates Chicago area cable news channel Chicagoland Television (CLTV), which shares resources from both WGN-TV and the Chicago Tribune.

WGN-TV is also a pioneering superstation, and continues to program an alternate feed for cable and satellite subscribers throughout the United States called WGN America. The "superstation" feed remains unavailable to pay television subscribers of Comcast, RCN, WOW! and AT&T U-verse in the Chicago area, despite vastly different programming offerings. However, WGN America is available in the market on the DirecTV and Dish Network satellite services.

WGN's longtime slogan, "Chicago's Very Own" (which has been in use since 1983), was the basis for a popular image campaign of the 1980s and 1990s, as performed by Chicago native Lou Rawls.

History

Early years

WGN Television began test broadcasts in February 1948 and began regular programming on April 5 with a two-hour special, "WGN-TV Salute to Chicago", at 7:45 p.m. Early on, WGN-TV was affiliated with the CBS and DuMont networks, sharing both with WBKB (channel 4). As a sidebar to the February 1953 merger of ABC and United Paramount Theatres, channel 9 lost its CBS affiliation. CBS had purchased the license to operate channel 4 in Chicago (now WBBM-TV, which later moved to channel 2, forcing Phonevision off the air). CBS moved all of its programming to channel 4, leaving channel 9 with DuMont. For its first 13 years on the air, WGN-TV had broadcast from the Tribune Tower at 435 North Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago.

WGN-TV soon became one of DuMont's strongest affiliates, as well as a major production center for that network. Several DuMont programs were produced from WGN-TV's facilities, including: The Al Morgan Show; Chicago Symphony; Chicagoland Mystery Players; Music From Chicago; The Music Show; They Stand Accused; This is Music; Windy City Jamboree; and Down You Go. WGN-TV had also telecast performances of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, beginning in 1953, when Fritz Reiner was the orchestra's music director. When DuMont ceased operations in 1956, WGN-TV became an independent station. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network. In 1957, WGN-TV became one of the first Chicago area stations to broadcast live programming in color.

In 1961, the WGN stations moved to its present studio facilities on West Bradley Place in the North Center neighborhood, a move undertaken for civil defense concerns in order to provide the station a safe base to broadcast in case of a hostile attack targeting downtown Chicago. WGN Radio eventually moved back to North Michigan Avenue in the Pioneer Court extension in 1986, then back into Tribune Tower in October 2012.

Independence

WGN-TV spent much of the next two decades after losing its DuMont as the top-rated independent station in Chicago, offering a variety of general entertainment programs including movies, sports, off-network reruns, and children's shows. For much of its existence, channel 9 produced a large amount of its own programs at its studios. An historic moment in Chicago's local television programming occurred when Sheldon Cooper launched a musical variety show for 13 weeks called The All-Time Hits featuring The Buckinghams in color. Notable WGN-TV productions included several incarnations of the immensely popular Bozo's Circus, Ray Rayner and His Friends, and Garfield Goose and Friends (which was hosted by Frazier Thomas). A popular children's educational series at the time was The Space Explorers. WGN-TV served as Chicago's affiliate of the United Network for its one month of existence in 1967, airing The Las Vegas Show. From 1974 to 1982, Phil Donahue's syndicated talk program originated from WGN-TV. In 1975, the nationally syndicated agriculture program U.S. Farm Report debuted, originating from WGN-TV's studios.

Becoming a national superstation

WGN-TV began broadcasting on cable television throughout the United States in October 1978, after Tulsa, Oklahoma-based United Video Satellite Group uplinked the station's signal via satellite. This signal was picked up by many fledgling cable television providers, as well as directly to satellite dish owners, turning WGN-TV into one of the first superstations, alongside New York City's WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV) and Atlanta's WTBS (now WPCH-TV). As WGN-TV gained national exposure, the station became vulnerable in the Chicago area and underestimated the ability of UHF competitor WFLD (channel 32) to acquire top-rated syndicated programs (such as M*A*S*H, Happy Days and All in the Family). As a result, WFLD edged ahead of WGN-TV in the ratings by the end of 1979. WGN-TV continued with its programming format, competing with WFLD and another UHF independent station, WSNS-TV (channel 44).

In 1989, the Federal Communications Commission passed the Syndication Exclusivity Rights rule (or "SyndEx"), which require cable providers to black out syndicated programs shown on any out-of-market stations, if a television station obtains the exclusive local rights to air that program. When the law went into effect on January 1, 1990, WGN-TV launched a separate national feed supplied with alternate programming that no stations claimed exclusive rights to in any market (along with sporting events, newscasts and several shows airing on WGN-TV that were also not subject to exclusivity claims). In September 1994, the station moved The Bozo Show from its longtime weekday morning slot to Sunday mornings, where it remained and was eventually reformatted to fit the FCC's E/I programming guidelines until the program was controversially discontinued by station management in 2001.

Return to network affiliation

Affiliation with The WB

On November 2, 1993, the Warner Bros. Television division of Time Warner and Tribune Company announced the formation of The WB Television Network, with the majority of Tribune's independent stations being tapped to serve as charter affiliates; The WB then signed an affiliation agreement with WGN-TV one month later on December 3, 1993; this effectively made WGN a de facto WB owned-and-operated station due to Tribune's minority ownership interest in the network. As part of the agreement, WGN would carry The WB's primetime schedule (and upon its September 1995 debut, Kids' WB children's programming) on its national superstation feed for areas of the United States where the network did not have an affiliate at launch.

The WB launched on January 11, 1995, with WGN-TV airing only its primetime programming until 2004 (Kids' WB programming aired locally on former Univision affiliate WCIU-TV (channel 26), which had became an English-language independent station in January 1995). The WB expanded its over-the-air affiliate coverage over time, and launched a cable-only affiliate group for areas where it could not align with an over-the-air station; using the superstation feed as a default affiliate was no longer necessary as a result, leading to the network's October 1999 request that WGN stop carrying The WB's programming outside of the Chicago market. In 2000, WGN-TV constructed a new newsroom on the eastern portion of its studios, increasing the building's space to 29,000 square feet (the original newsroom was converted into the station's weather center). In 2004, WGN-TV began broadcasting Chicago Cubs, White Sox and Bulls home games in high definition.

CW affiliation

On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that they would partner to launch The CW Television Network, as a replacement for The WB and UPN, initially featuring a mix of programs carried over from those two networks and newer series. On that same date, The CW signed WGN-TV as the network's Chicago affiliate as part of a ten-year agreement that saw 16 of Tribune Broadcasting's 18 other WB-affiliated stations at the time also affiliate with the network. The CW launched on September 18, 2006 (WGN America does not carry the network's programming as The CW has sufficient broadcast coverage through over-the-air stations, digital multicast channels and cable-only affiliates negating the need for WGN America to provide additional nationwide coverage of the network).

On April 2, 2007, Chicago investor Sam Zell announced plans to purchase the Tribune Company, with intentions to take the publicly traded firm private. The deal was completed on December 20, 2007 (Tribune Company subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2008, due to debt accrued from costs from the privatization of the company; Tribune emerged from bankruptcy in December 2012 under the control of its senior debt holders Oaktree Capital Management, Angelo, Gordon & Co. and JPMorgan Chase). Prior to the close of the sale, WGN-TV was one of two Chicago commercial television stations (not counting network-owned stations) to have never been involved in an ownership transaction (WCIU is the other, having been owned by Weigel Broadcasting since its launch in 1964).

On October 13, 2008, WGN-TV began providing weather forecasts for WGN radio through a partnership between the two stations; this came as WGN Radio ended a ten-year partnership with The Weather Channel to provide local forecasts for the station. On February 4, 2009, Tribune Broadcasting announced it would merge CLTV's operations with channel 9's news department. In 2009, WGN-TV began streaming its weekday midday and 5 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 6-9 a.m. block of the WGN Morning News, the midday and 5 p.m. newscasts are initially available for streaming to iPhone users; at present, all newscasts are streamed through the station's website and on Apple devices.

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
9.1	1080i	16:9	WGN-DT	Main WGN-TV programming / The CW
9.2	480i	4:3	Antenna	Antenna TV

The station's 9.2 digital subchannel originally carried The Tube Music Network from 2006 until it shut down in October 2007, when the subchannel switched to a simulcast of the station's main channel. In June 2008, the subchannel became an affiliate of LATV. The LATV affiliation moved to a subchannel of low-power station WOCK-CD in July 2010.

On May 13, 2013, Weigel Broadcasting announced that it would be parting ways with This TV in order to concentrate on Me-TV and a new digital network similar in format to This TV called Movies!. WGN-TV's parent and owner, Tribune Broadcasting (which like Weigel, is headquartered in Chicago) will take over Weigel's share of This TV beginning in fall 2013 and air it on a digital subchannel of its own. Tribune Broadcasting also owns rival digital network Antenna TV.

Analog-to-digital conversion

As part of the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, WGN-TV shut down its analog transmitter on June 12, 2009, and continued to broadcast its digital signal on its pre-transition channel 19. However through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display WGN-TV's virtual channel as 9. From June 13 to July 12, 2009, WGN-TV simulcast its 9 p.m. newscasts (except in the event of sports delays) on WWME-CA's analog UHF channel 23 to provide a "lifeline" for viewers unprepared or who had reception issues when the digital television transition was completed. During that month-long span, WWME-CA also aired early morning and early evening newscasts from WMAQ-TV.

In the far northern suburbs of Chicago and rural areas to the north and west, the signal of Madison, Wisconsin's WMTV, which also transmits on digital channel 19, interferes with reception of WGN-TV, particularly in Kane, Lake, Boone and McHenry counties. WGN-TV also interferes with the signal of Grand Rapids sister station WXMI, requiring the latter outlet to maintain a digital translator station on channel 17 from Muskegon to address this interference. WOTV in Battle Creek, Michigan transmits next to WXMI on channel 20, giving off additional multi-channel interference.

Programming

WGN-TV runs The CW's entire programming schedule, including the network's Saturday morning children's block; since September 2012, WGN airs The CW Daytime block one hour earlier than other Central Time Zone affiliates, aligning with its airtime in the Eastern Time Zone. Due to the station's sports broadcast commitments, The CW's weekday daytime and primetime programs are subject to preemption if a sports telecast is scheduled during network programming hours, preempted programs are tape delayed to air later that week with primetime shows usually rescheduled on Saturday and/or Sunday evenings as The CW does not offer primetime programs on weekends. Syndicated programming on WGN-TV includes Live! with Kelly and Michael, Rachael Ray, Friends, The Andy Griffith Show, Two and a Half Men and 30 Rock. WGN-TV has been one of The CW's higher-rated affiliates in terms of viewership, often drawing more viewers than Fox-owned WFLD (channel 32) even in primetime despite the latter's Fox programming.

WGN-TV is one of only two CW affiliates airing Live! with Kelly and Michael (the other being St. Louis sister station KPLR-TV); although it is an ABC owned-and-operated station (Live! is distributed by ABC corporate cousin, Disney-ABC Domestic Television), WLS-TV has never aired the program – which utilizes the common timeslot of 9 a.m. – in its various syndicated iterations due to its live airing of Oprah from 1986 to 2011 (a practice that dated back to its existence for two years prior to the start of that program's syndication run as local morning show AM Chicago), which was then replaced by local talk show Windy City Live; Live! will move to WLS-TV in September 2013, making it the last ABC-owned station to add the program.

Due to syndication exclusivity rules, WGN-TV and its superstation feed WGN America have vastly different program offerings; although the local and national feeds initially shared a significant amount of common programming after the SyndEx law was implemented, WGN-TV and WGN America's program schedules have become increasingly disparate in recent years. As of April 2013, the only programs airing on WGN-TV (other than local newscasts and sports programming) that have been given full-signal national broadcast rights on WGN America are public affairs programs People to People and Adelante, Chicago, syndicated reruns of 30 Rock, and religious programs Singsation!, Tomorrow's World and Believer's Walk of Faith with Pastor Bill Winston.

Local programming

News operation

WGN-TV's current 9 p.m. news open.

WGN-TV currently broadcasts 49 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with nine hours on weekdays and two hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to locally produced news programming among Illinois television stations, it is the most of any station in Chicago and the state in general. In addition, the station produces Instant Replay, a 20-minute sports highlight show that airs on Sunday evenings during the 9 p.m. newscast and is hosted by longtime sports director Dan Roan. WGN-TV's news department is notable for the longevity of its on-air news staff, with many of its news anchors having worked for channel 9 for at least ten years.^{[citation needed]} WGN-TV is also the largest television station by market size that is a broadcast partner in the WeatherBug real-time automated weather observation network.

WGN America presently simulcasts the 12 p.m. hour of the midday newscast and the nightly 9 p.m. newscast (preemptions of the 9 p.m. newscast outside of Chicago may occur if rights issues prevent a sports telecast that is scheduled to run past 9 p.m. CT from being cleared for national broadcast on the superstation feed). For unknown reasons, the superstation feed does not air the midday newscast's 11 a.m. hour, the weeknight 5 p.m. or weekend morning newscasts; syndication exclusivity rules on certain WGN Morning News segments reportedly caused that newscast's removal from WGN America in 1996 (as the only known incidence in which SyndEx rules resulted in a news program's preemption on cable providers outside of its primary broadcast area). Since 2008, WGN anchors reference the WGN America simulcast at the start of the noon and 9 p.m. newscasts on weekdays (except in instances when a newscast is preempted by the superstation feed).

News has played an important role on WGN-TV since the station's beginnings, due in part to its link to the Chicago Tribune. In 1965, WGN-TV introduced the first news anchor team, with Gary Park and Jim Ruddle. In 1980, WGN-TV debuted the first hour-long primetime newscast in the midwestern United States, when the station moved its half-hour 10 p.m. newscast to 9 p.m. and expanded it to one hour. For several years afterward, WGN only had the 9 p.m. newscast and a weekday-only midday newscast at noon that also ran for one hour. The station made its first foray into weekend morning newscasts with the debut of hour-long 8 a.m. newscasts on Saturdays and Sundays in 1992 (unusual considering the weekday morning newscast would not debut for another two years); the Sunday edition was eventually cancelled in 1994, followed by the Saturday edition in 1998.

The station dropped its weekday morning children's programs on September 6, 1994, replacing them with the then one hour-long WGN Morning News, the morning newscast gradually expanded over time to two hours in January 1996, then to three hours from 6-9 a.m. eight months later, with half-hour expansions in January 2001 (to 5:30 a.m.), January 2004 (to 5 a.m.) and August 6, 2010 (to 4:30 a.m.) until the program expanded to its current five hours (starting at 4 a.m.) on July 11, 2011 (becoming the first Chicago station to have its morning newscast start at 4 a.m.).

On November 1, 2007, the station debuted a new custom news music package Chicago's Very Own by 615 Music (which shares its name with a John Hegner-composed news theme that was used by WGN from 1993 to 1997). On July 19, 2008, WGN-TV became the third Chicago station to broadcast its newscasts in high definition (as of July 2010, WGN-TV is the first station in Chicago to broadcast all locally originated portions of its newscasts, including live field reports, in high definition; in contrast to the other major English-language news stations in Chicago who all broadcast in-studio segments in HD and some or all of their live field footage in 16:9 standard definition widescreen). WGN did not have an early evening newscast until September 2008, when it debuted a half-hour program at 5:30 p.m.; the midday newscast also expanded to 90 minutes with a half-hour added at 11:30 a.m. On October 5, 2009, the 5:30 p.m. newscast expanded to an hour-long program at 5 p.m. and the midday newscast expanded to two hours at 11 a.m.

On July 8, 2010, starting with a WGN-TV Major League Baseball game telecast between the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers, the station began airing live half-hour editions of the 9 p.m. newscast on CLTV on nights when WGN-TV telecasts a sports event scheduled to air on the station at 9 p.m. that is being held on the West Coast. This was done in order to attract non-sports viewers that normally watch the 9 p.m. newscast on channel 9 (an additional half-hour live newscast then airs following the game on WGN-TV, which is simulcast on WGN America, depending on the game's national clearance). On October 2, 2010, the station debuted hour-long newscasts at 6 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday mornings, becoming the second Tribune station to offer newscasts on weekend mornings (Indianapolis sister station WXIN debuted newscasts in that slot in August of that year).

Ratings

The station's 9 p.m. newscasts usually receive higher viewership than WFLD's competing newscast in that slot, despite the latter's Fox programming lead-in, and generally has a larger audience than the 10 p.m. newscast on CBS-owned WBBM-TV. Its morning newscast also draws in a sizeable number of viewers in the Chicago market, often coming in first place overall.^{[citation needed]}

In the November 2010 local Nielsen ratings, WGN's newscasts placed third overall among Chicago's television stations. WGN-TV's primetime programming also received a 3.3 lead-in rating to the 9 p.m. newscast for the period. For the February 2011 ratings, the 9 p.m. newscast placed fourth among the market's late evening newscasts, ahead of last-place finisher WFLD between the two station's primetime newscasts. However, WGN had the lowest primetime lead-in rating of all the area's news stations with only a 2.2 rating share.

News team

Current on-air staff

Anchors

• Jackie Bange - weekends at 9 p.m.
• Robert Jordan - weekends at 9 p.m.; also weekday reporter
• Mark Suppelsa - weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.

Weather team

In addition to providing weather forecasts for WGN-TV, the WGN Weathercenter Team also provides forecasts for the Chicago Tribune, WGN (720 kHz.) and CLTV.

• Tom Skilling (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weekday middays (11 a.m.–1 p.m.), and weeknights at 5 and 9 p.m.

Sports team

• Rich King - sports anchor; Fridays and Saturdays at 9 p.m., also Sunday-Thursday sports reporter

Reporters

• Nancy Loo - general assignment reporter
• Dean Richards - entertainment reporter and film critic

Former on-air staff

• Mike Barz - morning sports anchor (1998–2005, later at ABC's Good Morning America and WFLD, now at WAWS/WTEV-TV in Jacksonville)
• Bob Bell - original portrayer of Bozo the Clown (1960–1984, deceased)
• Thom Brennaman - Chicago Cubs play-by-play (early 1990s; now television voice of the Cincinnati Reds on Fox Sports Ohio and Fox with MLB and NFL telecasts)
• Jack Brickhouse - legendary sportscaster (1948–1982, deceased)
• Lorn Brown - Chicago Bulls play-by-play (1976–1978, deceased)
• Roy Brown - puppeteer/actor on Bozo's Circus and The Bozo Show (1955–1994, deceased)
• Cheryl Burton - host of MBR: The Minority Business Report (1989–1990, now at WLS-TV)
• Chip Caray - Chicago Cubs play-by-play (1998–2004; now with SportSouth)
• Harry Caray - Chicago Cubs play-by-play (1981–1997, deceased)
• Bob Collins - hosted WGN-TV specials (?–?, deceased)
• Bob Costas - Chicago Bulls play-by-play (1979–1980, now lead broadcaster with NBC Sports)
• Joey D'Auria - final actor to portray Bozo the Clown on The Bozo Show (1984–2001)
• Merri Dee - anchor/reporter/staff announcer/director of community relations (1972–2008)
• Phil Donahue - host of the syndicated talk show Donahue (1974–1982; won awards for best talk show host)
• John Drury - anchor (1967–1970 and 1979–1984, deceased)
• Jim Durham - Chicago Bulls play-by-play (1989–1991, later on ESPN, deceased)
• Milo Hamilton - Chicago Cubs play-by-play (1980–1984)
• Pat Harvey - anchor (1985–1989)
• Johnny "Red" Kerr - Chicago Bulls play-by-play (1977–1984 and 1989–2008, deceased)
• Wayne Larrivee - Chicago Bulls play-by-play (1991–2008, now radio play-by-play broadcaster for the Green Bay Packers and Big Ten Network)
• Roy Leonard - host of Family Classics (?–?)
• Vince Lloyd - Chicago Bulls, Cubs and White Sox play-by-play (?–?, deceased)
• Ned Locke - meteorologist and host on Bozo's Circus (1956–1976, deceased)
• Joe McConnell - Chicago White Sox play-by-play (1981–1985)
• Allison Payne - anchor/reporter/People to People host (1990–2011)
• Lloyd Pettit - Chicago Cubs and White Sox play-by-play (1960–1970, deceased)
• Jimmy Piersall - Chicago White Sox play-by-play (1981)
• Ray Rayner - host of Ray Rayner and His Friends/actor on Dick Tracy and Bozo's Circus (1961–1981, deceased)
• Randy Salerno - morning and noon anchor/reporter (1993–2004, later at WBBM-TV, deceased)
• Don Sandburg - actor on Bozo's Circus (?–?)
• John Schubeck - reporter (?–?, deceased)
• Keenan Smith - meteorologist (2003–2008; now at WXYZ-TV in Detroit)
• Wendell Smith - sports anchor/reporter (1964–1972, deceased)
• Chuck Swirsky - Chicago Bulls play-by-play (?–?; now Bulls radio play-by-play announcer)
• Jack Taylor - news anchor for several decades
• Roseanne Tellez - morning and noon anchor/reporter (1990–2004, now at WBBM-TV)
• Frazier Thomas - host of Garfield Goose and Friends and Family Classics/host on Bozo's Circus (1954–1979, deceased)
• Harry Volkman - meteorologist (1967–1978, later at WBBM-TV and WFLD)
• Jim Williams - government reporter (1977–1992, now at WBBM-TV)
• Bill Weir - morning news and sports anchor (1995–1998, later at Good Morning America Weekend Edition, now co-host of Nightline)

Sports programming

Main article: WGN Sports

Throughout its history, WGN-TV has had a long association with Chicago sports. Perhaps with the exception of the NFL's Chicago Bears, each of the city's major professional sports franchises, along with several area collegiate teams, have had its games regularly televised over channel 9. However, WGN has aired Bears telecasts that were scheduled for cable channels such as ESPN and NFL Network as part of an NFL rule requiring all local teams' games to be carried over-the-air in their respective markets. As of 2013, WGN-TV maintains broadcast rights to Chicago Bulls, Cubs, White Sox and Blackhawks games (with some local television rights shared with Comcast SportsNet Chicago); due to WGN's network affiliation contracts that limit the number of programming preemptions annually, some games produced by the station may instead air locally on WCIU-TV.

Other locally produced programming

In addition to its newscasts, WGN-TV also produces local public affairs and lifestyle-oriented programs; these include two bi-weekly Saturday morning public affairs programs that are simulcast nationally on WGN America: People to People (which covers community events and the past week's major local and national news events, and is hosted by weeknight 5 and 9 p.m. anchor Micah Materre) and Adelante, Chicago (focusing on Chicago's Hispanic community featuring topical discussions and feature segments; it is hosted by weeknight 5 p.m. anchor/reporter Lourdes Duarte); along with the weekly food and lifestyle program Chicago's Best (focusing on Chicago's cuisine, attractions and events and is hosted by Ted Brunson and Brittney Payton, the latter of whom is daughter to late Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton). In addition, the station broadcasts several local events including the Bud Billiken Parade, the McDonald's Thanksgiving Parade and the New Year's Day Mummers Parade.

WGN-TV is the originating station for the Illinois Lottery, whose twice daily drawings are held at the station's Bradley Place studios, airing during the noon and 9 p.m. newscasts. WGN America simulcasts these drawings (along with Mega Millions and Powerball), making Illinois the only state-run lottery in the United States whose drawings are broadcast nationally (due to sports events that are not cleared to air outside of Chicago which result in a newscast preemption, the lottery results are shown around 9:30 p.m. CT on the WGN America feed). WGN-TV lost the rights to the Illinois Lottery drawings to Fox-owned WFLD in 1987, and then reacquired the rights from CBS-owned WBBM-TV in 1994.

WGN-TV in Canada

Although WGN America continues to be distributed in certain parts of Canada, the Chicago area feed of WGN-TV is carried by most Canadian cable television providers and the Bell TV and Shaw Direct satellite services, typically as part of a la carte superstation packages. Bell TV has always carried the Chicago area feed, however, Shaw Direct and many cable providers in that country that previously carried WGN America began carrying WGN-TV/Chicago, due to the January 17, 2007 switch of the WGN feed that Shaw Broadcast Services (the primary supplier of the WGN superstation feed in Canada) distributed in that country from the superstation feed to the Chicago area signal. As a result of its carriage by Canadian cable and satellite providers, WGN-TV provides CW network programs to most areas of Canada that are located farther away from the U.S. border and therefore may be out of reach from the over-the-air signals of other CW-affiliated stations from American cities located near the Canadian border.

However, CW programs carried by WGN-TV may be subject to simultaneous substitution rules on Canadian pay television providers that carry the local Chicago feed. Some sports events that are broadcast on the station may also be subject to blackouts on certain providers. The carriage of the Chicago area feed has created some controversy since Shaw's switch from the superstation feed, after WGN-TV gained rights to carry Chicago Blackhawks games. Those games remain available in Canada, meaning Blackhawks games that air on Saturday evenings now directly compete against CBC Television's Hockey Night in Canada, whose telecasts are supposed to receive national exclusivity on that night of the week during the NHL season. Blackhawks games aired on WGN-TV are also periodically broadcast in Canada on some providers through the NHL Centre Ice sports package.

See also

• WGN America – The national superstation feed of WGN-TV.

External links

• WGNTV.com – Official Website
• WGN America
• Streaming video of CBS Evening News coverage of the Max Headroom pirate incident
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WGN-TV