A preeminent model of growth and diversity, Tribune Broadcasting's influence and impact is also enhanced by ownership of 50,000-watt Chicago-based WGN-AM, plus minority investments totaling approximately 25 percent ownership in the WB television network, 31 percent in the TV Food Network, 9 per­ cent in the Golf Channel, and 25 percent in the iBlast Networks, the latter a company utilizing the digital television spectrum for distributing broadband content and data services to consumers. According to the Tribune Company's Annual Report for 2000, "iBlast has aggregated part of the spectrum from local television stations in 246 markets covering 93 percent of the United States."

Historically, the Tribune Company's roots trace back to publication of its parent-company newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, beginning in 1847. In 1924, it began broadcasting on its AM pioneer, WGN (World's Greatest Newspaper), and in 1948, jumped on the television bandwagon with WGN-TV and New York­ based WPIX-TV. In 1981, Tribune Broadcasting was formed and James C. Dowdle was hired as its first president and chief executive officer. A year later, the Tribune Entertainment Company was created as a Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary and quickly became a leading developer and supplier of television programming to domestic and international markets via syndication, cable, and broadcast networks.

     In May 1985, Tribune Broadcasting increased its television holdings to six stations when it acquired Los Angeles-based KTLA-TV for a record-setting $510 million. Anticipating revenues of approximately $100 million and expanding the Tribune's reach to 19.6 percent of all U.S. television households, as Business Week reported on June 13, 1985, the KTLA purchase enhanced Dowdle's plan to utilize viewership of Tribune Broadcasting outlets "as a captive customer base" for Tribune programming.

     Early Tribune programming efforts are numerous and offer a variety of formats including movies, cartoon and action series, miniseries, specials, late night entertainment, and targeted programming for minority audiences. In sports, national broadcasts of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, a Tribune Company acquisition in 1981, realized daily audiences of nearly 30 million households via WGN-TV. In 1987, Tribune Broadcasting gave the controversial talk-show host Geraldo Rivera a home, and his across-the-board show aired successfully for 11 years. Then, in 1990, a joint venture with Ted Turner's Cable News Network brought CNN affiliate status to Tribune stations. Under terms of the initial 10-year contract, the two companies would also co-produce documentaries, miniseries, and news specials.

     Continuing  its expansion,  in 1991, Tribune Broadcasting launched its first regional television programming service, ChicagoLand Television (CLTV), under the auspices of its new subsidiary, Tribune Regional Programming, Inc. Dedicated to Chicago-area news, sports, and information, CLTV capitalized on the multimedia resources of the Chicago Tribune, WGN radio, WGN television and the Chicago Cubs with the bulk of its programming  to be produced  by its own staff in its own studios. Within two years, Tribune Regional Programming combined with Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) to provide CLTV 24 hours a day to TCl's 300,000 metropolitan-Chicago cable customers.

     In 1993, Tribune Broadcasting combined with  Warner Brothers for the creation of a new prime-time television network, the WB. slated  to begin  operations in the fall of 1994. Tribune stations in New York. Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Atlanta. Denver, and New Orleans were initially slotted as affiliates. and the network, reaching out to 18-49-year-olds in prime time evening slots, instantly covered 85 percent of American households. As of 2000, 16 of Tribune Broadcasting's 23 stations were network affiliates and network programs included such popular notables as Seventh Heaven, Fe­licify, Angel, Dawson's Creek and Gilmore Girls.

     On August 1, 1994, in an organizational restructuring, Dowdle was promoted to executive vice president of Tribune Media Operations and Dennis J. Fitz­simons, former Tribune television-group president, was elevated to Tribune Broadcasting executive vice president. Reporting to Dowdle, FitzSimons would direct operations of the unit's then-eight television stations, the Tribune News Network, Tribune Entertainment, the six station radio group, Tribune Radio Networks and the recently acquired Farm Journal Inc. In 2000, when Dowdle retired, FitzSimons was promoted to executive vice president of the Tribune Company. retaining his Tribune Broadcasting presidency and assuming responsibility for publishing, entertainment, and the Chicago Cubs.

     By 2001, the Los Angeles-based Tribune Entertainment subsidiary was distributing nine series representing approximately 15 hours of first-run and off-network programming per week, including four of the season's top-ten weekly syndicated hours: Mutant X, Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda, BeastMaster, and Gene Roddenberry's Final Conflict. In addition, Tribune Entertainment distributed the weekly Soul Train-at 30 seasons. the nation's longest-running music and variety program, and U.S. Farm Report, the longest-running series in syndication history at more than 36 years. Tribune Entertainment continued its distribution of television movies to domestic stations, and its distribution of specials. such as Live from the Academy Awards, the Prism Awards, and the Soul Train Music Awards. It was also handling barter arrangements for programs from numerous television production companies including, among others, NBC Enterprises' Weakest Link and FremantleMedia North America's Family Feud.

     Maintaining an edge in state-of-the-art facilities, Tribune Entertainment announced in February 2001 the formation of Tribune Studios-renovation and conversion of 70,000 square feet of soundstage space on the former ten-acre KTLA-TV Hollywood studio lot. Phased for completion over a two-year period, Tribune Studios would represent the first all-digital studio lot in the United States.

     As Dowdle pointed out in his profile in Channels magazine of August 13. 1990. Tribune Broadcasting has been successful by capitalizing on those things under its control: effective management, production, ac­quisition, and marketing . Through aggressive movement, confident development in multiple directions, and the strong leadership of Dowdle and Fitz­ Simons, the company has grown and diversified, resulting in the creation of a competitive Tribune Broadcasting footprint that is influential in both the domestic and international marketplace.