WGN-TV

===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.