CHICAGO, July 7, 2008 –WGN-TV announced today that it will add WGN News broadcasts this September with the premiere of a new evening edition and the premiere of an expanded midday edition that will air ninety minutes. WGN Evening News will air Monday through Friday from 5:30-6pm co-anchored by Mark Suppelsa and Allison Payne. WGN Midday News will air Monday through Friday from 11:30am – 1pm with co-anchors Steve Sanders and Micah Materre. WGN-TV’s Tom Skilling will continue to serve as chief meteorologist for both newscasts.

“More local news programming throughout the day has been our objective for some time now. Our current newscasts are well-established with viewers, all ranking #1 in the ratings in the morning, at noon and at nine. This truly allows us to expand from a position of strength,” said Tom Ehlmann, VP/general manager of WGN-TV. “Our experienced and well-known on-air team of anchors and reporters has helped make WGN-TV Chicago’s Very Own station for local news and information for many years. We are excited to continue this commitment to Chicago, on a larger scale, for many years to come.”

“I am thrilled to be able to join WGN-TV. WGN holds a special place in the history and tradition of Chicago news and their expansion plans are in keeping with that tradition and I consider myself fortunate to become a part of it,” said Suppelsa.

“Anchoring WGN News at Nine and working with Allison for the past 15 years has been a great experience” said Sanders. “I’m excited about this expanded format for the WGN Midday News and I look forward to having more time to cover stories of interest for our daytime viewers.”

Anchor Mark Suppelsa will join WGN News and begin co-anchoring WGN News at Nine with Allison Payne later this month. Suppelsa is currently news anchor of Eric & Kathy’s morning show on WTMX-FM, a role in which he will continue. Prior to joining WGN-TV, Suppelsa spent five years at Fox O & O, WFLD, anchoring Fox News Chicago at Nine for three and a half years. He spent ten years at Chicago’s NBC O & O, WMAQ-TV as a weekend anchor, reporter and early evening news anchor.

Anchor Steve Sanders is a veteran broadcast journalist who began at WGN-TV in 1982 as a general assignment reporter. Sanders will begin co-anchoring WGN News at Noon with Micah Materre later this month. For nine years, he anchored the Midday News, subsequently titled WGN News at Noon. Sanders then went on to anchor WGN News at Nine for fifteen years. Prior to WGN-TV, he was a reporter and weekend anchor at Birmingham’s WVTM-TV.