chicago television station . for the am radio station see wgn am . for the cable channel that formerly served as the national feed of wgn tv see wgn america . not to be confused with its co owned television station in denver colorado kwgn tv ; its co owned television station in new orleans louisiana wgno ; its co managed television station in norfolk virginia wgnt ; or an unrelated television station in sandusky ohio wggn tv . wgn tv chicago illinois united states branding wgn general wgn news newscasts ; visually displayed as wgn 9 news wgn sports sports telecasts slogan chicago s very own station very chicago online channels digital 19 uhf virtual 9 psip subchannels 9.1 independent 9.2 antenna tv 9.3 this tv affiliations independent 1956 1995 2016 present antenna tv dt2 this tv dt3 owner tribune broadcasting wgn continental broadcasting company llc first air date april 5 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 04 05 call letters meaning world s greatest newspaper reference to former co owned newspaper the chicago tribune sister station s wgn am wgn america cltv former channel number s analog 9 vhf 1948 2009 former affiliations primary cbs 1948 1953 dumont 1948 1956 the wb 1995 2006 the cw 2006 2016 dt2 the tube 2006 2007 transmitter power 645 kw height 454 meters 1 490 ft facility id 72115 transmitter coordinates 41 52 44 n 87 38 10.2 w 41.87889 n 87.636167 w 41.87889 ; 87.636167 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website wgntv.com wgn tv virtual channel 9 uhf digital channel 19 is an independent television station located in chicago illinois united states . it is the flagship television property of the tribune broadcasting subsidiary of tribune media which also owns radio station wgn 720 am and local cable news channel chicagoland television cltv . wgn tv maintains studio facilities and offices located on west bradley place in chicago s north center neighborhood as such it is the only major commercial television station in chicago which maintains studio facilities located outside of the downtown business district and its transmitter is located atop the willis tower on south wacker drive in the chicago loop . wgn tv is also a pioneering superstation and formerly programmed an alternate feed for cable and satellite subscribers throughout the united states and select areas of canada . the former superstation feed wgn america was converted by tribune into a conventional basic cable network in december 2014 through the channel s removal of all wgn tv produced news sports and event programs and its concurrent addition to cable providers within the chicago market including comcast xfinity at & t u verse wow and rcn in addition to its existing local carriage on the directv and dish network satellite services . 1 2 3 4 however wgn tv regained national availability as the chicago area feed was included as part of the initial offerings of channel master s lineartv service which launched in the spring of 2015 . 5 wgn s longtime slogan chicago s very own which has been used by the station since it was introduced in 1983 was the basis for a popular image campaign of the 1980s and 1990s as performed by chicago native lou rawls . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 independence 1.3 national superstation 1.4 return to network affiliation 1.4.1 wb affiliation 1.4.2 cw affiliation 1.5 return to independence 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.1.1 wgn dt2 2.1.2 wgn dt3 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 local programming 4.1 news operation 4.1.1 national carriage on wgn america 4.2 ratings 4.3 news team 4.3.1 current on air staff 4.3.2 notable former on air staff 4.4 sports programming 4.5 other locally produced programming 5 wgn tv in canada 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit early years edit wgn television began test broadcasts in february 1948 and began regular programming on april 5 with a two hour special wgn tv salute to chicago at 7 45 p.m. that evening . it was founded by the chicago tribune whose slogan world s greatest newspaper was the basis for the call letters used by the television station and its radio sister . wgn tv originally held dual primary affiliations with cbs and the dumont television network sharing both networks with wbkb channel 4 . for its first 13 years on the air wgn tv had operated from the tribune tower at 435 north michigan avenue in downtown chicago . channel 9 lost its cbs affiliation as a sidebar to the february 1953 merger of abc and united paramount theatres ; at the time cbs had purchased the vhf channel 4 license in chicago now wbbm tv which later moved to channel 2 forcing phonevision off the air from united paramount theatres which absorbed wbkb s founding owners balaban and katz in 1949 after a u.s. supreme court order forced paramount pictures to divest its chain of movie theaters for 6.75 million as the newly merged entity could not keep both wbkb and abc owned and operated station wenr tv channel 7 now wls tv due to federal communications commission fcc regulations then enforced that forbade common ownership of two television stations that were licensed to the same market . following a two month cancellation clause all of the cbs programs that wgn tv had been airing were moved to the rechristened wbbm tv leaving channel 9 exclusively with dumont . wgn tv soon became one of dumont s strongest affiliates as well as a major production center for that network . several dumont programs were produced from the station s facilities including the al morgan show chicago symphony chicagoland mystery players music from chicago the music show they stand accused this is music windy city jamboree and down you go . wgn tv had also telecast performances of the chicago symphony orchestra beginning in 1953 when fritz reiner was the orchestra s music director . independence edit the station lost the dumont affiliation when the network ceased operations on august 6 1956 ; at that point wgn tv became an independent station . channel 9 then spent much of the next two decades as the top rated independent in chicago offering a variety of general entertainment programs including movies sports off network reruns and children s programs . for much of its existence wgn tv produced a large number of its own programs at its studios . a historic moment in chicago television occurred when sheldon cooper launched the all time hits a musical variety show that ran for 13 weeks and featured the buckinghams ; the program was broadcast in color . during the late 1950s the station was briefly affiliated with the nta film network . 6 in 1957 wgn tv became one of the first television stations in the chicago market to broadcast live programming in color . notable wgn tv productions during the 1960s through the 1980s included several incarnations of the immensely popular bozo s circus ray rayner and his friends garfield goose and friends which was hosted by frazier thomas who also hosted a popular family movie showcase on the station titled family classics the mulqueens 7 and the popular children s educational series the space explorers . wgn tv served as the chicago affiliate of the united network for its one month of existence in 1967 airing the las vegas show . from 1974 to 1982 phil donahue s syndicated daytime talk show donahue originated from the wgn tv studios . in 1975 the agriculture program u.s. farm report debuted in national syndication also originating from wgn tv s studios . in 1961 the wgn stations moved to studio facilities on west bradley place in the north center neighborhood a move undertaken for civil defense concerns in order to provide the station a safe location to broadcast in case of a hostile attack targeting downtown chicago . 8 wgn radio eventually moved back to north michigan avenue in the pioneer court extension in 1986 9 then back into tribune tower in october 2012 ; 10 the television station however remains at the bradley place facility to this day . in 1968 the federal communications commission fcc barred companies from owning newspapers and broadcast outlets in the same market ; the fcc granted the tribune company permission to grandfather its combination of the chicago tribune wgn tv and wgn radio through a cross ownership waiver . in 2014 tribune entered into a local marketing agreement with venture technologies group owners of wkqx lp a low power analog television station on vhf channel 6 which uses a quirk in the fm bandplan to broadcast an audio format on the radio over 87.7 fm ; this became a sports talk station that operated as a sister station to wgn radio . the station which changed its calls to wgwg lp was not covered under the fcc restrictions this issue became moot with the tribune s separation from the tribune company ; tribune s lma with wgwg lp now wrme lp ended on february 23 2015 when it was transferred to weigel broadcasting and converted into an oldies beautiful music format as a radio extension of the company s metv brand . national superstation edit wgn tv began to be distributed across the united states through cable television in october 1978 after tulsa oklahoma based united video satellite group uplinked the station s signal via satellite . 11 this signal was picked up by many fledgling cable television providers as well as directly to satellite dish owners turning wgn tv into one of the first superstations alongside new york city s wor tv now wwor tv and atlanta s wtbs now wpch tv . as wgn tv gained national exposure the station became vulnerable in the chicago area and underestimated the ability of uhf competitor wfld channel 32 now a fox owned and operated station to acquire top rated syndicated programs such as m a s h happy days and all in the family . as a result wfld edged ahead of wgn tv in the ratings by the end of 1979 . wgn tv continued with its programming format competing with wfld and another uhf independent station wsns tv channel 44 now a telemundo owned and operated station . wsns would leave the competition when it affiliated with the subscription television service ontv during the nighttime hours in 1980 becoming a full time affiliation in 1982 . on november 10 1984 wgn tv became an affiliate of the mgm ua premiere network a film based ad hoc television network with the showing of clash of the titans . 12 on may 19 1988 the fcc passed the syndication exclusivity rights rule or syndex requiring cable providers to black out syndicated programs shown on any out of market stations if a television station obtains the exclusive local rights to air a particular program . 13 14 15 when the law went into effect on january 1 1990 wgn tv launched a separate national feed supplied with alternate programming that no stations claimed exclusive rights to in any market along with sporting events newscasts and several shows airing on wgn tv that were also not subject to exclusivity claims . in september 1994 the station moved the bozo show from its longtime weekday morning slot to sunday mornings where it remained and was eventually reformatted to fit the fcc s educational programming guidelines until the program was controversially discontinued by station management in 2001 . 16 return to network affiliation edit wb affiliation edit on november 2 1993 the warner bros. television division of time warner and the tribune company announced the formation of the wb ; through its part ownership of the network tribune signed deals to affiliate the majority of the company s independent stations with the network . 17 18 even though its parent company would be a partner in