WGN-TV

===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>