WGN-TV

WGN is the name of a television station broadcasting from Chicago, Illinois on Channel 9. It is currently the Chicago affiliate of the Warner Brothers television network.

History

WGN-TV Television began test broadcasts in February of 1948 and began regular programing the following month.

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Early on, WGN-TV was affiliated with the DuMont Network and the CBS network. For much of its existence, WGN operated as a true independent station, producing much of its own programming at its local studios. Notable WGN-produced programs include several incarnations of Bozo's Circus, The Ray Rayner Show, and Garfield Goose. The station has also had a long association with the Chicago Cubs baseball team (currently also owned by the Tribune Company), and has often broadcast games of other Chicago sports teams.

Related Topics:
DuMont Network - CBS - Bozo's Circus - Ray Rayner - Garfield Goose - Chicago Cubs - Baseball

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The station began broadcasting via satellite in 1978. This signal was picked up by many fledgling pay-cable television systems as well as directly by satellite dish owners. This continent-wide exposure elevated WGN to superstation status. Along with WWOR-TV in New York and WTBS-TV in Atlanta, WGN was among the first local stations to become a superstation.

Related Topics:
Satellite - 1978 - Superstation - WWOR-TV - WTBS

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For years, WGN-TV was a traditional independent station. Until 1979, WGN-TV was consistantly the top rated independent station in Chicago. At that time, the station offered old movies, sports, off-network sitcoms, cartoons, and drama shows. For a while, Phil Donahue was carried on WGN TV. Also, WGN-TV ran Bozo the Clown which was locally produced from the 1950's through 1994.

Related Topics:
Independent station - 1979 - Chicago - Movies - Sports - Sitcoms - Cartoons - Drama shows - Phil Donahue - Bozo the Clown - 1994

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In 1978, the station became vulnerable and underestimated WFLD's ability to buy top rate shows. As a result, WFLD won bids for shows like M*A*S*H, Happy Days, All In The Family. As a result, WFLD beat WGN-TV in the ratings by the end of 1979. WGN-TV continued with their format, acquiring top rate programming and competing with WFLD even after 2 and 3 additional independent stations signed on.

Related Topics:
1978 - WFLD - M*A*S*H - Happy Days - All In The Family - 1979 - Independent stations

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In the 1990s, WGN-TV added a few syndicated talk shows. In 1994, the afternoon cartoons, morning cartoons, and Bozo were dropped. Bozo remained on Sunday mornings until 2001. A morning newscast was added in place of the morning children's programming.

Related Topics:
1990s - 1994 - 2001 - Newscast

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In 1990, due to SyndEx rules, WGN-TV's national feed began running alternate programming about half the time. It was a similar situation to WWOR-TV in New York City and the national WOR EMI Service.

Related Topics:
1990 - SyndEx - WWOR-TV - New York City - WOR EMI Service

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In 1995, WGN-TV aired the Prime Time WB Network programming locally but the Kids' WB aired on WCIU-TV, which had dropped the Spanish format earlier in the year for a general entertainment independent schedule. Nationally, WGN-TV aired the prime time WB Network programming along with the Kids WB programming.

Related Topics:
1995 - WCIU-TV - Independent

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In 1998, the WGN-TV national feed stopped carrying WB Network and Kids WB programming. Locally, WB Network programming remained on WGN-TV and Kids WB remained on WCIU-TV. In 2003, WCIU-TV dropped the Kids WB programming, so it was moved to the local WGN-TV.

Related Topics:
1998 - WB Network - Kids WB - WCIU-TV - 2003

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Today, WGN-TV offers its programming across North America on a superstation feed, without the WB Network programming. The station is available via satellite to DirecTV and Dish Network in the United States, to Star Choice and Bell ExpressVu in Canada (with ExpressVu showing the local Chicago feed), and to cable television subscribers in both countries.

Related Topics:
North America - DirecTV - Dish Network - United States - Star Choice - Bell ExpressVu - Canada - Cable

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WGN-TV locally carries WB Network Prime Time programming, cartoons from Kids' WB, recent off-network sitcoms, first-run talk shows and court shows, game shows, local newscasts, etc. WGN's national feed carries less local newscasts (but still airs the 1 PM/Noon Newscast and 10/9 PM News). The national feed carries more sitcoms, and drama shows, and movies.

Related Topics:
Sitcoms - Talk show - Game shows - Newscast - Sitcoms - Drama shows - Movies

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Both the local and national feeds feature Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox MLB games and Chicago Bulls NBA games.

Related Topics:
Chicago Cubs - Chicago White Sox - MLB - Chicago Bulls - NBA

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Hijack

On November 22, 1987, during the 9 O'Clock News sportscast, WGN's broadcast signal was hijacked by an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom mask for approximately 25 seconds. This was only the first incident of that night involving the interruption of a television station's broadcast signal; approximately two hours later, Chicago PBS station WTTW-TV Channel 11 had its broadcast interrupted by the same person. WGN's transmitter is atop the John Hancock building and engineers were almost immediately able to thwart the video hacker by changing the Studio To Transmitter frequency, thus cutting the hacker off. Unfortunately for WTTW, its transmitter is atop the Sears Tower and it was unable to stop the hacker before enduring almost two minutes of the hacker's interruption.

Related Topics:
November 22 - 1987 - Max Headroom - PBS - WTTW-TV Channel 11 - John Hancock building - Sears Tower

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