After more than 42 years of serving America from Michigan Avenue and the “Magnificent Mile,” a former integral piece of the Tribune Media family is fading to black.
Sunday, February 29, is the final day for WGN America.
UPDATED AT 4:25pm EASTERN TO INCLUDE A QUOTE FROM SEAN COMPTON AND CORRECTION TO DISH’S COVERAGE OF WGN AMERICA.
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It began life as a “superstation” in the fall of 1978, bringing news anchors including Steve Sanders, Rick Rosenthal, and Allison Payne and legendary meteorologist Tom Skilling to homes across the U.S. This helped make “Cubs Nation” bigger than ever, boosting their fan base in the 1984 season, when they won the National League pennant. It also put Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in front of a national audience on a regular basis.
WGN-9 in Chicago later split its nationally distributed feed from its Chicago-based signal, due to programming rights and network territorial matters tied to its history as a flagship WB Network member and, later, taking The CW Network affiliation in the Windy City through May 2016.
The national feed became WGN America, and in late 2014 was converted to a conventional cable network, adopting an aggressive — and costly — slate of scripted, original programming.
It eventually proved unsuccessful, only fueling parent Tribune Media‘s desire to find a merger partner. Sinclair Broadcast Group infamously failed to complete its bid for the company, opening the way for Nexstar Media Group to swoop in and claim it.
Now, with Nexstar in control, WGN America is fading into the sunset on March 1 as the channel adopts the name NewsNation.
It confirms widespread speculation that Nexstar would rename the channel after what is presently a three-hour prime-time news block designed as a counterprogramming option to MSNBC, CNN and FOX News, in addition to Newsmax and conservative all-news offering One America News Network (OANN).
As of today, WGN America reaches 75 million U.S. television households — including Dish Network customers, thanks to the late December resolution of an ugly retransmission consent fee battle that began Dec. 3, 2020. The cable network has also added of late Dish “skinny bundle” vMVPD Sling; YouTube TV; and Hulu.
Five weeks from today, it will boost the NewsNation programming by expanding the prime-time block with a 6pm “early edition” anchored by former WCVB-5 in Boston weekend news anchor Nichole Berlie, who had been a weekend anchor for NewsNation since its launch in September 2020.
At 7pm comes a news magazine: The Donlon Report, anchored by Joe Donlon.
Donlon is a 30-year news veteran and a member of the NewsNation weeknight anchor team. Before the launch of NewsNation, Donlon was the co-anchor of WGN-9’s 9pm newscast for Chicago viewers.
Then, from 8-10pm Eastern, NewsNation will continue under the tweaked name NewsNationPrime. Anchoring the two-hour block are Marni Hughes and Rob Nelson.
They’ve been anchoring the newscast since its debut.
And, as previously reported, the 10pm hour starting March 1 will be the home of news magazine Banfield, featuring Ashleigh Banfield.
What will air between 11pm and 6pm the following day?
A Nexstar spokesperson tells RBR+TVBR that NewsNationPrime will repeat from 8pm-10pm Pacific, while Banfield will air in the following hour — essentially bringing the programming across America during the same period of time, a potential benefit for advertisers.
The question of what NewsNation will air when one awakes until 6pm, at least in the short term, was answered Monday afternoon by Sean Compton, the one-time VP of Programming for Clear Channel and, before that, at Jacor Broadcasting. Today, he’s Nexstar’s Networks Division President.
Compton tells RBR+TVBR, “During the day our line-up will stay the same.” He adds that the name change from WGN America “underscores the network’s clearly defined mission of delivering fact-based and unbiased news, while making it easier for viewers to find this new informative source for news. At the same time, expanding our news programming to five hours Monday through Friday will extend the network’s reach and the depth of its news content across more weeknight time periods, delivering viewers more national news and regional stories from across the U.S., as well as coverage of the day’s most important issues.”
Speaking of his forthcoming program’s rollout, Donlon said, “The Donlon Report will give viewers an in-depth look at the news events of the day with the help of our correspondents across the country and interviews with experts who can add insight and perspective. We’ll dive into the biggest stories in news, sports, entertainment and culture while staying true to NewsNation’s mission of delivering objective journalism.”
The transition of WGN America to NewsNation concludes a wild six year ride for the MVPD-distributed network. In August 2015, Tribune was high on WGN America, as it invested in original shows following the end of its legendary run as the Chicago Cubs flagship TV station. WGN was shorthand for Wrigley, hence its relationship with the team for decades.
Among the marquee draws for WGN America in this period was the much-heralded Manhattan, a drama series that marked the first under Tribune Studios. It debuted in July 2014, but by February 2016 ratings were lackluster. So were Tribune’s finances.
By May 2017, some $2.7 billion in debt had been accumulated by Tribune. Enter Sinclair Broadcast Group, which planned to purchase Tribune. At the time, Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley indicated that WGN America would adjust its lineup to include more “cost effective” programming.
This put a definitive conclusion to Tribune Studios’ attempt to compete with AMC Networks, HBO and rapidly growing OTT platforms.
And, it sparked speculation that Sinclair would use WGN America as a conservative-leaning news and information competitor to FOX News.
That never happened, as then-FCC Chairman Ajit Pai issued a hearing designation order in response to a series of spinoff deals Sinclair proposed in order to make its merger adhere to local ownership rules. With the threat of a HDO in front of an Administrative Law Judge, Tribune and Sinclair begrudgingly agreed to terminate their agreement.
Now, it is Nexstar that is converting WGN America to news and information.
Whether it is the competitor to FOX News supporters of former President Trump — and Trump himself — have been calling for is, however, less likely to emerge.
Sean Compton may be a bit familiar to radio industry veterans from his roles as a VP of Programming for Clear Channel and, before that, at Jacor Broadcasting.
