WGN news contact: how to reach WGN 9 and get your story on air

By Zach Schleien

The contact routes WGN 9 Chicago lists, which one to use for a news tip, how to find the right producer, and how to pitch WGN Morning News and Midday News.

To send WGN News a news tip, press release or story idea, email desk@wgntv.com. That's the address WGN-TV's contact page lists for its newsroom, and the station's main phone line is 773-528-2311.

If you want to be a guest on WGN Morning News or the midday show, that email is a fine first step. A short pitch to the producer or reporter who covers your kind of story will usually do better.

I've earned 200+ media placements, including 18 TV appearances, and I've never hired a PR agency. I start with the angle, then find the people who cover that kind of story, then pitch a lot of them. Here's how that works for WGN.

Rather skip the pitching? I can get you on WGN, guaranteed. Book a press call.

Key takeaways

• News tips, press releases and story ideas go to desk@wgntv.com, the address on WGN's contact page.
• WGN-TV's main phone is 773-528-2311. Its mailing address is 2501 West Bradley Place, Chicago, Illinois 60618-4718.
• programming@wgntv.com is for questions about shows and newscasts, not for pitching a story.
• For a founder or expert, the best fits are WGN Morning News and the two-hour WGN Midday News, which WGN says includes live guests and cooking segments.
• WGN's team page doesn't list producers or emails, so you'll find the right person through author pages, LinkedIn and watching the shows.
• WGN Radio is a separate station with its own phone number.

What WGN covers, and which show fits you

WGN is channel 9 in Chicago. The station calls itself "Chicago's Very Own," and it signed on the air in 1948.

Here's the newscast schedule WGN lists for its live stream and app, in Central Time:

• WGN Early Morning News: weekdays from 4 to 6 in the morning.
• WGN Morning News: weekdays from 6 to 10 in the morning.
• WGN Midday News: weekdays from 11 in the morning to 1 in the afternoon.
• WGN Weekend Morning News: Saturdays from 7 to 10 in the morning, and Sundays from 7 to 9.
• Evenings: the Early Evening News at 4 and the Evening News from 5 to 7 on weekdays, the News at Nine and News at Ten on weeknights, and weekend newscasts at 5, 9 and 10.

In an article for the station's 75th anniversary, WGN called its morning show "the top-rated WGN Morning News." The same article describes the midday show as a two-hour broadcast "which includes live guests and cooking segments," and says 200 people work in the news department.

So if you're a founder or an expert with useful advice, a demo or a dish to cook, the morning and midday shows are where you fit. If something is happening right now, that's a news tip, and it goes to the newsroom.

WGN contact routes, and what each one is for

These are the routes on WGN's contact page, checked in November 2026:

1. desk@wgntv.com. The contact page says to send a press release, news tip or story idea for WGN News to this address. Put the news in your subject line and the most important fact in your first sentence.
2. The main line: 773-528-2311. This is the station's general number. If you're calling about something happening right now, say what happened, where and when before anything else.
3. programming@wgntv.com. This goes to the programming department about shows seen on WGN 9, and it's also the address for questions and comments about a newscast. It's not the place for a pitch.
4. The morning show line: 773-789-8330. The contact page lists this number for two WGN Morning News segments, "Voicemail & Other Stuff" and "I Want Your Text." Those are viewer segments, so don't use the line to pitch yourself as a guest.
5. The community calendar. The contact page links to a form "to submit a community event or recorded public service announcement." If you're running a local event, like a fundraiser or a free class, send it there too.
6. Mail: WGN Television, 2501 West Bradley Place, Chicago, Illinois 60618-4718. It's slow, so skip it for anything that needs to run soon.

The contact page also has a form for weather photos, plus a link for licensing WGN footage that it says is "not for viewer requests."

One thing to watch: WGN Radio, AM 720, is a separate station. The same contact page lists its phone number as 312-222-4700, with its own address on East Wacker Drive. If you want to be on the radio, pitch WGN Radio on its own.

How to find the right WGN producer or reporter

WGN's "Meet The Team" page lists anchors, reporters and meteorologists, but no producers and no email addresses. So you'll have to dig a little:

• Author pages. WGN's site has author pages that show a person's bio, often with their role, plus a list of their recent articles. Look for people who covered something like your story in the last few months.
• LinkedIn. Search for people who list WGN and "producer" in their title. For a guest spot, look for morning and midday producers.
• The shows. Watch the morning and midday shows for a week and note who does segments like yours.

Don't stop at one person. At a single outlet, there can be up to about 20 reporters who cover your kind of story, so list everyone whose recent work fits. If your story is big, offer it to the best-fit person first as an exclusive, then go wide after it runs. One of Filteroff's biggest press hits was an exclusive I gave to Business Insider.

People change jobs a lot in TV news. Check that each person is still at WGN before you send anything.

What WGN producers look for

Local TV producers tend to want four things:

1. A Chicago tie. WGN's viewers live in Chicago and its suburbs, so your story has to matter to them.
2. A reason to run it now. The weather, a holiday, a deadline, a new law or a story that's already in the news.
3. Something to show. TV needs pictures. A demo, a product, a dish or a person doing something beats someone sitting and talking.
4. An easy yes. You can come in or join by video on short notice, and you can make your point in about a minute.

It's the same list I gave for a Los Angeles station in KTLA news tip: how to contact KTLA and get your story on air.

You also don't need to be big. Filteroff had around 500 users and a team of two when the BBC featured it, and it took under two weeks to go from pitch to publication.

Here are some example angles written for WGN's viewers. The Chicago businesses in them are made up to show the shape, not real pitches:

• Before the weather turns. A plumber in Oak Park shows three ways to keep your pipes from freezing before the first deep freeze.
• A dish for the midday show. A restaurant owner in Pilsen cooks one family recipe live in under five minutes.
• The Chicago side of a national story. When gas prices spiked, one of my real pitches was that high gas prices mean fewer first dates. For WGN, a made-up example: gas prices jump, and a Logan Square bike shop owner talks about the people switching to bikes for their commute.
• An expert before a deadline. A benefits advisor in Naperville explains the two things to check before open enrollment ends.

How to write the pitch

Keep it under 150 words. The subject line should say who you are, the hook, and when you're free.

Here's a made-up example you can copy:

Subject: Oak Park plumber on keeping pipes from freezing, free any morning this week

Hi [first name],

I saw your story on [their recent story]. With [the cold snap in the forecast], a lot of Chicago homeowners are about to find out their pipes aren't ready. I'm a plumber in Oak Park, and I can show three fixes on camera in about two minutes, using a real pipe and tools most people already own. I can come to the studio or join by video any morning this week.

Would you like to have me on?

[Your name, phone number, and one line on any past press]

End with a plain question that's easy to say yes to. "Would you like to interview the founder?" is one sentence that got me booked on live TV.

If you've had press before, mention it, because one placement tends to lead to the next. After my dad's New York Times op-ed ran, his story went on to Fox News, Good Morning America, CNN's Don Lemon, CBS and WABC. Then it rode two more news waves: a children's health angle in May, and the school reopening debate in September.

If CNN is on your list too, I wrote up its tip routes in CNN contact email: how to send a news tip and get on CNN.

Do-it-yourself checklist

• Watch WGN Morning News and WGN Midday News for a few days and write down the segments that look like yours.
• Write your angle in one sentence: who you are, what's new, and why Chicago viewers should care this week.
• Find 5 to 20 producers and reporters who cover your kind of story.
• Check that each one still works at WGN.
• Write one short pitch, then change the name and the line about their recent story for each person.
• If it's real news, also email it to desk@wgntv.com.
• Have a headshot, a one-line bio and a clear plan for what you'll show on camera.
• Follow up once, a few days later, with something new to add.
• When a producer replies, answer fast.

Mistakes that get pitches ignored

• A generic press release and nothing else. WGN does take press releases at desk@wgntv.com. But in my Top Romp days, I sent roughly 20 to 40 generic press releases to company contact pages, spent hours on each one, and got zero replies. What changed it was my friend Michael, who knew how to pitch press. I watched how he did it, asked him a ton of questions, and started doing it myself.
• Using the wrong line. programming@wgntv.com, the morning show viewer line and WGN Radio aren't the places to pitch WGN-TV.
• No Chicago tie. A story with nothing in it for Chicago viewers is a hard sell.
• A pitch that reads like an ad. Producers want news, advice or a demo. Your business comes along as the reason you're the right guest.
• Burying the hook. If it isn't in your first two sentences, a busy producer won't find it.
• Not being free. TV moves fast. If a producer asks about tomorrow and you can't make it, they'll book someone who can.
• Quitting after one email. For my dad's op-ed, I sent roughly 70 pitches to every New York Times writer covering that beat. One of them forwarded it to the op-ed editor, and it ran.