Gary Everhardt and WGN-TV: Difference between pages

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Difference between pages)
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
 
 
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Infobox_Broadcast |
[[Image:Dir09 Everhardt.jpg‎|thumb|300 px|right]]Gary Everhardt began his NPS career as an engineer in 1957 and rose to the superintendency of Grand Teton National Park in 1972. Favorable notice there propelled him to the directorship in January 1975. As director he oversaw a great increase in park development and interpretive programming for the bicentennial of the American Revolution. The return of an NPS careerist to the job was much applauded by park employees and supporters, but Everhardt's leadership fell short of expectations, and the new Carter administration returned him to the field as Blue Ridge Parkway's superintendent in May 1977.
call_letters = WGN-TV|
station_logo = [[Image:Wgncwlogo.PNG|200px]]|
station_branding = WGN Chicago's CW <small>(general)</small><br>WGN News <small>(newscasts)</small><br>WGN Sports <small>(sports telecasts)</small>|
station_slogan = Chicago's Very Own|
analog = 9 ([[very high frequency|VHF]])|
digital = 19 ([[ultra high frequency|UHF]])|
subchannels = [[WGN-TV#Digital television|(see article)]]|
affiliations = [[The CW Television Network|The CW]]<br>[[LATV]] (DT2)|
founded = |
airdate = [[April 5]], [[1948]]|
location = [[Chicago, Illinois]]|
callsign_meaning = '''W'''orld's<br>'''G'''reatest<br>'''N'''ewspaper<br>(referring to the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'')|
owner = [[Tribune Company]]|
licensee = WGN Continental Broadcasting Company|
sister_stations = [[WGN (AM)]]<br>[[WGN America]]<br>[[Chicagoland Television|CLTV]]|
former_affiliations = [[CBS]] (1948-1953)<br>[[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] (1948-1956)<br>[[Independent station (North America)|Independent]] (1956-1995)<br>[[The WB Television Network|The WB]] (1995-2006)|
effective_radiated_power = 110 [[kilowatt|kW]] (analog)<br>645 kW (digital)|
HAAT = 415 [[metre|m]] (analog)<br>453 m (digital)|
facility_id = 72115|
coordinates = {{coord|41|53|55.7|N|87|37|23.9|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}} (analog)<br>
{{coord|41|52|44|N|87|38|10.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}} (digital)|
homepage = [http://wgntv.com/ wgntv.com]|
}}
'''WGN-TV''', channel 9, is a [[television station]] in [[Chicago, Illinois]]. It has been owned by the [[Tribune Company]] since its inception, and is an affiliate of [[The CW Television Network]]. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located in the [[North Center, Chicago|North Center]] neighborhood of Chicago, and the station transmits its analog signal from the [[John Hancock Center]] and digital signal from the [[Sears Tower]].


WGN Television is one of several flagship properties owned by the Tribune Company, which also operates radio station [[WGN (AM)|WGN]] (720 kHz.) and publishes the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'', whose slogan ("'''W'''orld's '''G'''reatest '''N'''ewspaper") was the basis for the [[call sign|call letters]] used by both stations. The Tribune Company also operates Chicago area cable news channel [[Chicagoland Television|Chicagoland Television (CLTV)]], which shares resources from both WGN-TV and the ''Chicago Tribune''.
The ninth Director was born (1921-present) in Lenoir, N.C., took a civil engineering degree at North Carolina State, served as an Army officer, and became a NPS engineer. As Director (1975-77), he led NPS through the implementation of the Bicentennial observance. NPS conduced activities at 250 sites coast-to-coast. Everhardt pushed wilderness designation and hailed a Presidential proposal for a $1.5 billion Bicentennial Land Heritage Program.


WGN-TV is also a pioneering [[superstation]], and continues to program an alternate feed for cable and satellite subscribers throughout the United States and Canada, known as '''''[[WGN America]]''''' (formerly '''''Superstation WGN'''''). Its longtime slogan, "Chicago's Very Own", was the basis for a popular image campaign of the 1980s and 1990s, as performed by [[Lou Rawls]].
During his Directorship, a policy council was created, which produced management objectives for the Service. Other first were the first national symposium on urban recreation; the first national conference on scientific research; the first Native crafts sales program in parks; and the first international park publications, PARKS.<ref>65th Anniversary, National park Service, August 25, 1981; </ref><ref>http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/hisnps/NPSHistory/direct.htm</ref>


==Further Reading==
== History ==
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.
*Rettie, Dwight F.; Our National Park System; University of Illinois Press; Urbana, Illinois; 1995

*The National Parks: Shaping The System; National Park Service, Washington D.C. 1991.
Early on, WGN-TV was affiliated with the [[CBS]] and [[DuMont Television Network|DuMont]] networks, sharing both with WBKB (channel 4). As a sidebar to the [[1953#February|February 1953]] merger of [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] and [[United Paramount Theatres]], channel 9 lost its CBS affiliation. CBS had purchased the license to operate channel 4 in Chicago (now [[WBBM-TV]], which later moved to channel 2), and moved all of its programming there, leaving channel 9 with DuMont. When DuMont ceased operations in [[1956]], WGN-TV became an [[Independent station (North America)|independent station]].
==See Also==

*[[National Park Service]]
After becoming a full-time independent, WGN-TV spent much of the next two decades as the top-rated independent station in Chicago, offering a variety of general-entertainment programs including movies, sports, off-network reruns, and children's shows. For much of its existence, channel 9 produced a large amount of its own programming at its own studios. Notable WGN-TV productions included several incarnations of the immensely popular ''[[Bozo the Clown|Bozo's Circus]]'', ''[[Ray Rayner]] and His Friends'', and ''[[Garfield Goose and Friends]]'' (which was hosted by [[Frazier Thomas]]). WGN-TV also telecasted performances of the [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]], beginning in 1953, when [[Fritz Reiner]] was the orchestra's music director. From 1974 until 1982, [[Phil Donahue]]'s syndicated talk program originated from WGN-TV.
*[[Ronald H. Walker]] - 8th Director

*[[William J. Whalen]] - 10th Director
The station began broadcasting via [[satellite]] in 1978. This signal was picked up by many fledgling pay-cable television systems, as well as directly by [[satellite dish]] owners. This continent-wide exposure elevated WGN-TV to [[superstation]] status. Along with WOR-TV (now [[WWOR-TV]]) in [[New York City]] and [[TBS (TV network)|WTBS]] (now [[WPCH-TV]]) in [[Atlanta]], WGN-TV was among the first local stations to become a superstation.

But as WGN-TV gained national exposure, the station became vulnerable in the Chicago area and underestimated [[WFLD-TV]]'s ability to buy top-rate shows like ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'', ''[[Happy Days]]'' and ''[[All in the Family]]''. As a result, WFLD (channel 32) finished ahead of WGN-TV in the ratings by the end of [[1979]]. WGN-TV continued with its format, acquiring top-rate programming and competing with WFLD even after additional independent stations signed on.

In [[1990]], due to [[syndication exclusivity]] rules, WGN-TV launched a separate national feed with alternate programming about half the time. It was a similar situation at WWOR-TV and the national "WWOR-EMI Service".

In [[1994]] weekday morning children's programming was replaced by ''[[WGN Morning News]]''. This was eventually dropped by the national feed because certain segments of the newscast are not allowed to air outside the Chicago area under SyndEx rules. The national feed still airs the station's other newscasts. Also in 1994, the ''The Bozo Show'' was moved from weekday mornings to Sunday mornings until 2001, when the program was controversially discontinued by station management.

In [[1995]] WGN-TV became a network affiliate once again, this time with the newly-launched [[WB Television Network]], which was operated by the [[Warner Bros. Television]] division of [[Time Warner]], and of which the Tribune Company held a minority ownership. Channel 9 aired primetime WB network programming in the Chicago area but chose not to air ''[[Kids' WB]]'', the network's block of children's programs. Those shows aired instead on [[WCIU-TV]] (channel 26), which had dropped its Spanish-language [[Univision]] affiliation at the start of 1995 for an English-language, general entertainment schedule. Initially, Superstation WGN aired WB primetime and children's programming nationally. This was done to make WB programming available in areas not yet served by a WB affiliate. In [[1999]], at the network's request, Superstation WGN stopped carrying primetime WB and ''Kids' WB'' network programming.

In 2004, WCIU-TV dropped ''Kids' WB'' programming and it was moved to WGN-TV's Chicago area signal.

In [[2006#January|January 2006]], The WB and [[UPN]] networks announced that they would merge to form a new network, [[The CW Television Network]]. On the same day the new network was announced, it also signed a 10-year affiliation agreement with most of Tribune's WB stations, including WGN-TV. The new network launched on [[September 18]], 2006. The WGN America national feed does not carry any CW programming.

Although WGN America continues to be distributed in [[Canada]], the Chicago area feed of WGN-TV is also carried by [[Bell TV]] and [[Star Choice]] satellite services, as well as most Canadian cable services. Bell TV has always carried the Chicago area feed but Star Choice and many cable services that carried Superstation WGN switched on [[January 17]], [[2007]] when [[Shaw Broadcast Services]], a primary supplier of Superstation WGN in Canada, switched to the Chicago area feed.

On [[April 2]], [[2007]], Chicago-based investor [[Sam Zell]] announced plans to purchase the Tribune Company, with intentions to take the firm private. The deal was completed on [[December 20]], [[2007]]. Prior to the close of the sale, WGN-TV was one of two Chicago commercial television stations to have never been involved in an ownership transaction (WCIU was the other, having been owned by [[Weigel Broadcasting]] since its launch in 1964).

On July 19, 2008 during the 9:00 pm newscast, WGN became the third Chicago station after [[WLS-TV|WLS]] and [[WMAQ-TV|WMAQ]] to broadcast news in High Definition. Along with it, graphics and news music were also changed, with the news theme being changed to ''Chicago's Very Own'' by 615 Music (ironically, [[Non-Stop Music]] also produced a news theme with the same name that was used from 1994-1997).

===Max Headroom pirating incident===
{{main|Max Headroom pirating incident}}
On [[November 22]], [[1987]], during ''The 9 O'Clock News'' sportscast, WGN-TV's Chicago area signal was hijacked for approximately 25 seconds by an unknown person wearing a [[Max Headroom (character)|Max Headroom]] mask. This was only the first incident of that night involving the interruption of a television station's broadcast signal. Approximately two hours later, Chicago [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] station [[WTTW]] (channel 11) had its broadcast interrupted by the same person. WGN-TV's analog transmitter is atop the [[John Hancock Center]] and engineers were almost immediately able to thwart the video hacker by changing the studio-to-transmitter frequency, thus cutting the hacker off. Unfortunately for WTTW, its transmitter is atop [[Sears Tower]] and it was unable to stop the hacker before enduring almost two minutes of the hacker's interruption. These two stations are two of only three existing victims of what is called "[[broadcast signal intrusion]]". Subscription television network [[HBO]] is the other victim -- having its signal [[Captain Midnight (HBO)|intercepted]] during a movie broadcast in [[1986#April|April 1986]].

== Digital television ==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Channel
! Programming
|-
| 9.1 / 19.1 || main WGN-TV/CW programming
|-
| 9.2 / 19.2 || [[LATV]]
|}

===Analog-to-digital conversion===
After the [[DTV transition|analog television shutdown and digital conversion]], which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 <ref name="Analog to Digital">http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf</ref>, WGN-TV will continue digital broadcasts on its current pre-transition channel number, 19.<ref name="FCCForm387">[http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101231326&formid=387&fac_num=72115 CDBS Print<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> However, through the use of [[Program and System Information Protocol|PSIP]], digital television receivers will display WGN-TV's [[virtual channel]] as 9.

In late June 2008, WGN-TV added [[LATV]] as a subchannel to its digital broadcast, as part of a deal between three Tribune Broadcasting stations ([[KDAF]] in [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]] and [[WPIX]] in [[New York City]] being the other two) and LATV.<ref>{{cite url|title=LATV, Tribune Ink Affiliate Deal |url=http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/media/e3i98dd689378c2fddd415b50422ca06976}}</ref> This subchannel originally aired [[The Tube Music Network]] until it shut down in October 2007, and then switched to a simulcast of the main WGN-TV channel with Spanish language dubs added to some of its programs in later months until the arrival of LATV.

==Sports programming==
Throughout its history, WGN-TV has had a long association with Chicago sports. Perhaps with the exception of the [[National Football League|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 in baseball|1948]], and was further cemented in [[1981 in baseball|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 [[Chicago White Sox|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 in baseball|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. [[1982 in baseball|The following year]], Caray was recruited from the [[South Side (Chicago)|South Side]] to replace Brickhouse as the Cubs' lead TV voice. For the next 16 years, primarily working with analyst [[Steve Stone (baseball)|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 in baseball|1990]] when co-owner [[Jerry Reinsdorf]] agreed to long-term deals with the station for both the Sox and his [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] franchise, the [[Chicago Bulls]]. The Bulls returned to WGN-TV at the start of the [[1989-90 NBA season|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 [[1966-67 NBA season|1966]] until [[1984-85 NBA season|1985]]; Jack Brickhouse, Milo Hamilton, and a young [[Bob Costas]] were among those assigned to work as Bulls play-by-play announcers.

The [[National Hockey League|NHL]]'s [[Chicago Blackhawks]] were carried by the station from [[1961-62 NHL season|1961]] until [[1974-75 NHL season|1975]]. WGN-TV's broadcasts were limited to away games only, as Blackhawks owner [[Bill Wirtz]] had long [[Blackout (broadcasting)|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.<ref>[http://wgntv.trb.com/about/station/wgn-blackhawks-pressrelease,0,4619120.story Blackhawks return to WGN-TV | About the Station | WGNTV.com | WGN TV | Chicago's CW<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In [[1999#November|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,<ref>Confirmed by WGN-TV [http://wgnsuperstation.trb.com/about/site/feedback "WGN-TV Contact Page"]. Accessed [[June 8]] [[2007]].</ref> and also due to rights restrictions put in place by the NBA which limit the WGN America feed to fifteen Bulls games per season.<ref>''Chicago Professional Sports L.P. & WGN Continental Broadcasting Co. vs. National Basketball Association.'' 961 Fed. 2d 667 (7th Cir. 1992)</ref> 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 Chicago|Loyola University]], and other teams of the [[Big Ten Conference]].

==News Operation==
Appropriate for a station owned by the Tribune Company, news has played an important role on WGN-TV from the station's beginnings. WGN-TV currently broadcasts a total of 37 hours of local news per week (with seven hours on weekdays and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). WGN America, the national superstation feed does not run all of WGN's newscasts. The WGN Morning News was dropped by the national feed in the late 1990s due to SyndEx rules prohibiting certain segments of the newscast from airing outside the Chicago area (this is the only known incidence in which Syndex rules caused the preemption of a newscast on cable systems outside of the main viewing area). The national feed does air the 9PM newscast (which is preempted on WGN America if a sporting event airs on the Chicago area feed that is not cleared to air on the superstation feed) and the Noon-1PM block of the midday newscast (the 11:30-Noon portion of the midday newscast and the 5:30PM newscast do not currently air on the superstation feed).

WGN-TV's newscasts are one of the most-watched newscasts in the Chicago area, and usually ranks a strong second or third place against WMAQ-TV and WLS-TV and currently finishes ahead of CBS O&O WBBM and Fox O&O WFLD in the ratings. WGN-TV's newscasts are well known in the Chicago area for the longevity of its on-air news staff. Current news anchors Jackie Bange, Robin Baumgarten, Robert Jordan, Micah Materre, Allison Payne, Larry Potash, Steve Sanders, meteorologists Paul Konrad, Jim Ramsey, Tom Skilling, and sports anchors Rich King, Dan Roan and Pat Tomasulo have all worked for WGN-TV for 10 years or more.

==Current personalities==
;Anchors
* Jackie Bange - 9 p.m. weekends
* Robin Baumgarten - weekday mornings
* [[Robert Jordan (newscaster)|Robert Jordan]] - 9 p.m. weekends
* Micah Materre - midday weekdays
* [[Allison Payne]] - 5:30 & 9 p.m. weeknights
* Larry Potash - weekday mornings
* Steve Sanders - midday weekdays
* [[Mark Suppelsa]] - 5:30 & 9 p.m. weeknights

;Weather
* Paul Konrad - weekday mornings
* Tim McGill (AMS Ceritfied) - Staff Meteorologist (also seen on CLTV)
* Jim Ramsey - 9 p.m. weekends (also seen on CLTV)
* Mike Hamernik - Staff Meteorologist (also seen on CLTV)
* [[Tom Skilling]] (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist - middays, 5:30 & 9 p.m. weeknights

;Sports
* Rich King - Fridays & Saturdays
* [[Dan Roan]] - Sports Director - Monday-Thursdays & "Instant Replay" host on Sundays
* Pat Tomasulo - weekday mornings
* Dave Eanet - Fill-In Sports Anchor

;Reporters
* [[Antwan Lewis]] also Fill-in Anchor
* Dina Bair (Medical Watch) & Fill-In Anchor
* Ana Belaval
* Jane Boal
* Muriel Clair
* Julian Crews
* Lourdes Duarte
* Judie Garcia
* Holly Gregory also Fill-in Lunchbreak
* Marcella Raymond
* Dean Richards (Entertainment & Staff Announcer)
* Julie Unruh
* Gaynor Hall (CLTV Reporter)
* Sean Lewis (CLTV Reporter)
* [[Tom Negovan]] also Fill-in Anchor
* Valerie Warner (Traffic Reporter)

==Past personalities==
{|
|valign="top"|
* [[Mike Barz]]
* [[Bob Bell (actor)|Bob Bell]]
* [[Jack Brickhouse]]
* [[Roy Brown (clown)|Roy Brown]]
* [[Cheryl Burton]]
* Denise Cannon
* [[Chip Caray]]
* [[Harry Caray]]
* Susan Carlson
* Dan Christopher
* [[Bob Collins (American radio broadcaster)|Bob Collins]]
* Jim Conway
* Chuck Coppola
* [[Bob Costas]]
* [[Joey D'Auria]]
* Mary Dixon
* [[Phil Donahue]]
* [[John Drury]]
* Joan Esposito
* Juan Carlos Fanjul
* Bill Frink
* Sid Garcia
* Carl Grayson
* [[Pat Harvey]]
* Dana Kozlov
* Roy Leonard
* [[Ned Locke]]
|width="150"|&nbsp;
|valign="top"|
* Joanie Lum
* Marty McNeeley
* Cliff Mercer
* Gary Park
* [[Ray Rayner]]
* Larry Roderick
* Rick Rosenthal
* Jim Ruddle
* Amy Rutledge
* [[Randy Salerno]]
* [[Don Sandburg]]
* [[John Schubeck]]
* Alan Sealls
* Tom Shaer
* Fred Shropshire
* [[Keenan Smith]]
* [[Wendell Smith]]
* [[Steve Stone (baseball)|Steve Stone]]
* [[Chuck Swirsky]]
* [[Roseanne Tellez]]
* [[Frazier Thomas]]
* Roger Triemstra
* Jack Taylor
* Harry Volkman
* Jim Williams
* Joanne Williams
* [[Bill Weir]]
|}

==News/Station Presentation==
===Newscast titles===
'''Current'''
*''WGN News'' (umbrella title; 1980s-present)
:*''WGN Morning News'' - weekday 5-9 a.m. newscast
:*''WGN Midday News'' - weekday 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. newscast
:*''WGN Evening News'' - weekday 5:30-6 p.m. newscast
:*''WGN News at Nine'' - nightly 9-10 p.m. newscast

'''Former'''
*''People to People''

===Station Slogans===
*''Chicago's Very Own'' (1980s-present)
{{inc-video}}

==Logos==
{| border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" style="border:1px solid #aaa"
|- align=center
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:wgn50s.jpg|120px]]
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:wgn60s.jpg|120px]]
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:Wgntv1967logo.png|120px]]
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:wgn70s.jpg|120px]]
|-
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | c. mid 1950s
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | c. mid 1960s-1970s
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | 1967 - 1977
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | c. mid 1970s-1980s
|}

{| border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" style="border:1px solid #aaa"
|- align=center
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:Wgntv1977logo.png|120px]]
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:Wgntv1981logo.png|120px]]
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:Wgntv1983logo.png|120px]]
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:wgn88.jpg|120px]]
|-
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | 1977 - 1981
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | 1981 - 1983
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | 1983 - 1988
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | 1988 - 1993
|}

{| border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" style="border:1px solid #aaa"
|- align=center
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:wgn93.jpg|150px]]
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:wgn2001.jpg|150px]]
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:wgn2003.jpg|150px]]
!height="150px" bgcolor="#F9F9F9" | [[Image:Wgncwlogo.PNG|150px]]
|-
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | 1993 - 2000
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | 2000 - 2003
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" | 2003 - 2006
!width="150px" colspan="1" bgcolor="#CCCCCC" HD | 2006 - present
|}

==See also==
* [[WGN America]]

==External links==
*[http://www.wgntv.com/ WGN-TV Website]
*[http://www.wgnamerica.com/ WGN America]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5mzkt4N77s&mode=related&search= Streaming video of CBS Evening News coverage of the Max Headroom pirate incident]
*{{TVQ|WGN-TV}}


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{Reflist}}



{{CW Illinois}}
{{National parks of the United States}}
{{Superstations}}
{{Tribune}}
{{Chicago TV}}


[[Category:United States National Park Service| ]]
[[Category:Television stations in Chicago]]
[[Category:Television stations in Illinois]]
[[Category:CW network affiliates]]
[[Category:Tribune Broadcasting]]
[[Category:Channel 9 TV stations in the United States]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1948]]
[[Category:Superstations in the United States]]

Revision as of 05:04, 11 October 2008

{{Infobox broadcast}} may refer to:

{{Template disambiguation}} should never be transcluded in the main namespace.

WGN-TV, channel 9, is a television station in Chicago, Illinois. It has been owned by the Tribune Company since its inception, and is an affiliate of The CW Television Network. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located in the North Center neighborhood of Chicago, and the station transmits its analog signal from the John Hancock Center and digital signal from the Sears Tower.

WGN Television is one of several flagship properties owned by the Tribune Company, which also operates radio station WGN (720 kHz.) and publishes the Chicago Tribune, whose slogan ("World's Greatest Newspaper") was the basis for the call letters used by both stations. The Tribune Company also operates Chicago area cable news channel Chicagoland Television (CLTV), which shares resources from both WGN-TV and the Chicago Tribune.

WGN-TV is also a pioneering superstation, and continues to program an alternate feed for cable and satellite subscribers throughout the United States and Canada, known as WGN America (formerly Superstation WGN). Its longtime slogan, "Chicago's Very Own", was the basis for a popular image campaign of the 1980s and 1990s, as performed by Lou Rawls.

History

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.

Early on, WGN-TV was affiliated with the CBS and DuMont networks, sharing both with WBKB (channel 4). As a sidebar to the February 1953 merger of ABC and United Paramount Theatres, channel 9 lost its CBS affiliation. CBS had purchased the license to operate channel 4 in Chicago (now WBBM-TV, which later moved to channel 2), and moved all of its programming there, leaving channel 9 with DuMont. When DuMont ceased operations in 1956, WGN-TV became an independent station.

After becoming a full-time independent, WGN-TV spent much of the next two decades as the top-rated independent station in Chicago, offering a variety of general-entertainment programs including movies, sports, off-network reruns, and children's shows. For much of its existence, channel 9 produced a large amount of its own programming at its own studios. Notable WGN-TV productions included several incarnations of the immensely popular Bozo's Circus, Ray Rayner and His Friends, and Garfield Goose and Friends (which was hosted by Frazier Thomas). WGN-TV also telecasted performances of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, beginning in 1953, when Fritz Reiner was the orchestra's music director. From 1974 until 1982, Phil Donahue's syndicated talk program originated from WGN-TV.

The station began broadcasting via satellite in 1978. This signal was picked up by many fledgling pay-cable television systems, as well as directly by satellite dish owners. This continent-wide exposure elevated WGN-TV to superstation status. Along with WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV) in New York City and WTBS (now WPCH-TV) in Atlanta, WGN-TV was among the first local stations to become a superstation.

But as WGN-TV gained national exposure, the station became vulnerable in the Chicago area and underestimated WFLD-TV's ability to buy top-rate shows like M*A*S*H, Happy Days and All in the Family. As a result, WFLD (channel 32) finished ahead of WGN-TV in the ratings by the end of 1979. WGN-TV continued with its format, acquiring top-rate programming and competing with WFLD even after additional independent stations signed on.

In 1990, due to syndication exclusivity rules, WGN-TV launched a separate national feed with alternate programming about half the time. It was a similar situation at WWOR-TV and the national "WWOR-EMI Service".

In 1994 weekday morning children's programming was replaced by WGN Morning News. This was eventually dropped by the national feed because certain segments of the newscast are not allowed to air outside the Chicago area under SyndEx rules. The national feed still airs the station's other newscasts. Also in 1994, the The Bozo Show was moved from weekday mornings to Sunday mornings until 2001, when the program was controversially discontinued by station management.

In 1995 WGN-TV became a network affiliate once again, this time with the newly-launched WB Television Network, which was operated by the Warner Bros. Television division of Time Warner, and of which the Tribune Company held a minority ownership. Channel 9 aired primetime WB network programming in the Chicago area but chose not to air Kids' WB, the network's block of children's programs. Those shows aired instead on WCIU-TV (channel 26), which had dropped its Spanish-language Univision affiliation at the start of 1995 for an English-language, general entertainment schedule. Initially, Superstation WGN aired WB primetime and children's programming nationally. This was done to make WB programming available in areas not yet served by a WB affiliate. In 1999, at the network's request, Superstation WGN stopped carrying primetime WB and Kids' WB network programming.

In 2004, WCIU-TV dropped Kids' WB programming and it was moved to WGN-TV's Chicago area signal.

In January 2006, The WB and UPN networks announced that they would merge to form a new network, The CW Television Network. On the same day the new network was announced, it also signed a 10-year affiliation agreement with most of Tribune's WB stations, including WGN-TV. The new network launched on September 18, 2006. The WGN America national feed does not carry any CW programming.

Although WGN America continues to be distributed in Canada, the Chicago area feed of WGN-TV is also carried by Bell TV and Star Choice satellite services, as well as most Canadian cable services. Bell TV has always carried the Chicago area feed but Star Choice and many cable services that carried Superstation WGN switched on January 17, 2007 when Shaw Broadcast Services, a primary supplier of Superstation WGN in Canada, switched to the Chicago area feed.

On April 2, 2007, Chicago-based investor Sam Zell announced plans to purchase the Tribune Company, with intentions to take the firm private. The deal was completed on December 20, 2007. Prior to the close of the sale, WGN-TV was one of two Chicago commercial television stations to have never been involved in an ownership transaction (WCIU was the other, having been owned by Weigel Broadcasting since its launch in 1964).

On July 19, 2008 during the 9:00 pm newscast, WGN became the third Chicago station after WLS and WMAQ to broadcast news in High Definition. Along with it, graphics and news music were also changed, with the news theme being changed to Chicago's Very Own by 615 Music (ironically, Non-Stop Music also produced a news theme with the same name that was used from 1994-1997).

Max Headroom pirating incident

Main article: Max Headroom pirating incident

On November 22, 1987, during The 9 O'Clock News sportscast, WGN-TV's Chicago area signal was hijacked for approximately 25 seconds by an unknown person wearing a Max Headroom mask. This was only the first incident of that night involving the interruption of a television station's broadcast signal. Approximately two hours later, Chicago PBS station WTTW (channel 11) had its broadcast interrupted by the same person. WGN-TV's analog transmitter is atop the John Hancock Center and engineers were almost immediately able to thwart the video hacker by changing the studio-to-transmitter frequency, thus cutting the hacker off. Unfortunately for WTTW, its transmitter is atop Sears Tower and it was unable to stop the hacker before enduring almost two minutes of the hacker's interruption. These two stations are two of only three existing victims of what is called "broadcast signal intrusion". Subscription television network HBO is the other victim -- having its signal intercepted during a movie broadcast in April 1986.

Digital television

Channel Programming
9.1 / 19.1 main WGN-TV/CW programming
9.2 / 19.2 LATV

Analog-to-digital conversion

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009 [1], WGN-TV will continue digital broadcasts 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.

In late June 2008, WGN-TV added 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] This subchannel originally aired The Tube Music Network until it shut down in October 2007, and then switched to a simulcast of the main WGN-TV channel with Spanish language dubs added to some of its programs in later months until the arrival of LATV.

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.[4]

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,[5] and also due to rights restrictions put in place by the NBA which limit the WGN America feed to fifteen Bulls games per season.[6] 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.

News Operation

Appropriate for a station owned by the Tribune Company, news has played an important role on WGN-TV from the station's beginnings. WGN-TV currently broadcasts a total of 37 hours of local news per week (with seven hours on weekdays and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). WGN America, the national superstation feed does not run all of WGN's newscasts. The WGN Morning News was dropped by the national feed in the late 1990s due to SyndEx rules prohibiting certain segments of the newscast from airing outside the Chicago area (this is the only known incidence in which Syndex rules caused the preemption of a newscast on cable systems outside of the main viewing area). The national feed does air the 9PM newscast (which is preempted on WGN America if a sporting event airs on the Chicago area feed that is not cleared to air on the superstation feed) and the Noon-1PM block of the midday newscast (the 11:30-Noon portion of the midday newscast and the 5:30PM newscast do not currently air on the superstation feed).

WGN-TV's newscasts are one of the most-watched newscasts in the Chicago area, and usually ranks a strong second or third place against WMAQ-TV and WLS-TV and currently finishes ahead of CBS O&O WBBM and Fox O&O WFLD in the ratings. WGN-TV's newscasts are well known in the Chicago area for the longevity of its on-air news staff. Current news anchors Jackie Bange, Robin Baumgarten, Robert Jordan, Micah Materre, Allison Payne, Larry Potash, Steve Sanders, meteorologists Paul Konrad, Jim Ramsey, Tom Skilling, and sports anchors Rich King, Dan Roan and Pat Tomasulo have all worked for WGN-TV for 10 years or more.

Current personalities

Anchors
  • Jackie Bange - 9 p.m. weekends
  • Robin Baumgarten - weekday mornings
  • Robert Jordan - 9 p.m. weekends
  • Micah Materre - midday weekdays
  • Allison Payne - 5:30 & 9 p.m. weeknights
  • Larry Potash - weekday mornings
  • Steve Sanders - midday weekdays
  • Mark Suppelsa - 5:30 & 9 p.m. weeknights
Weather
  • Paul Konrad - weekday mornings
  • Tim McGill (AMS Ceritfied) - Staff Meteorologist (also seen on CLTV)
  • Jim Ramsey - 9 p.m. weekends (also seen on CLTV)
  • Mike Hamernik - Staff Meteorologist (also seen on CLTV)
  • Tom Skilling (AMS Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist - middays, 5:30 & 9 p.m. weeknights
Sports
  • Rich King - Fridays & Saturdays
  • Dan Roan - Sports Director - Monday-Thursdays & "Instant Replay" host on Sundays
  • Pat Tomasulo - weekday mornings
  • Dave Eanet - Fill-In Sports Anchor
Reporters
  • Antwan Lewis also Fill-in Anchor
  • Dina Bair (Medical Watch) & Fill-In Anchor
  • Ana Belaval
  • Jane Boal
  • Muriel Clair
  • Julian Crews
  • Lourdes Duarte
  • Judie Garcia
  • Holly Gregory also Fill-in Lunchbreak
  • Marcella Raymond
  • Dean Richards (Entertainment & Staff Announcer)
  • Julie Unruh
  • Gaynor Hall (CLTV Reporter)
  • Sean Lewis (CLTV Reporter)
  • Tom Negovan also Fill-in Anchor
  • Valerie Warner (Traffic Reporter)

Past personalities

 

News/Station Presentation

Newscast titles

Current

  • WGN News (umbrella title; 1980s-present)
  • WGN Morning News - weekday 5-9 a.m. newscast
  • WGN Midday News - weekday 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. newscast
  • WGN Evening News - weekday 5:30-6 p.m. newscast
  • WGN News at Nine - nightly 9-10 p.m. newscast

Former

  • People to People

Station Slogans

  • Chicago's Very Own (1980s-present)

Logos

File:Wgn50s.jpg File:Wgn60s.jpg File:Wgntv1967logo.png File:Wgn70s.jpg
c. mid 1950s c. mid 1960s-1970s 1967 - 1977 c. mid 1970s-1980s
File:Wgntv1977logo.png File:Wgntv1981logo.png File:Wgntv1983logo.png File:Wgn88.jpg
1977 - 1981 1981 - 1983 1983 - 1988 1988 - 1993
File:Wgn93.jpg File:Wgn2001.jpg File:Wgn2003.jpg File:Wgncwlogo.PNG
1993 - 2000 2000 - 2003 2003 - 2006 2006 - present

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf
  2. ^ CDBS Print
  3. ^ "LATV, Tribune Ink Affiliate Deal".
  4. ^ Blackhawks return to WGN-TV | About the Station | WGNTV.com | WGN TV | Chicago's CW
  5. ^ Confirmed by WGN-TV "WGN-TV Contact Page". Accessed June 8 2007.
  6. ^ Chicago Professional Sports L.P. & WGN Continental Broadcasting Co. vs. National Basketball Association. 961 Fed. 2d 667 (7th Cir. 1992)


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gary_Everhardt&oldid=244514714"