WGN-TV

==History==
===Early years (1948–1956)===
The [[Tribune Publishing|Chicago Tribune Company]], headed by ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' editor and publisher [[Robert R. McCormick]] and the owner of [[WGN (AM)|WGN]] and WGNB<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGNB is Offering Time on a Commercial Basis |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=82 |date=December 30, 1946}}{{Dead link |date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>{{Efn|Even though WGNB operated on {{frequency|98.7|FM}}, the same frequency that [[WFMT]] currently does (and which Tribune later purchased in the 1960s), there is no continuity between the two stations.}} submitted an application to the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) on September 13, 1946, and under the "WGN Incorporated" [[subsidiary]], 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", a tagline and slogan used by the ''Tribune'' since 1909.<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 on April 5, 1948, at 7:45&nbsp;p.m. 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> Originating 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 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> At the time it signed on, there were only 1,700 operational television sets in Chicago; that number would jump dramatically to around 100,000 sets by April 1949.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV; 100,000 Saw Inaugural, 'Tribune' Estimates |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=35 |date=April 12, 1948}}</ref>

WGN-TV was the second commercial television station in both Chicago and Illinois to sign on, as [[WBBM-TV|WBKB (channel 4)]] launched on September 6, 1946, but had operated on an experimental basis since 1940 as W9XBK. Two other stations joined WBKB and WGN-TV later in 1948: [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s [[WLS-TV|WENR-TV (channel 7)]] on September 17 and [[NBC]]'s [[WMAQ-TV|WNBQ (channel 5)]] on October 8. The ''Tribune'' quickly followed up WGN-TV's launch with [[WPIX]] in [[New York City]] on June 15, 1948. Initially, WGN television and radio operated from the [[Chicago Daily News Building]] on West Madison and North Canal Streets, occupying space previously used by [[WSCR|WMAQ]] radio from 1929 until relocating to the [[Merchandise Mart]] in 1935; WGN-TV also based its {{convert|586|ft|m|0|adj=on}} transmission tower atop the building. Originally broadcasting for {{frac|6|1|2}} hours per day from 2 to 6&nbsp;p.m. and from 7:30 to 10&nbsp;p.m. seven days a week, Channel 9 started out as an independent station, then began carrying programming from [[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] on September 26, 1948,<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN-TV Contracts For DuMont Video |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=27 |date=August 30, 1948}}</ref> and also [[CBS]] on December 1.<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=57 |date=November 15, 1948}}</ref>

On January 11, 1949, WGN-TV—along with WNBQ and WENR-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 such, WGN began dropping many CBS shows from its schedule but continued to carry certain network programs that channel 4 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 that network's strongest affiliates, as well as one of its major production centers. Several DuMont programs were produced from the station's facilities during the late 1940s and the first half of the 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> WGN-TV had also telecast performances of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, beginning in 1953, during [[Fritz Reiner]]'s tenure as the orchestra's [[music director]].

On January 25, 1950, the WGN stations relocated their operations 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 that could 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><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Atom Bomb Shelter |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=34 |date=October 20, 1947}}</ref> As part of [[United Paramount Theatres]] (UPT)'s merger with ABC, on February 6, 1953, 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 (which subsequently assumed the WBKB call letters and management staff that previously belonged to channel 4), in compliance with FCC regulations that then forbade [[duopoly (broadcasting)|common ownership of two television stations]] within the same market. As a consequence of the deal, CBS moved the remainder of its programming to the rechristened [[WBBM-TV]] on April 1; this left Channel 9 exclusively affiliated with the faltering DuMont. (WBBM would move from VHF channel 4 to VHF channel 2 on July 5, 1953, in accordance with allocation realignments dictated by the FCC-issued ''Sixth Report and Order''.)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Zenith May Go to Court On Sale of WBKB (TV) to CBS |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=30 |date=February 16, 1953}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=Zenith May Go to Court On Sale of WBKB (TV) to CBS |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=33 |date=February 16, 1953}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Paramount; radio, video interests definitely split |periodical=Broadcasting-Telecasting |page=66 |date=March 7, 1949}}</ref> By 1954, WGN-TV expanded its broadcast schedule to 18 hours per day (running from 6&nbsp;a.m. to midnight).

After McCormick succumbed from [[pneumonia]]-related complications on April 1, 1955, ownership of WGN-TV-AM, the ''Chicago Tribune'' and the News Syndicate Company properties would transfer 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, amid various issues stemming from its relations with Paramount Pictures that hamstrung DuMont from expansion.<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 up through the early 1990s, 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 and as the market's leading independent for much of the next 39 years. After initial struggles due to its carriage of programs that could not accrue viewership sufficient to attract national advertisers, WGN began turning profitable 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]] on East Randolph Street and Michigan Avenue, and increased its [[effective radiated power]] from 120&nbsp;kW to the maximum of 316&nbsp;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 would 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. (The remaining, limited number of NTA shows not carried by WGN were split between ABC-owned WBKB-TV and NBC-owned WNBQ.) 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—which had ordered RCA color television equipment in the fall of 1952—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 (after WNBQ, which began televising programs in the format in January 1954) to begin transmitting local programming in color; along with other color telecasting upgrades to its production and master control facilities, WGN was also the first television station in the world to use equipment (provided by [[Ampex]]) 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 (which WGN picked up in 1957, following its cancellation by WNBQ).<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 short-lived children's program ''The Blue Fairy'' (which was hosted by [[Brigid Bazlen]] in the title role, and, along with ''Garfield Goose and Friends'', was one of the first two children's programs produced by the station to be broadcast in color).<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 (later renamed the WGN Continental Broadcast Center and now simply referred to as WGN Studios), a two-story, {{convert|95,000|sqft|m2|0|adj=on}} complex on West Bradley Place 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—and with [[civil defense]] concerns in mind to provide a safe location to conduct broadcasts in the event of a hostile attack (such as a bombing by a nuclear weapon) 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]]'' (retitled ''Chicago Today'' in 1969), where the newspaper maintained office and publishing operations until it ceased publication in 1974; the space is {{as of|2019|alt=currently}} occupied by a [[Dylan's Candy Bar]] location.<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]] |date=December 1, 1961 |access-date=March 20, 2019}}</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=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1985-03-06/business/8501130004_1_chicago-tribune-12th-floors-wgn-radio |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]], a tie forged in January 1966, when the subsidiary (sans the WPIX television and radio stations, which continued to be controlled by the Tribune-managed News Syndicate Co. before being fully integrated into the company's main station group following its 1991 sale of the ''Daily News'') was renamed the WGN Continental Broadcasting Company. In 1964, the company started Mid-America Video Tape Productions, which had eventually become WGN Continental Productions (later Tribune Entertainment).<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. The company gained its third television and second radio station in 1960, when it purchased KDAL-TV (now [[KDLH]]) and [[KDAL (AM)|KDAL]] in [[Duluth, Minnesota]] from the estate of the late Dalton LeMasurier (Tribune sold KDAL-TV in 1978 and KDAL radio in 1981); the company would later purchase KCTO (subsequently re-called [[KWGN-TV]]) in [[Denver]] from [[J. Elroy McCaw]] in 1966.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Changing hands |periodical=Broadcasting |page=54 |date=August 22, 1960}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=WGN Inc. buying VHF in Denver |periodical=Broadcasting |page=57 |date=September 6, 1965}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=KWGN(TV) starts with a bang |periodical=Broadcasting |page=58 |date=March 14, 1966}}</ref> Tribune's later television purchases included those of WANX-TV (subsequently re-called WGNX, now [[WANF]]) in [[Atlanta]] (in 1983);<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Changing hands |periodical=Broadcasting |page=52 |date=August 1, 1983}}</ref> [[KTLA]] in [[Los Angeles]] (in 1985);<ref>{{cite magazine |title=$510 million's the mark to beat now |periodical=Broadcasting |page=37 |date=May 20, 1985}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=$510 million's the mark to beat now |periodical=Broadcasting |page=38 |date=May 20, 1985}}</ref> [[WPHL-TV]] in [[Philadelphia]] (in 1992);<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Changing hands |periodical=Broadcasting |page=73 |date=November 18, 1991}}</ref> [[WLVI-TV]] in [[Boston]] (owned from 1994 to 2006);<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Shoring up for the fifth |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=43 |date=November 8, 1993}}</ref> KHTV (now [[KIAH]]) in [[Houston]] (in 1995);<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tribune buys Houston U for WB |author=Elizabeth Rathbun |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=16 |date=September 18, 1995}}</ref> KTTY (now [[KSWB-TV]]) in [[San Diego]] (in 1996);<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tribune's $70.5 million takes San Diego UHF |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=7 |date=September 4, 1995}}</ref> [[KCPQ]] and KTWB-TV (now [[KZJO]]) in [[Seattle]] (in 1998 and 1999, respectively);<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Changing Hands |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=54 |date=September 28, 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Duopoly: Wheeling starts; dealing to come |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=8 |date=August 16, 1999}}</ref> and WBDC-TV (now [[WDCW]]) in [[Washington, D.C.]] (in 1999).<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Duopoly: New rules spark CBS-Viacom talk |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=8 |date=August 23, 1999}}</ref> Six other stations—including [[KDAF]] in [[Dallas]]–[[Fort Worth]] and WDZL (now [[WSFL-TV]]) in [[Miami]]—were added through its purchase of [[Renaissance Broadcasting]] in July 1996, and two more were added through its November 1999 acquisition of the [[Quincy Jones]]- and Tribune-owned consortium Qwest Broadcasting (forcing the sale of WGNX to the [[Meredith Corporation]] in order to acquire Qwest's Atlanta property, [[WATL]]).<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tribune's Renaissance |author=Elizabeth A. Rathbun |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=58 |date=July 8, 1996}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=Tribune's Renaissance |author=Elizabeth A. Rathbun |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=58 |date=July 8, 1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Get big or get out |author=[[John M. Higgins]] |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=10 |date=August 31, 1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Tribune locks up New Orleans duopoly |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable |page=4 |date=November 15, 1999}}</ref> Finally in December 2013, Tribune purchased [[Local TV LLC|Local TV]]'s 19 television stations, giving WGN new [[sister station]]s in nearby markets—ABC affiliate [[WQAD-TV]] in [[Davenport, Iowa]] (serving the [[Quad Cities]] region that encompasses parts of northwestern [[Illinois]] and southeastern [[Iowa]]) and [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate [[WITI (TV)|WITI]] in [[Milwaukee]]—all three of which had pooled their local news reports as part of an existing content and broadcast management agreement formed between Local TV and Tribune in 2008.{{efn|Before adding Local TV's nine ABC-, NBC- and CBS-affiliated stations through that purchase, Tribune's television properties had historically consisted mainly of independent stations or, from 1995 onward, affiliates of networks that debuted after 1986 [Fox, The WB, The CW and MyNetworkTV].<ref>{{cite press release |title=Tribune Closes Acquisition of Local TV Holdings |url=http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=6470 |publisher=[[Tribune Company]] |date=December 27, 2013 |access-date=December 28, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228101139/http://corporate.tribune.com/pressroom/?p=6470 |archive-date=December 28, 2013}}</ref>}}

WGN-TV was Chicago's leading independent station during the 1960s and into the 1970s, even as it gained its first four competitors on [[UHF]], one of which would not last more than a year. Locally based [[Weigel Broadcasting]] signed on [[WCIU-TV]] (channel 26) on February 6, 1964, with a [[multiculturalism|multi-ethnic]] programming format.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Sears places big order on Chicago's UHF TV |periodical=Broadcasting |page=32 |date=February 10, 1964}}<br />{{cite magazine |title=Sears places big order on Chicago's UHF TV |periodical=Broadcasting |page=34 |date=February 10, 1964}}</ref> On January 4, 1966, New Television Chicago—a joint venture between [[Field Communications]] (which, through parent [[Field Enterprises]], was a sister property to the ''Tribune''{{'}}s main newspaper rivals, the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' and the ''[[Chicago Daily News]]'', at the time) and local advertising firm Froelich & Friedland—signed on [[WFLD]] (channel 32, now a Fox owned-and-operated station), which would grow to become WGN's strongest independent competitor in the area.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=WFLD (TV) takes to the air |periodical=Broadcasting |page=48 |date=January 10, 1966}}{{Dead link |date=July 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref> On May 18, 1969, [[Aurora, Illinois|Aurora]]-based WLXT-TV (channel 60) signed on with a mix of sporting events and a limited schedule of syndicated programs and local newscasts, operating part-time on weekday evenings and on weekends. (WLXT would cease operations on July 17, 1970.)<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Chicago area U goes into operation |periodical=Broadcasting |page=54 |date=May 19, 1969}}</ref> A fourth competitor arrived on April 5, 1970, when [[Cineplex Odeon Corporation|Essaness Television Corporation]] signed on [[WSNS-TV]] (channel 44, now a [[Telemundo]] owned-and-operated station).<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Chicago UHF premiers in April |periodical=Broadcasting |page=68 |date=February 16, 1970}}</ref> WFLD and WSNS went head to head for supremacy as Chicago's second strongest independent station, and were the only independents in the market besides WGN that were able to turn a reasonable profit; in contrast, WCIU and all of the other competitors that came afterward lagged behind in terms of both ratings and revenue. (WSNS would bow out of the competition in 1982, when, after two years of carrying the [[pay television|over-the-air subscription service]] only at night on weekdays and for most of the daytime and evening hours on weekends, it converted into a full-time outlet of [[ONTV (pay TV)|ONTV]].) WGN-TV served as the Chicago affiliate of the [[United Network]] for its one month of existence from May to June 1967, when financial issues forced the shuttering of the fledgling network.<ref>{{cite magazine |title=New blood in Overmyer? |periodical=Broadcasting |page=5 |date=March 6, 1967}}</ref>

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]] on North Michigan Avenue. 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, which was launched in 1976 as a consortium founded by [[Al Masini]] and a committee of executives with 18 independent stations (including WGN-TV, which was represented by then-station manager and WGN Continental Broadcasting Vice President Sheldon Cooper) represented by Masini's advertising sales firm TeleRep, offering a mix of [[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]]'', all of which aired on Channel 9 during the 1980s and early 1990s).<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 integral 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&nbsp;p.m., replacing syndicated dramas that had been airing in the timeslot. (The prime time films were pushed to 7&nbsp;p.m. in March 1980, in accordance with the shift of its late-evening newscast into prime time). By January 1980, when WGN became the market's second television station to offer a 24-hour schedule (after WBBM-TV, which adopted such a schedule in 1976), the station began to regularly feature an overnight presentation of older black-and-white and some more recent theatrical and made-for-TV movies at 1&nbsp;a.m. (later 3&nbsp;a.m. by September 1983), along with a few recent first-run syndicated and older off-network 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 would grow 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 would later uplink 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 would later elevate to President of Tribune Broadcasting, and later to Executive Vice President and then 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 would gain 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|160px|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 the station holds the trademark rights and {{as of|2019|alt=continues to be used}} by WGN—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 [[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 would evolve 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 [[Chicago Bears]] and the [[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". (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}}</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=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1988-05-19/business/8803180484_1_fcc-chairman-dennis-patrick-exclusivity-rules-superstations |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://articles.latimes.com/1988-05-18/news/mn-2996_1_exclusive-rights |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 in the early 1990s, 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 would decrease 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 features 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=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-02-05/news/0902040878_1_cltv-gary-weitman-newsroom |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:WGN-TV logo 1993.png|210px|thumb|right|Former logo, used from May 3, 1993, to November 10, 2002; as a network affiliate, The WB's logo was placed next to the "9" (which is mirrored as the "G" in the call sign bar).]]
On November 2, 1993, [[WarnerMedia|Time Warner]] and Tribune (which would acquire 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, would become 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]] would later purchase and convert 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://articles.latimes.com/1993-12-04/business/fi-63860_1_time-warner |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=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-12-03/entertainment/9512030370_1_zoom-captain-midnight-planet |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=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-02-19/features/9502190262_1_children-s-programming-wciu-toon-time |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.

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.

===CW affiliation; split of the local and national signals (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.
[[Image:WGN9 Chicago (2002-2017).svg|210px|thumb|Former logo, used from November 11, 2002, to May 15, 2017; as a network affiliate, the logos of The WB and The CW, respectively, appeared next to the boxed "9" (which was originally rendered in blue until 2016).]]
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 would focus 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 would regain 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–present)===
On May 23, 2016, after a year of protracted negotiations pertaining to financial terms (including the share of reverse compensation that Tribune would pay 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 as The CW had embargoed providing programs on Sundays 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"/> The final CW program to air on WGN-TV was ''[[Whose Line Is It Anyway? (U.S. TV series)|Whose Line Is It Anyway?]]'' at 8:30&nbsp;p.m. Central Time on August 31, 2016, leading into that night's edition of ''WGN News at Nine''. 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 with that day's airing of ''[[The Bill Cunningham Show]]'', 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 would eventually move 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>