The story began the day of September 16, 1946 when Robert R. McCormick, owner of the Chicago Tribune and then-WGN radio requested permission from the FCC to build a television station, and 7 weeks later it was granted. Originally, the station was to have the call letters WGNA, but in January 1948 it changed to WGN-TV (Channel 9). It began testing on February 1, and on April 5, 1948, WGN-TV signed-on the air for the first time as the second TV station in Chicago, and the nineteenth of the United States. Since the foundation, WGN-TV has been an independent station, but back then it was affiliated with DuMont Television Network from September 26, 1948 until August 6, 1956 when DuMont ceased operations, and CBS from December 1, 1948 until February 6, 1953 when CBS moved its programming to the already O&O station, WBBM-TV.
1959–1964[]
1964–1977[]
1977–1981[]
Designer:
John Rea George McGinnis
Typography:
Custom
Launched:
1977
1981–1983[]
Designer:
John Rea George McGinnis
Typography:
Custom
Launched:
1981
1983–1993[]
Designer:
Pete Marino (creative) Mike Waterkotte (brand) Sheldon Elias (sound)
Typography:
Eras Bold
Launched:
Summer 1983 (soft launch) Fall 1983 (official)
1993–2002[]
The "9" in the 1993-2002 logo is also inverted into a "G" in the black bar with the "WGN" callsign; this logo was used by the national superstation feed of WGN-TV in promos and IDs until 1998, when only the "WGN" portion of the logo began to be used on the national feed. In 1995, WGN became a charter station of The WB Television Network while the superstation feed began carrying the network in markets where The WB wasn't available.
2002–2017[]
When this logo was introduced in November 2002, the 1998 version of The WB logo was originally placed next to the boxed "9" in the logo. When WGN affiliated with The CW (owned by CBS Corporation and the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner, owners of UPN and The WB respectively, and initially featuring some of both networks' programming) in September 2006, the logo was updated to include The CW's logo. A variant without the box "9" and network logo was used on the national superstation feed until 2008, when it rebranded as WGN America; since then, WGN-TV and WGN America do not use similar branding schemes.
WGN disaffiliated from The CW on September 1, 2016, when the affiliation moved to MyNetworkTV station WPWR-TV, making WGN an independent station for the first time in 21 years.
2017–present[]
An entirely new logo design for the station was introduced on May 17, 2017.
On September 1, 2024, WGN-TV returned to The CW after 8 years of independence, making the station a CW O&O for the first time.
1Owns a 75% stake of the network, the other 12.5% stake is co-owned between Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery. 2Joint venture with Warner Bros. Discovery, in which Nexstar owns 31% while Warner Bros. Discovery owns the remaining 69%. 3Nexstar operates these stations owned by Mission Broadcasting. 4Nexstar operates this station owned by Cunningham Broadcasting. 5Nexstar operates this station owned by White Knight Broadcasting through an SSA. 6Nexstar operates this station owned by Vaughan Media. 7Predecessor company of LIN Media. 8Nexstar operates this station owned by Londen Media Group.
Notes Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and territory, and based on the station's city of license or Designated Market Area. +Station carries CW programming on a digital subchannel, via The CW Plus. +1Local CW Plus affiliate operates as cable-only channel. 1Local CW affiliate carries only sports programming.
