Talk:WGN-TV

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Section sizes Section size for WGN-TV (28 sections) Section name Byte count Prose size (words) Header Total Header Total (Top) 4,803 4,803 229 229 History 13 84,219 0 5,223 Early years (1948–1956) 10,186 10,186 689 689 Independence (1956–1995) 12,114 12,114 805 805 WGN goes national (1978–1995) 21,708 21,708 1,259 1,259 WB affiliation (1995–2006) 12,200 12,200 836 836 Affiliation with The CW and superstation programming split (2006–2016) 12,973 12,973 1,049 1,049 Return to independence (2016–2024) 7,222 7,222 332 332 Aborted sale to Sinclair Broadcast Group; sale to Nexstar Media Group 7,160 7,160 203 203 Return to CW as an O&O (since 2024) 643 643 50 50 Programming 61 98,827 0 4,769 Locally produced programs 33 16,564 0 290 Current 6,668 6,668 144 144 Former 9,863 9,863 146 146 Studio facilities 1,434 1,434 31 31 Lottery 7,054 7,054 497 497 Sports programming 17,248 17,248 898 898 News operation 2,972 44,054 241 3,053 News department history 41,082 41,082 2,812 2,812 Notable on-air staff 12,412 12,412 0 0 Technical information 27 5,062 0 200 Subchannels 1,845 1,845 39 39 Analog-to-digital transition 3,190 3,190 161 161 Canadian distribution 5,867 5,867 472 472 See also 83 83 0 0 Notes 24 24 0 0 References 28 28 0 0 External links 741 741 0 0 Total 199,654 199,654 10,893 10,893

Do you guys have any idea what the new logo for WGN-TV will look like after The CW takes over WPWR-TV on September 1, 2016? AdamDeanHall (talk) 20:38, 24 May 2016 (UTC) [reply ]

The news article about Sinclair Broadcast Group striking a deal to purchase Tribune Media can mean only one thing: The WGN-TV slogan "Chicago's Very Own" will be gone...forever. AdamDeanHall (talk) 19:13, 8 May 2017 (UTC) [reply ]

The article WGN-TV has been listed at Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2019 March 20. --AnhDucYang (talk) 22:12, 20 March 2019 (UTC) [reply ]

An editor added content back in last March in this edit, claiming this article was a copyvio. The linked source in the content contains the mirror of an item listing on eBay, where content in an older version of this article was pasted into an item description of the item listing. The name of the item listed on eBay was 1961 WGN A Pictorial History CHICAGO RADIO & TELEVISION Broadcasting illustrated, but its listing is no longer available because it stayed for a limited time after the item was sold in December 2018.

https://picclick.com/1961-WGN-A-Pictorial-History-CHICAGO-RADIO-163422735751.html

I later realized that the content originated from Wikipedia. I was notified in June when an admin mentioned my username at Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2019 March 20. I apologize for not logging in Wikipedia for months. --AnhDucYang (talk) 00:41, 22 November 2019 (UTC) [reply ]

Read this news article (https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/23/movies/film-studio-s-new-approach-to-tv.html), and highlight WGN for proof. RevinCBHatol (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 05:11, 14 January 2020 (UTC) [reply ]

Some of the information for Canada is incorrect. Although the CRTC approved carriage of WGN in 1985 as well as a revised list of superstation in 1988, cable systems didn't start distributing any US superstations until 1991. Star Choice may have been founded in 1994 but it didn't receive it's license until 1996 and operations didn't start until March 1997. It should also be noted that when ExpressVu moved from E2 to Nimiq 1 in 1999, they began carrying the Chicago feed in place of the Superstation feed.Bigoranget (talk) 17:16, 9 September 2024 (UTC) [reply ]

Do you have a source for this? Soafy234 (talk) 19:41, 9 September 2024 (UTC) [reply ]

I have a September 1991 feature magazine which was published by Astral Media (Owners of First Choice) that speaks to the launch of Superstations. I'll scan that and post it where it can be referenced. As mentioned above, Bell ExpressVu started using the Chicago feed when it moved their operations to Nimiq 1. This is also the time when Bell ExpressVu began using the WTBS feed from Atlanta as well. I don't believe there is any reliable digital reference to this change however Bell ExpressVu did print a monthly listings magazine which will contain the Chicago program listings where as TV Guide's WGN listings were for the Superstation feed as all other systems used the Superstation when TV Guide was still in operations in Canada. I unfortunately do not have a printed copy of the Bell ExpressVu magazine so I'll have to leave that for someone else to provide a referenceBigoranget (talk) 18:39, 10 September 2024 (UTC) [reply ]

This page is starting to feel a bit bloated especially the history and programming sections (check the talk page infobox above). It may be a good idea to split the history section into its own article. The page has more or less turned into a borderline unreadable wall of text, and is getting hard to read without zoning out. Packerfan386beer here 10:54, 14 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

I am reluctant/unwilling to support this. The history section in WGN-TV has quite frankly become so overblown with excessive cruft and unnecessary details inserted in and needs to be trimmed down, and probably could have as much as 33 to 40 percent removed. I personally believe the article itself could lose up to 50 percent of its size, if not more, when properly de-crufted.

The main problem is that WGN-TV has so much history behind it because of age and reputation in the market (plus articles like WGN Morning News and WGN Sports deserve to exist). It requires a small team of editors working together just for cleanup and maintenance. And it's not just WGN-TV: many of the Big Four owned-stations/affiliates in Chicago, NYC, LA, DFW, Philly and SF—let alone CW stations like WGN, WPIX, KTLA and KRON—have this same problem, which Sammi Brie and I can both attest to. Nathan Obral • he/him/🦝 • t • c • 14:59, 14 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

@Packerfan386, you remind me of a comment made at Talk:KOCB last year. Nathan and I have dealt with this editor's work before, much to our frustration, but we have a track record of reducing sizes of pages primarily edited by Tvtonightokc by 30–70%. The editor asking for KOCB to get sheared basically dared us to improve it and was very surprised that it could drop in size by 56%. WGN deserves that treatment and may indeed be the highest-importance page needing it (see User:Sammi Brie/Tvtonightokc sludge cleanup for more pages similarly afflicted). However, it would be by some margin the largest task we've ever attempted.

It is likely that a proper rewriting of this article would ameliorate its size and density problems. WGN-TV, though, will still be different from any other American TV station article. Sub-articles like WGN Morning News , WGN Sports, The Bozo Show , Garfield Goose and Friends , and Family Classics have standalone notability. It is rare for the local programs of an American TV station to enjoy such notability, but WGN was in a very large market and was later a superstation. Sammi Brie (she/her · t · c) 16:18, 14 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Hence, my proposal to split the history (and possibly programming as well)... The station is too important in U.S. media history to have everything reduced to a typical, albeit generally well-written, summary found in articles of this sort. (It's not some random Fox satellite in Wyoming. :) ) But yeah, even a basic simplification of both sections would be far better than what is there. Breaking out the history or programming could also leave room to merge any stubs floating around or may pop up, while hopefully keeping this fairly popular article (for a tv station) from becoming eye-watering again. Packerfan386beer here 18:24, 14 July 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

Hi, As the proposal suggests, i agree it needs to be split, there is even a note at the top saying that. Ive been through this entire article and its very long, the length is longer than average for an English Wikipedia article. By splitting the article into History of WGN-TV and WGN-TV, the latter article will be at an average length. Thanks 2A0A:EF40:413:B401:A0D4:16E7:74E6:1B3D (talk) 14:52, 18 August 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

I doubt the subject is notable enough to deserve 2 articles Chidgk1 (talk) 07:33, 27 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• WGN WB alternate logo.png

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 08:22, 1 November 2025 (UTC) [reply ]