January 11, 1995: Warner Brothers Launches the WB Television Network

January 11, 1995: Warner Brothers launches the WB Television Network. It aired on many of the former Tribune Broadcasting stations, including WPIX-Channel 11 in New York and WGN-Channel 9 in Chicago.

In Philadelphia, it aired on WPHL-Channel 17; in Baltimore, WNUV-Channel 54; in Washington, WBCD-Channel 50 (now WDCW); in Boston, WLVI-Channel 56; in Los Angeles, KTLA-Channel 5; and in San Francisco, KBCW-Channel 44.

The 1st shows are The Wayans Brothers (not Damon and Keenen, but the next-youngest brothers, Shawn and Marlon), The Parent 'Hood (also with a mostly-black cast), Unhappily Ever After (an even trashier version of Fox's Married... With Children, if you can believe that), and Muscle (in which Adam West doesn't play Batman, and dies 3 minutes into the show).

Paramount Pictures launched UPN a few days later. Both Warners and Paramount thought that a 5th major non-cable network could thrive. But their timing was awful: Not only did they both try at essentially the same time, but the growth of cable TV meant that ratings that would have been considered pathetic in the 1970s were accepted as great in the 1990s.

In 2006, both gave up the ghost, and merged, forming The CW. The more successful stations became CW stations, while the less successful ones became part of a CW subsidiary, "MyNetwork TV." In New York, for example, WPIX-Channel 11 went from WB to CW, while WWOR-Channel 9 went from "UPN9" to "My9."

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January 11, 1995 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in the middle of its Playoffs. And the NHL had just settled a labor dispute with the players, ending the lockout, and the preseason was underway, with the regular season getting started on January 20.

There were 10 games in the NBA:

* The Boston Celtics beat the Indiana Pacers, 100-97 at the Boston Garden.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 115-77 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Charlotte Hornets beat the Minnesota Timberwolves, 100-91 at the Charlotte Coliseum.

* The Orlando Magic beat the Detroit Pistons, 124-107 at the Orlando Arena. Shaquille O'Neal led all scorers on the night with 37 points.

* The Dallas Mavericks beat the Los Angeles Clippers, 98-93 at the Reunion Arena in Dallas.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Miami Heat, 108-97 at The Summit in Houston. (It's now the Central Campus of televangelist Joel Osteen's Lakewood Church.)

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Sacramento Kings, 97-88 at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

* The Utah Jazz beat their arch-rivals, the Denver Nuggets, 114-88 at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah.

* The Phoenix Suns beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 118-108 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

* And the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Golden State Warriors, 104-92 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.