WGN-TV
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 [1], WGN-TV will remain on its current pre-transition channel number, 19. [2] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WGN-TV's virtual channel as 9.
Later in 2008, WGN-TV is expected to add LATV as a subchannel to its digital broadcast, as part of a deal between three Tribune Broadcasting stations (KDAF in Dallas and WPIX in New York City being the other two) and LATV. [3]
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Sports programming
Throughout its history, WGN-TV has had a long association with Chicago sports. Perhaps with the exception of the NFL's Chicago Bears, each of the city's major professional sports franchises, along with several area collegiate teams, have had its games televised over channel 9.
The station's relationship with the Chicago Cubs goes back to its inception in 1948, and was further cemented in 1981 when the Tribune Company purchased the National League franchise. At the same time, channel 9 was also broadcasting games of Chicago's American League team, the White Sox. Jack Brickhouse, the longtime sports director (and later vice president of sports programming) for the WGN stations, handled home game play-by-play duties for both teams until 1967, when the White Sox ended their first stint on WGN-TV, and continued to call Cubs games until his retirement from broadcasting in 1981. With both teams, Brickhouse called over 5,000 baseball games during his career, sharing the booth with announcers such as Milo Hamilton, Lou Boudreau, Vince Lloyd, and Lloyd Pettit.
The White Sox returned to WGN-TV for one season in 1981, during which Harry Caray was introduced into the WGN family. The following year, Caray was recruited from the South Side to replace Brickhouse as the Cubs' lead TV voice. For the next 16 years, primarily working with analyst Steve Stone, Caray further established his place among Chicago's most-beloved personalities. Like Brickhouse, Caray was known for displaying an unapologetic, home team-oriented enthusiasm to his game calls, punctuated with memorable signature catchphrases for big plays (such as Caray's "Holy Cow!" and Brickhouse's "Hey-hey!"). Caray also brought his unique rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" during the seventh-inning stretch to the channel 9 broadcast booth. With WGN-TV's prominence as a national superstation in the 1980s and '90s, Caray's fan base -- and that of the Cubs -- grew beyond Chicago and the Midwest.
After moving their games to WFLD-TV in 1982 for an eight-year-long run, the White Sox came back to WGN-TV in 1990 when co-owner Jerry Reinsdorf agreed to long-term deals with the station for both the Sox and his NBA franchise, the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls returned to WGN-TV at the start of the 1989-90 season, just in time for the Bulls' dominance of the NBA during the Michael Jordan era. The team had been on channel 9 previously from their inception in 1966 until 1985; Jack Brickhouse, Milo Hamilton, and a young Bob Costas were among those assigned to work as Bulls play-by-play announcers.
The NHL's Chicago Blackhawks were carried by the station from 1961 until 1975. WGN-TV's broadcasts were limited to away games only, as Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz had long prohibited televised coverage of his team's home games. Following Bill Wirtz' death in September 2007, his son and successor Rocky Wirtz ended the home TV blackout, and announced on April 1, 2008 that channel 9 would become the Blackhawks' new broadcast home. The station will air 20 games per season through a three-year contract starting with the 2008-2009 campaign. ([1])
In November 1999, WGN-TV and WCIU-TV entered into a programming arrangement involving sports coverage. Selected Bulls and White Sox games, and a handful of Cubs games, produced by and contracted to air on WGN-TV are broadcast on WCIU-TV for the Chicago market only. This is due to network affiliation contracts limiting the number of programming preemptions per year [4], and also due to rights restrictions put in place by the NBA which limit the WGN America feed to fifteen Bulls games per season [5]. The remaining Bulls games produced by WGN-TV are split between the station's Chicago area signal and WCIU-TV. Blackhawks games on channel 9 will be exclusive to the Chicago market. All games airing on WGN-TV are (and will be, in the case of hockey) produced in high definition.
Along with its coverage of professional teams, WGN-TV formerly broadcast football and basketball games of Chicago area college teams, such as Northwestern University, DePaul University, Loyola University, and other teams of the Big Ten Conference.
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Current personalities
- Anchors
- Jackie Bange - Weekend co-anchor
- Robin Baumgarten - WGN Morning News
- Robert Jordan - Weekend co-anchor
- Micah Materre - Weekdays Noon
- Tom Negovan - Weekdays Noon
- Allison Payne - Weeknight co-anchor
- Larry Potash - WGN Morning News
- Steve Sanders - Weeknight co-anchor
- Weather
- Paul Konrad - WGN Morning News
- Tim McGill - Staff Meteorologist (also seen on CLTV)
- Jim Ramsey - Weekends (also seen on CLTV)
- Tom Skilling - Chief Meteorologist/Weekdays Noon and 9:00 p.m.
- Sports
- Rich King - Weekends (Friday-Saturday)
- Dan Roan - Sports Director/Weeknights (Monday-Thursday) and "Instant Replay" on Sunday
- Pat Tomasulo - WGN Morning News
- Dave Eanet - Fill in Sports Anchor
- Reporters
- Antwan Lewis
- Dina Bair (medical)- Fill-in anchor
- Ana Belaval
- Jane Boal
- Muriel Clair
- Julian Crews
- Lourdes Duarte
- Judie Garcia
- Holly Gregory
- Marcella Raymond
- Dean Richards (Entertainment & In-House Announcer)
- Julie Unruh
- Valerie Warner- Also Traffic
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Notable alumni
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Logos
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| c. mid 1950s | c. mid 1960s-1970s | 1967 - 1977 | c. mid 1970s-1980s |
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| 1977 - 1981 | 1981 - 1983 | 1983 - 1988 | 1988 - 1993 |
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| 1993 - 1995 | 1995 - 2003 | 2003 - 2006 | 2006 - present |
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See also
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External links
- WGN-TV Website
- WGN America
- Streaming video of CBS Evening News coverage of the Max Headroom pirate incident
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WGN-TV
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References
- ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
- ^ http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101231326&formid=387&fac_num=72115
- ^ LATV, Tribune Ink Affiliate Deal.
- ^ Confirmed by WGN-TV "WGN-TV Contact Page". Accessed June 8, 2007.
- ^ Chicago Professional Sports L.P. & WGN Continental Broadcasting Co. vs. National Basketball Association. 961 Fed. 2d 667 (7th Cir. 1992)
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