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Wikipedia

WWJ-TV

February 05, 2023

For the television station in Detroit known as WWJ-TV from 1947 to 1978, see WDIV-TV.

WWJ-TV (channel 62) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, owned and operated by the CBS television network. Under common ownership with CW affiliate WKBD-TV under the network's CBS News and Stations group, both stations share studios on Eleven Mile Road in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, while WWJ-TV's transmitter is located in Oak Park.

WWJ-TV
Channels
BrandingCBS Detroit; CBS News Detroit
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WKBD-TV
History
First air date
September 29, 1975
(47 years ago) (1975-09-29)
Former call signs
WGPR-TV (1973–1995)[1]
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 62 (UHF, 1975–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 44 (UHF, 1999–2020)
Independent (1975–1994)
Call sign meaning
derived from former sister station WWJ radio
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID72123
ERP380 kW
HAAT326.7 m (1,072 ft)
Transmitter coordinates42°26′52.5″N 83°10′23.1″W / 42.447917°N 83.173083°W / 42.447917; -83.173083
Links
Public license information
  • Public file
  • LMS
Websitewww.cbsnews.com/detroit/

Founded as WGPR-TV in 1975 by Dr. William V. Banks and the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons as an extension of WGPR (107.5 FM), channel 62 in Detroit holds the distinction of being the first Black-owned television station in the continental United States. Though its ambitious early programming plans catering to the Black community did not fully pan out, the station still produced several locally notable shows and housed a fully-staffed news department. WGPR-TV helped launch careers of multiple local and national Black television hosts and executives, with Pat Harvey, Shaun Robinson, Sharon Dahlonega Bush, and Amyre Makupson among the most notable of alumni. The original studios for WGPR-TV, still in use by the radio station, have been preserved as a museum and recognized as a cultural landmark, with inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1994, when a major affiliation switch threatened to leave CBS without an affiliate in the Detroit market after multiple failures to secure a more successful station, the network bought WGPR-TV and dropped all existing programming in favor of CBS and syndicated programs, later changing the call letters to WWJ-TV. The station has made multiple unsuccessful attempts at producing local newscasts in its more than 25 years under CBS ownership. From assuming the affiliation in 1994 until 2001, from 2002 to 2009 and again from 2012 until 2023, WWJ-TV held a dubious distinction as the only station directly owned by either of the "Big Three" networks not to have any significant local news presence. A full news department, known as CBS News Detroit, began in January 2023 as an extension of CBS News's streaming service.

Prior use of channel 62 in Detroit

Main article: WMYD

On September 15, 1968, WXON-TV began broadcasting on channel 62.[2] Licensed to nearby Walled Lake, Michigan, WXON-TV operated on channel 62 for a total of four years. In 1970, it purchased the construction permit of WJMY, a channel 20 station that was built out but which its owner, United Broadcasting, had no financial resources to operate, for $413,000 in United expenses.[3] Land mobile interests pushed back against the sale, seeking that channel 20 be reassigned for their use in metro Detroit.[3] The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the move in June 1972,[4] and WXON moved from channel 62 to channel 20, using the former WJMY construction permit, on December 9, 1972.[5]

WGPR-TV

Built by Masons

We don't believe anybody else can do as well presenting black culture as we ourselves.

William V. Banks[6]

The move of WXON-TV from channel 62 to channel 20 left the former available for assignment again in Detroit. On October 10, 1972, less than two months before WXON vacated the channel, W.G.P.R., Inc., the owner of WGPR (107.5 FM), applied to the FCC for a new construction permit on channel 62.[1] On May 31, 1973, the FCC approved the application. What made this action noteworthy was the nature of WGPR: it was owned by the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons, which had been founded by Dr. William V. Banks in Canton, Ohio, in 1950, and a quarter century later boasted 350,000 members. Purchased by the Masons in 1964,[7] WGPR-FM was one of three Black-owned radio stations in Metro Detroit, and one of four that directly programmed to the Black community. Despite being lower-rated and placing a heavy emphasis on gospel music and religious fare, particularly on Sundays, the Masons rebuffed an offer of $1.5 million for WGPR-FM in 1973 (equivalent to $9,156,297 in 2021).[8]

 
Dr. William V. Banks

WGPR-TV would thus become the first Black-owned television station in the mainland United States,[9] as the two television stations in the U.S. Virgin Islands, WSVI and WBNB-TV, were Black-owned.[10] Banks promised a schedule of mostly locally produced programs and news focusing on items of interest to Detroit's Black community,[9] telling Jet that the station "will provide in-depth penetration into the problems, goals, aspirations and achievements of Blacks and related ethnic groups".[11] The pursuit of a television station wholly owned and operated by Blacks was not without merit; a 1975 Cablelines survey found Black people watched television at an average of 30 hours a week compared to 21 hours a week for Whites, while Black children watched television for seven hours every day.[12] Meanwhile, Banks's pursuit of a television station also had connections with the prior channel 62 in Detroit: Banks had analyzed purchasing WXON-TV, which was for sale for $1 million, but the Ford Foundation and four Detroit banks denied him financing. Following this, an attempt was made to acquire WJMY, which instead was sold to WXON-TV in order for them to move from channel 62 to channel 20.[13]

Construction took nearly two years, in part because lenders were unwilling to loan money to finance the station's start-up.[14] However, work accelerated in 1975 as the Masons sold real estate holdings elsewhere to finance operations. A former industrial office building at 3146 East Jefferson Avenue was purchased to house WGPR radio and television, while federal government support expedited the purchase of steel necessary to erect a new transmitter facility.[15] Broadcasting began at noon on September 29, 1975, with recorded greetings from President Gerald R. Ford and Senator Robert P. Griffin.[16] Ford said in his address, "WGPR will serve as a symbol of successful Black enterprise. This is truly a landmark, not only for the broadcasting industry but for American society... I only wish I could be with you in person as WGPR goes on the air."[17] Banks would credit President Ford for helping remove bureaucratic red tape for the Masons and overriding existing directives from The Pentagon for the steel purchase.[18] The Detroit Free Press hailed the station's sign-on in an October 3, 1975, editorial as "a new dimension and added stature to the area's entire telecommunications industry".[19]

Signing on with a local focus

(Detroit) is a city of 1.4 million people, more than half of whom are Black. Yet, if you watch the other stations, you find that the programming is only about one or two percent Black. We felt that there was room for another station one that speaks to a Black audience.

James Panagos, WGPR-TV vice president[18]

 
Amyre (Porter) Makupson, Doug Morison and Sharon Crews presented WGPR-TV's nightly Big City News in 1976.

Channel 62 would debut into a television environment with a dearth of Black talent and programming. This was most acute in the areas of syndicated shows and advertising. James Panagos, WGPR-TV's vice president of sales, was unable to hire a Black ad salesman, so he set up a school to train TV sales professionals.[6] Some White employees were hired with the stipulation that they train Black employees in their fields.[20]: 38  Despite a national recession, WGPR-TV was able to secure $125,000 in advertising commitments from national companies including the major automakers and department stores Sears and Kmart, enabling them to cover all operating costs for the first year; an additional $300,000 was raised within the station's first 40 days on-air.[18]

Little programming fulfilling the station's promise was available to the station in the syndication market, with reruns of the Bill Cosby drama I Spy being the highest-profile show, and the only one on WGPR-TV that starred a Black actor.[18] I Spy, Rawhide and Up and Coming were aired as management felt the shows treated Black people respectfully and acceptably.[20]: 41  Consequently, channel 62 leaned heavily on local program production, much of it from scratch.[21] Proposed programs included a soap opera, A Time to Live, set at a bar; a live morning show with a studio audience, The Morning Party; and a children's show, The Candy Store, alongside other public service programming.[6] Vice president of programming George White, who joined WGPR-FM in 1970 as program director,[22] boasted that WGPR-TV would "operate as a complete production house".[23] Bill Humphries hosted Speaking of Sports,[20]: 39  which focused on local athletics and high school sports.[21] Conrad Patrick, one of the station's 15 White employees on a staff of 48, had planned to host a game show named Countdown.[24] Additional syndicated offerings like The Abbott and Costello Show, Get Smart, Felix the Cat and assorted B-movies comprised the remainder of the schedule.[20]: 39  Prior to launch, one distribution company in Puerto Rico was interested in syndicating A Time to Live and The Scene internationally to Argentina and the Caribbean.[21] Several Black-focused public affairs shows—including Black on Black, which WGPR-TV and WEWS-TV jointly produced—and James Brown's syndicated variety series Future Shock were also carried.[20]: 41 

I remember when I told my [parents] I wanted to go into journalism, but they had other ideas. They were used to women being in positions of... being a nurse, a very honorable profession, or a teacher, which is what my mother was. I told my father a broadcast journalist, he looked at me strangely, and said, 'well Pat I don't know about that. I mean, you don't look anything like Walter Cronkite...'

Pat Harvey[25]

One show, the live dance music program The Scene, drew on the success of WGPR radio and was among its most successful;[26] cars would sometimes clog Jefferson Avenue to see the stars arrive for tapings.[27] Scene co-host Nat Morris was originally hired in 1972 for WGPR-FM and was simply given directions to play music, with the cameras focusing on the dancers throughout.[28] Often compared to American Bandstand and Soul Train, the program inspired multiple popular area dance moves during competitions in what George White dubbed "electronic sociology". A full-time talent coordinator was responsible for fielding mail-in requests for prospective on-stage dancers and booking singers and musical acts.[29] James Brown, The Gap Band, The Time and Jermaine Jackson were among the program's most notable musical guests.[30] Prince, then a part of The Time, had also been heavily promoted on WGPR-FM, with several gold records given to the stations from both he and the band.[31] When Nat Morris took time off for a vacation, Panagos tapped Pat Harvey, who joined WGPR-TV in 1976[32] as a sales assistant, to be Morris's fill-in host dubbed "The Disco Lady". In addition to being on The Scene, Harvey hosted a daily five-minute public affairs show on WGPR-FM before joining WJBK-TV (channel 2), the market's CBS affiliate, in their community affairs department.[25] Harvey later found greater success as a news anchor for Chicago's WGN-TV and Los Angeles's KCAL-TV, becoming the highest-paid Black news anchor in the country in 1995 at the latter station after signing a multi-year $1 million contract.[32] Another early show, Rolling Funk, also featured dance music but in a roller derby environment, taped at an Inkster roller rink. This program was produced independently by a Black-owned production company with aspirations for syndication.[33]

In the area of news, WGPR-TV's promise lured Jerry Blocker away from WWJ-TV (channel 4), the city's NBC affiliate,[24] where he became Detroit's first Black newsman in 1967.[34] Big City News initially aired twice a day,[24] intending to cover topics that the three network-affiliated TV newsrooms in town did not.[15] Big City News targeted Detroit's urban population and eschewed the suburban audience, which was more interested in crime reporting that disproportionately covered Blacks:[20]: 41  Blocker explained that "there are many stories, both negative and positive, that are not being told, and that's what we're trying to get into".[35] Emphasis was given on positive stories about the Black community, social advocacy issues and community events.[36] Sharon Crews was the station's first weather presenter,[10] while Amyre Makupson (née Porter), later the host of WKBD-TV's 10 p.m. newscast,[37] got her start at WGPR-TV's news department.[38] Previously working in public relations, Makupson was laid off when the noon newscast she anchored was cancelled after 30 days due to lack of money, but she volunteered at the station for the next 18 months, later explaining, "you don't walk into a door without a tape... you have to get a tape from somewhere."[39] Employees often fell into their jobs in similar ways: Ken Bryant Jr., later a producer for WKBD/WWJ-TV, had been hired as a cameraman but wound up becoming the director of the first edition of Big City News.[20]: 38  The mere existence of a news department at WGPR-TV was credited with increasing the number of Black writers, anchors, and sources at the network-affiliated stations.[40] One area of Big City News was technically innovative: it was the first television news operation in Detroit to utilize videotape for news-gathering purposes, eschewing film entirely.[35]

Financial and technical challenges

 
1976 WGPR-TV print advertisement showing the station's "butterfly" logo.

After a year on the air, the fanfare and some of the more ambitious goals have been lost in the dust. In retrospect the station has done better than some expected—simply by surviving. But it has not lived up to all the rhetoric of those first weeks.

Howard Rontal[36]

Amyre Makupson's situation was not unique, as the station's early months were very rough. Technical failures were common; broadcast hours were cut back; and programming plans were curtailed after just one month when Banks felt the station was losing too much money.[27] Hopes of WGPR-TV making an immediate ratings impact by luring existing Black viewers from the other channels in the market—five licensed to Detroit proper and two in Windsor, Ontario—failed to materialize.[18] Commercials, particularly from the national clients that had made pledges to WGPR-TV, either failed to play correctly or would not play at all due to poor equipment; General Motors in particular withdrew their advertising but allowed the station to keep the money.[28] Banks's daughter, station vice president Tenicia Gregory, left a job as a college instructor to help run the station and never left, despite the early struggles. Gregory later said, "television turned out to be more than any of us thought... at the end of (1975), it was obvious that I couldn't walk away from it. It was impossible."[39]

 
Sharon (Crews) Dahlonega Raiford Bush in 2012.

Where promises of 90 percent local production had once been made by Banks, that figure was 30 percent by the end of 1975.[26] A Time to Live, the star program, was delayed heavily by a conflict-of-interest dispute involving its writers—both of whom were Black reporters for The Detroit News—and ultimately never aired, along with several other announced shows.[36] Substantial downsizing and reorganizations took place at WGPR-TV: the news department was reduced from twelve people to six[20]: 42  and Blocker departed after less than a year on the advice of a doctor[27] while Sharon Crews left at the end of 1976 to join WGHP-TV.[41] Altogether, payroll was trimmed from $35,000 a month to $18,000 a month by July 1977 alongside other austerity measures.[42] The station had lost as much as $15,000 a week (equivalent to $75,538 in 2021) during its first year on-air[20]: 42  amid threats of equipment repossession and closure.[27] WGPR's transmitter was damaged following an August 1976 thunderstorm, forcing the station to be off-the-air for an entire weekend while repairs were made.[43] Camera tube replacements for one of the two cameras The Scene used could not take place as the $35,000 cost was deemed prohibitive, resulting in mismatched pictures from the cameras.[28] Even the technical innovation of using videotape became a hindrance due to continuous wiping, resulting in both degraded overall quality on-air and much of the station's early years being lost.[20]: 34 

In 1977, one station vice president, Ulysses W. Boykin, testified before the United States Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications that "there appears to have been a conspiracy in the United States that has kept the Black minority out of meaningful participation in radio and television ownership [and] has prevented those Black-owned stations from getting a fair share of the business as well as any financing".[13] Advertising remained a primary obstacle as few White-owned business were willing or motivated to partner with Black-owned media, let alone channel 62, limiting the amount of local output that could be produced even further.[20]: 39–40  One major problem, however, was far beyond the station's control. Detroit's decreasing overall population and concurrently growing Black population—which by 1976 was larger than either Louisville, Kentucky, or Nashville, Tennessee[36]—coupled with overall economic disinvestment, resulted in fewer opportunities for Black entrepreneurs.[20]: 42  One analysis of Black capitalism in Detroit during the mid-1970s saw as many as 90 percent of Black-run businesses failing in the first five years through a combination of managerial inexperience, under-capitalization, poor locations and bankers unwilling to offer loans.[36] Still, some ad agencies partnered with WGPR-TV despite minimal ratings: Young & Rubicam representative Judy Anderson explained, "There aren't any ratings. You've got to go by the seat of your pants... I believe in addressing the black market as much as you can."[42]

Turning to religion and creativity

However, Banks was able to keep the station afloat by brokering time to religious ministries.[27] The Masons, and Banks especially, held deep religious convictions and operated under Christian beliefs and values.[20]: 36  When the Masons purchased WGPR-FM in 1964, Banks gave the call sign (which originally stood for "Grosse Pointe Radio") the alternate meaning of "Where God's Presence Radiates".[44] Among the earliest national ministries that purchased airtime was The PTL Club, which by 1976 was on channel 62 for four hours a day[36] and became one of the station's more popular religious programs.[45] By 1977, The PTL Club purchased 24 hours a week on the station, generating $36,000 monthly.[42] Various ethnic groups also purchased airtime on WGPR-TV. The Arab Voice of Detroit was a weekly Saturday night program hosted by Faisal Arabo aimed at Metro Detroit's Arab-language communities[46] and Iraqi-American population, one of the largest of any American city.[47] Arabo launched Arab Voice in June 1979[48] after having hosted a similar radio show over WJLB (1400 AM).[49] Channel 62 also aired shows aimed at other ethnicities including Dino’s Greece, Polish Panorama, and Romanian Variety;[20]: 40  such programming had been introduced as far back as early 1976.[50] While these shows opened up WGPR-TV to other underserved minority voices—a commitment Banks made in the station's license application[50]—this was criticized by some for turning the station into a home for special interests and thus ignoring the Black community.[51]

Some of the televangelists channel 62 featured were controversial. Richard Brookes hosted Faith for Miracles, which debuted in December 1977 on Sunday afternoons and eventually added two weekday programs. Brookes' on-air presence encountered scrutiny after a August 20, 1979, Detroit Free Press front-page story revealed his history with spousal abuse, adultery and violence, along with substantial unpaid debts to Canton station WJAN-TV and a Cleveland advertising agency;[52] his program was dropped several weeks later after a loss in donations.[53] Rev. Laurence J. London, who hosted a Sunday evening program, was arrested in June 1982 along with his wife by Birmingham police on charges of prostitution and solicitation.[54] Jerry Falwell Sr.'s The Old-Time Gospel Hour was also picked up by WGPR-TV[39] and attracted attention in 1985 when Falwell called Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu "a phony" for representing Blacks in South Africa and his anti-Apartheid stances.[55] Tenicia Gregory defended the station's airing of Falwell, saying, "If we say we reject all the programming that has opinion that we do not believe in personally, we would not be able to be on the air... to train all of the minorities we have and.. offer the public alternative programming and programming from a black perspective."[39] One church used their paid airtime on channel 62 in a novel way: the Metropolitan Church purchased a prime time hour on WGPR-TV for $1,200 for a fundraising campaign on November 7, 1981, limited solely to the congregation as not all of the church's members consistently attended. The hour-long program raised $404,902 (equivalent to $1,206,851 in 2021).[56]

All-night movies were also added to broaden channel 62's appeal in 1977[57] which made the station the first in the market to operate 24 hours a day.[42][58] Horror host Ron "The Ghoul" Sweed moved his Z movie/comedy show to WGPR-TV on January 6, 1978, after prior runs on WXON and WKBD-TV,[59] but the program was quietly cancelled by June.[60] The weekly Black Film Showcase debuted on February 3, 1979; hosted by Karen Hudson-Samuels, the program centered around feature films starring Blacks, along with profiles on the stars and a panel discussion.[61] Detroit representative Charles Diggs hosted Diggs' Washington Forum, a panel discussion program taped from Washington, D.C., as part of the station's public service offerings.[62] Banks offered the time slot after Diggs helped amend a treaty with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that allowed the station to be viewable over-the-air in Canada, saying, "We feel indebted to him, so we did what we could to help him out."[36] Gregory, who frequently referred to her father as "Dr. Banks", later reflected on his deferrals whenever she asked him for advice, instilling the importance of making decisions for herself.[39] Nat Morris remembered Banks once insisted a newer set for The Scene was not necessary with the parable "the set is not the show", prompting Morris to focus on the show in a more substantial manner.[28]

One potential method of making money, however, never panned out. In 1979, the station sold the rights for a potential subscription television service to be broadcast over WGPR-TV to Universal Subscription Television (US-TV), an affiliate of Canadian communications company CanWest Capital Corporation.[63] At the time, Universal was operating one subscription operation, on Boston's WQTV, and held authorizations to operate in several other areas, including Long Island, Minneapolis, and Sacramento, California.[64] In 1981, US-TV was acquired in two parts by Satellite Television & Associated Resources of Santa Monica, California; the first acquisition included unbuilt franchises for services on WGPR-TV and KSTS in San Jose, California.[65] However, no such pay service ever materialized, likely because Detroit already had two such operators in place.[66] By the eighth year, however, channel 62 was finally turning a profit[27] and offering over 60 hours a week of local programming.[39] The station also began airing assorted sporting events, starting in 1981 with Michigan State Spartans men's basketball, Major League Baseball on NBC games preempted by WDIV-TV, NBA on CBS games preempted by WJBK-TV, and Mizlou Television Network's coverage of the 1981 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl.[67]

After Banks's death

The idea was they could be a black entry onto the airwaves. But Channel 62 has fallen far short of what the black community hoped for in Detroit. I hope something happens to get them off dead center. There won't be any change, however, until the black community approaches management and says, 'We want change and are willing to support you.'

Buzz Luttrell, former WXYZ-TV reporter[68]

William V. Banks died in August 1985 at the age of 82.[69] Banks's death triggered a brief round of dissension among the Masons, including a March 1986 lawsuit by 46 members of the lodge claiming that Ivy Banks, William's widow, had denied any information about the financial condition of the WGPR stations to them.[70] One of the plaintiffs was George Mathews, an accountant and former Union Carbide employee from Niagara Falls, New York. Unsolicited offers were also received for channel 62, most notably a bid from a company called Heart of Downtown Television headed by Lansing television station owner Joel Ferguson and including former boxer Thomas Hearns and former basketball player and future Detroit mayor Dave Bing.[71] Analysts believed that the station would be able to pose a ratings and revenue threat to WXON and WKBD with even a minor investment in programming and equipment, noting that WKBD had been sold for $70 million two years earlier.[68] While the February 1985 Arbitron ratings listed WGPR-TV in last place in every category, with only one percent of all television sets in the Detroit media market tuned in to channel 62,[39] the combined profit margin for WGPR radio and television in 1984 was 31 percent, well above the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) average of 18.8 percent for an average UHF station.[68]

No sale materialized, and after a judge ruled in favor of the Masons and against Ivy Banks, Mathews moved to Detroit to run WGPR-TV and improve a station that, per New York media analyst Peter Appert, was not even attempting to claim a meaningful audience share in the market.[72] Tenicia Gregory—who Mathews replaced as general manager—then sued Mathews, while Ivy Banks counter-sued the Masons for $1.3 million (equivalent to $3.1 million in 2021) in unpaid loans.[73] Mathews, who had no background in broadcasting and admitted to Ebony magazine that he was relying on people who were "competent and loyal" in his new job,[74] took over the station as the marketplace for television stations began to cool after several recent purchases were now deemed to have been at inflated prices; consequently, Mathews took WGPR off the market for the short term.[72] Veteran broadcaster Don Haney predicted that the station's heavy emphasis on paid religious programming would need to change in order to improve from a competitive stance.[68] By June 1987, Panagos confirmed that WGPR would add more general entertainment fare and movies to the schedule by the fall[73] while program director Joe Spencer later admitted the station was intending "to shirk the special interest label".[75] When The PTL Club, which WGPR-TV continued to air three times a day on weekdays, became ensnared in controversy over former host Jim Bakker, station program director Joe Spencer said no phone calls were fielded either in protest or support,[76] while Panagos asserted WGPR-TV would not drop the program despite the ministry owing $126,945.[77]

Changes and controversies

My mother looked at me, and I told her I was going to do television and she says, "You're strange. You're weird. What do you mean you're going to do TV?" Because when we grew up, black people were not on television that much unless they made the news. True story.

R.J. Watkins[78]

December 31, 1987, saw the end of one WGPR programming mainstay: The Scene was dropped from the lineup and replaced with Contempo, a similar dance music program but focusing on newer music.[79] The New Dance Show also debuted on WGPR-TV in 1988 as an informal successor to The Scene, produced and hosted by R.J. Watkins and airing at 6 p.m. weeknights.[78] In contrast to the disco influences of The Scene, The New Dance Show focused more heavily on techno and house music, with music selections that ranged from Kraftwerk to 2 Live Crew to CeCe Peniston.[80] Watkins, who produced both The New Dance Show and Video Request, would eventually syndicate both shows via satellite to over 40 different markets; Watkins hosted a kick-off party on April 10, 1992, at the State Theatre to celebrate the occasion, which WGPR-TV carried live.[81] During this time, channel 62 also added several programs aimed at other specialty audiences in southeastern Michigan. In August 1986, the station started carrying the International Television Network, which was an overnight four-hour block of primarily foreign-language subtitled programs, complementing the existing locally-based ethnic fare.[82] Telecasts of Michigan Wolverines football and Eastern Michigan Eagles football were also added.[75] However, the station was still criticized in 1989 for persistent technical deficiencies, equipment issues and an uneven programming structure that still weighed heavily on religious fare, even with promising local efforts including those from R.J. Watkins.[83]

 
WGPR station ID used until the CBS switch in 1994

In 1989, John Barron wrote a story for Detroit Monthly that included watching 24 hours of channel 62's programming. He described the station's eclectic output as a "video menagerie" of specialty programs, unusual local preachers (among them Detroit area native Jack Van Impe), locally produced shows with production values "reminiscent of something you'd expect from a terrorist seeking ransom", and cheap local ads—as little as $35 for thirty seconds—that were "morsels for connoisseurs of the weird", summing it up as "the zeitgeist of Detroit, the entire spectrum of the city's cultural influences, its hopes, its dreams—and what it wants to sell".[84]

 
Shaun Robinson began her media career at WGPR-TV as a news reporter, anchor and talk show host.

Its programming rarely attracted significant viewership or community attention, with one exception: talk show Strictly Speaking, which was most famously hosted by Shaun Robinson. Robinson joined channel 62 after graduating from Cass Technical High School and Spelman College[85] initially as a Big City News reporter but soon fronted Strictly Speaking, a topical talk show[86] where one media outlet dubbed her "our own Oprah".[87] Robinson left WGPR-TV in March 1989 to become the evening co-anchor for Flint's WEYI-TV;[88] her replacement, Darieth (Cummings) Chisholm,[83] boasted of wanting "to take Oprah's place" at one speaking engagement.[89] On a 1990 edition of the program, which had Rita Clark assuming host duties, Kwame Kenyatta of the New Afrikan People's Organization made comments about what he claimed was Israel's "unholy alliance with South Africa", which resulted in the organization receiving death threats and coverage of the controversy by WWJ radio.[90] Several months later, Faisal Arabo's Arab Voice program received unwanted attention when Arabo traveled to Iraq twice to meet Saddam Hussein in October and December 1990,[46] the first trip resulting in the freeing of 14 hostages.[91] Public sentiment due to the Gulf War led Anheuser-Busch to drop their sponsorship of Arab Voice, while Arabo denied his program had political leanings.[46]

WGPR-TV also picked up some assorted network shows: it aired CBS's The Pat Sajak Show in late-night when WJBK-TV declined to carry it[92] and added the NBC soap opera Santa Barbara in 1991 after WDIV-TV dropped the program.[93] When WJBK-TV dropped CBS This Morning to launch a local morning newscast in September 1992, WGPR-TV picked it up the following month.[94] After must-carry rules requiring local cable systems to carry all broadcast stations in their area were struck down in 1985, WGPR-TV did lose carriage on two suburban systems: a Harron Cable system on the Macomb–St. Clair county line and Grosse Pointe Cable, the latter of which had dropped channel 62 in 1991 in order to carry C-SPAN2.[95]

In May 1992, all but one[96] of the non-management employees at WGPR radio and television voted to unionize with the United Auto Workers (UAW), citing unfair working conditions. One anonymous employee told The Detroit News that "if the management didn't like the way you looked, didn't like the way you said 'hello', you were gone".[97] The UAW filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), claiming that management refused to bargain and demanded all negotiation sessions be recorded. That September, the news department was dismantled and all 11 employees laid off; management blamed the recession, but former employees claimed the layoffs were retaliation for their organizing activities;[97] the NLRB found in favor of the workers and recommended they be granted back pay and the reinstatement of their jobs.[96] Mathews was reputed to run the Masons—and especially WGPR—with an "iron fist", per a December 1992 story in the Michigan Chronicle, and to give women preferential treatment.[96] With the loss of local newscasts from the schedule, WGPR-TV continued to add more assorted off-network reruns. A lineup change in July 1993 had the station running Lou Grant, The Streets of San Francisco and Combat! in the early-evening hours as counterprogramming against local newscasts and sitcoms.[98] WGPR-TV's license renewal was briefly delayed in 1993 because it was one of seven television stations the FCC cited for failing to meet educational and informational standards in children's programming.[99]

CBS comes calling

Further information: 1994–1996 United States broadcast television realignment

The station has no news and no history in the market. It's amazing.

An anonymous CBS executive, describing WGPR-TV[100]

On May 23, 1994, New World Communications, owner of Detroit's CBS affiliate, WJBK-TV, announced that it had reached a deal to convert 12 stations from CBS to Fox affiliation.[101] The deal came on the heels of CBS losing the rights to National Football Conference football games to Fox; New World owned a string of mostly CBS affiliates in markets that were home to NFC football teams, including Detroit.[102] As a result, CBS needed to find multiple new affiliates in each of the affected markets, but that would turn out to be far easier said than done in Detroit. Over a three-month period, CBS explored and exhausted almost every available option to find a new affiliate partner or to identify a station to acquire. First, the network attempted to woo the NBC and ABC affiliates, WDIV-TV and WXYZ-TV, away from their existing alliances. It failed to do so; both NBC and ABC negotiated renewals with their stations that increased network compensation payments as much as four- to fivefold.[100] In the case of ABC's renewal with WXYZ-TV, additional contracts were secured with stations owned by WXYZ's parent company Scripps-Howard in several other cities.[103]

Unable to lure a VHF station, CBS's next target was WKBD-TV. On paper, channel 50 was a good fit for CBS, not least because it was the outgoing Fox affiliate and already produced local news. However, WKBD had been purchased the year before by Paramount Communications, which was already preparing to launch UPN in January 1995 with WKBD as a charter affiliate. Paramount reportedly turned down an offer of between $120 and $130 million.[103] CBS then approached WXON-TV; the network seemed more interested in an acquisition than a purchase, according to WXON's station manager, and offered half of what channel 20's owners thought the station was worth (reported to be as high as $200 million).[103] CBS also contacted WADL (channel 38), an independent station owned by Frank Adell. Adell was interested in CBS, but CBS offered him a poor deal: he sought five years and compensation, in line with other deals the network was making with new affiliates, while the network merely offered Adell one year without any compensation payments.[103] CBS's concern over Detroit was so great that the network also executed contingency plans. In June 1994, the network reached a deal to switch from UHF station WEYI-TV to VHF station WNEM-TV in the Saginaw–Flint area.[104]

It's difficult to part with anything you love. But we don't have the financial capabilities to do what we'd like to here. And we take pride in the fact that we're now making it possible to bring some new jobs to the City of Detroit.

George Mathews, on the Masons selling WGPR-TV after 19 years[105]

In WGPR-TV, which had already been carrying CBS This Morning, CBS finally found itself a home in Detroit, but one that Mike Duffy of the Detroit Free Press branded a "last resort" for the network.[106] On September 23, 1994, CBS announced it would purchase WGPR-TV for $24 million (equivalent to $43.9 million in 2021),[107] operating channel 62 under a local marketing agreement until the sale was approved.[105] The purchase brought with it the promise of 140 new jobs and an immediate push to upgrade the station's signal to achieve parity with the other network affiliates.[105] It also spared the station from imminent removal from cable systems in Windsor, Ontario, that had planned to drop channel 62 to make way for new Canadian cable channels to be launched in early 1995.[108] CBS's purchase made national headlines due to the network's duress, along with the station's high channel number and relative obscurity outside of the inner city: one unnamed network executive, unaware of WGPR-TV's history, told The New York Times reporter Bill Carter: "this station has no news and no history in the market".[100]

On December 11, 1994, WGPR-TV became the new CBS affiliate in Detroit, backed by a major promotional blitz[103] amounting to $1 million in ad spending over the first 10 weeks.[109] The first week was marred by issues that prevented some cable subscribers from seeing the station clearly; while ratings for channel 62 rose 11,000 percent over the station's former programming on the first Sunday night, ratings for CBS dipped by 25 percent.[110] CBS's desperate purchase of channel 62, however, would come at the cost of WGPR-TV's existing programming inventory, which was fully displaced by new syndicated and network programs. Such shows as The New Dance Show, which had replaced The Scene as channel 62's music program after it ended in 1987, and Arab Voice of Detroit, a long-running Saturday block aimed at southeast Michigan's large Middle Eastern community, disappeared from the Detroit airwaves,[27] as did the religious programs that had once kept it afloat.[111] Arab Voice host Faisal Arabo was offered a 30-minute slot on Saturday mornings by the incoming CBS management free of charge, but Arabo would not have been able to sell advertising to make a profit, causing him to decline the offer.[101] In the case of The New Dance Show and other programs produced by R.J. Watkins's Key/Wat Productions, many moved to a new low-power station on channel 68 that started the next year[112] which Watkins operated alongside his newly-acquired WHPR-FM (88.1).[113]

CBS's sale application, however, met with some opposition and attempts to keep the station Black-owned. Joel Ferguson, who had been rebuffed in 1986, joined forces with Bing and Roy Roberts, an executive at General Motors, to propose operation as a Black-owned CBS affiliate; Ferguson claimed he had offered $31 million for channel 62 weeks before the Masons took the $24 million CBS bid[114] but Mathews claimed no such offer was ever made, saying, "There was no one else in line when CBS came to us".[115] Ferguson's group, known as Spectrum Detroit, later expanded to include other business and religious leaders in the Black community[116] with one pastor calling the station "sacred property".[115] In December, the Spectrum Detroit group converted its proposal to an objection to the sale of WGPR-TV to CBS.[117] Representative John Conyers promised to pressure the FCC to reject the sale, believing that channel 62 could retain existing Black-focused programming if it remained Black-owned.[115] A Ukrainian-American man from Troy, Michigan, filed an objection claiming that a report on 60 Minutes was distorted and inaccurate, even though 60 Minutes was produced by CBS News and not WGPR-TV.[118] In a satirical mocking of CBS's obvious desperation, Detroit News columnist Jon Pepper jokingly predicted Joel Ferguson's group still had a chance to purchase the station, in turn forcing CBS to buy a ham radio unit located in a Plymouth, Michigan, basement for $40 million.[119]

The demise of WGPR-TV as originally envisioned was noted for marking the end of a station that had been started with a purpose but ultimately failed to deliver. Adolph Mongo, writing in the Michigan Chronicle, asked,[51]

What happened? How did a potentially great vehicle for Black people in the Detroit metropolitan area turn into the butt of many jokes in the media community? Programming was a joke. Technical problems were an everyday occurrence. The news department was eliminated and employees were treated worse than field hands working on a big plantation. Despite all those problems, the station had almost 20 years to become a sense of pride for the citizens of Detroit. Yet it never happened.

Legacy of WGPR-TV

WGPR-TV/FM Studio
 
Location
Coordinates42°20′25″N 83°1′1″W / 42.34028°N 83.01694°W / 42.34028; -83.01694
MPSThe Civil Rights Movement and the African American Experience in 20th Century Detroit MPS
NRHP reference No.100006101[120]
Added to NRHPJanuary 27, 2021

Even as the station never truly fulfilled its promised potential, WGPR-TV has been regarded as a needed starting point for many budding careers. Amyre Makupson, Sharon Crews, Pat Harvey, Shaun Robinson and current ESPN executive David Roberts[121] all began their careers at channel 62 before finding greater fame elsewhere. Ivy Banks remarked, "Dr. Banks never wanted to hold anybody back, he was happy for them. He knew that they could get a better salary somewhere else."[27] Former WGPR-TV program director Joe Spencer concurred, saying, "they'd come in here, get their first year or two under their belts, learn how to operate a camera, perform before the camera and write for TV. Then other stations would snap them up."[44]

CBS's purchase of channel 62 portended changes in FCC policy, particularly the repeal of a tax incentive program meant to encourage minority ownership[122] and the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which removed and relaxed ownership caps.[44] 19 television stations were owned by African-Americans in 1994,[27] a number that decreased to two in 2016[122] but went back to 12 in 2017, with four distinct owners holding those 12 stations.[44] Byron Allen, a Detroit native, currently owns or operates 30 television stations via his Entertainment Studios holdings, which were purchased between 2019[123] and 2021 but came mostly as the result of divestitures from much larger mergers and acquisitions.[124][125] Washington Post contributor Kristal Brent Zook has criticized the FCC for failing to come up with alternative strategies to help current and prospective minority owners burdened two-fold by both media consolidation and historical discrimination.[122]

You start losing people, and you lose the history. It's a story that needs to be told. Without Karen (Hudson-Samuels) and Joe (Spencer), it (the William V. Banks Broadcast Museum) would never have happened. They're the Esther Gordy Edwards of Motown.

Amyre Makupson[44]

WGPR's place in history has been preserved by organizations and former employees. Makupson, Spencer, former news director Karen Hudson-Samuels, The Scene host Nat Morris and former cameraman/director Bruce Harper co-founded the WGPR-TV Historical Society in 2011 during an informal reunion, with Samuels serving as executive director and Spencer as spokesman.[44] Plans were made by the group to create a museum for the television station at the former studios, which remain as the home to WGPR-FM, still under Mason ownership.[126] Spencer referred to the station as "a trailblazer in many ways"[127] while Samuels, who was also one of the station's first interns,[128] said of the effort, "We thought if we didn't tell the story, who would?"[44]

In 2016, the Detroit Historical Museum opened a temporary exhibit detailing the history of WGPR-TV[38] with artifacts from both the TV and radio stations.[31] The William V. Banks Broadcast Museum, named in honor of WGPR-TV's founder, opened to the public on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, January 16, 2017.[127] The building itself was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021, announced on February 1, 2021, the start of Black History Month.[129][130] An NRHP plaque would be affixed to the building's front entrance above the Michigan History Center's historical marker, which was unveiled in 2016.[131] The achievement would turn somber eight days later when Karen Hudson-Samuels died on February 9, 2021, shortly after the studios were listed on the National Register; Samuels was remembered as a pioneering journalist and mentor who worked to preserve much of Detroit's Black history.[128]

300 surviving episodes of The Scene were rebroadcast starting in January 1995 via Detroit-area cable-access television[30] alongside repeats of The New Dance Show.[132] Nat Morris has frequently made public appearances over the years embracing the legacy of The Scene, with one cast reunion in 2017 intentionally falling on his 70th birthday, quipping, "I didn't want to throw two parties."[28] Another reunion of dancers from both The Scene and The New Dance Show took place during the Detroit Cultural Center's 2021 Dlectricity festival, with Morris as emcee.[133] When noting the lasting influence The Scene has had in the community, Morris said, "We captured a period of Detroit... We were captured at our finest."[28]

In 2021, Bruiser Brigade, a Detroit hip-hop collective led by Danny Brown, released an album titled TV62, a direct reference to WGPR, with the station's historic butterfly logo featured on the cover. Jade Gomez of Paste noted that the album "feels like flipping through television channels" and "submerges" the audience "into their own playful public access show".[134]

WWJ-TV

New name, new power, but no news

There are some places where we're going into markets where there are literally no news department and the channel position is like almost triple digits. Where that's happening, we're obviously going to take a hit.

Andrew Heyward, CBS News vice president, on potential rating declines for the CBS Evening News[135]

 
CBS moved channel 62's operations after taking over the station to an office building in the River Place development.

Even with the objections filed against the sale, CBS committed to relaunching channel 62 as a CBS owned-and-operated station and appointed network vice president Jay Newman to help guide the launch.[136] The network's $1 million promotional blitz[137] centered around re-branding WGPR-TV as "CBS Detroit" and "62 CBS", downplaying the call sign entirely.[138] Included in the campaign were some CBS personalities—including Murphy Brown star Candice Bergen—making fun of the high channel position, with Bergen saying in one ad, "I'm thinking of a really big number."[137] CBS executive vice president George Schweitzer said of the campaign, "we've taken the potential disadvantage of being on a high number and turned it into a point of difference."[138] Joe Spencer was retained as program director during this transition and was tasked with setting up a new schedule as a CBS outlet.[136] As WGPR-TV had no news presence for nearly three years, the early evening hours included The Jane Whitney Show and A Current Affair as lead-ins to the CBS Evening News, while Late Show with David Letterman had a start time of 11 p.m. as opposed to the network time slot of 11:35 p.m.[137] Network executives, including CBS News vice president Andrew Heyward,[135] were especially concerned over the CBS Evening News, already struggling in ratings locally against World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News, not having a local lead-in of any sort.[106]

Industry analysts felt the purchase and relaunch of channel 62, while CBS's worst-case scenario, was the best-case scenario for Detroit. W.B. Doner & Co. executive Harvey Rabinowitz was encouraged at CBS needing to invest millions of dollars into building what was a brand-new television station.[103] CBS signed a lease to move channel 62 to Stroh's River Place as temporary office space,[136] while many existing WGPR-TV staffers were kept and retrained for technical positions.[137] Because of this, the station had to use the studio facilities of WTVS for Detroit: Making It Happen, a town hall meeting on January 31, 1995, with former WXYZ-TV anchorman Bill Bonds as moderator.[139] Bonds' presence was as a freelancer as he signed a contract with WJBK-TV the next day.[140] Newman admitted prior to the affiliation change that WGPR-TV's relaunch as a CBS station "may be the quickest start-up operation in history, certainly in a major market".[136] Compounding matters was viewer confusion over where certain network shows were moving to; an anonymous The Young and the Restless fan told the Free Press, "I wonder if GE makes a (TV) radio that gets channel 62", having followed the show while at work via her TV radio.[141] As it was, initial Nielsen ratings from the week of the switch showed CBS's soap operas and Late Show remaining competitive on channel 62, but ratings for the Evening News declined precipitously.[142]

 
WWJ-TV's current broadcast tower was built on land that also housed WWJ radio's former studios (pictured) and a transmitter site that was replaced.

On July 24, 1995, the FCC denied the two objections and approved the sale of WGPR-TV to CBS, also granting it a waiver to keep its two Detroit radio stations, WWJ (950 AM) and WYST (97.1 FM),[143] which had been owned by CBS since 1988.[144] In denying the objections, the commission recognized that the terms of the local marketing agreement showed George Mathews still holding control over channel 62's programming, finances and staffing for a two-year period, regarded the affiliation switch as something the minority-controlled license holders agreed to, and saw the sale as "in the public interest".[145] The network immediately announced that it would expand its heretofore-temporary River Place offices and that the call letters would be changed to WWJ-TV, mimicking their AM sister.[143] These changes occurred once the sale was consummated on September 20, 1995,[146] returning the WWJ calls to the television dial for the first time since the original WWJ-TV (channel 4) became WDIV-TV on July 22, 1978, after it was sold off.[147] Jay Newman was formally named as channel 62 general manager and sought to have a new facility constructed housing CBS's TV and radio properties, but declined to give a timetable, saying, "It's like buying a house; it doesn't happen right away."[143]

CBS faced many challenges in its effort to make WWJ-TV competitive: David Poltrack, the executive vice president for planning and research for the CBS stations, called Detroit "the toughest situation for us" in the country, and CBS ratings fell 46 percent year-over-year.[148] In the first week of the 1995–1996 television season, CBS ratings fell by half over the first week of the 1994–1995 season on WJBK-TV.[149] The physical plant was among the largest needed improvements, and channel 62 had an inadequate signal now that it was a market-wide network affiliate. In 1997, CBS was approved to build a new transmitter facility, broadcasting at the UHF maximum of five million watts from a 1,087-foot (331 m) mast in Oak Park, that would replace the former WGPR-TV facility in Royal Oak Township.[150] The $10 million facility was activated on July 1, 1999, and also enabled the station to begin digital television broadcasts; the tower would also be used by some of CBS's FM radio stations and the original digital transmitter for WTVS.[151]

They can move Murder, She Wrote, revamp the entire primetime lineup and hire Leslie Moonves as entertainment chief, but there's one thing CBS can't change: Channel 62 in Detroit.

Joe Flint, writing for Variety[149]

In October 1995, CBS announced that it would set up a news department for WWJ-TV and had hired Steve Sabato from WLKY in Louisville, Kentucky, to serve as the news director. That April, CBS had felt the pain of not having more than a bureau with one correspondent in Detroit. When federal agents investigating the Oklahoma City bombing raided a farmhouse in Decker, north of Detroit in Sanilac County, CBS was the last network to break in with a special report; CBS News had one WNEM-TV reporter live by telephone but no pictures, compared to the coverage that ABC, NBC, and CNN were able to offer using the resources of their Detroit affiliates.[152] The station would also tap WWJ radio to produce cut-ins for air during the CBS/Group W newsmagazine Day and Date.[153] Jay Newman was no stranger to a start-up news operation, as CBS appointed him to manage Miami's WCIX-TV (a former Fox affiliate with a minimal news presence) in 1989; he suggested WWJ-TV should consider alternate methods of news delivery to stand out among the entrenched competition but that "are based in good journalism".[154] By the start of 1996, however, Sabato had returned to Louisville, and news plans for channel 62 were on hold.[155] During the late 1990s, the station's chief local programming effort was a weekly 30-minute newsmagazine, In Depth Detroit, hosted by former WDIV anchor and reporter Rich Mayk, which debuted in 1997.[156] The station also sporadically offered other news specials and live forums, but Newman conceded that WWJ-TV was still unable to start a news operation, although the network continued to evaluate other options.[157]

CBS-Viacom merger and 62 CBS News

In 1999, Viacom, owner of WKBD, acquired CBS. In a number of markets, this combination created newly permitted duopolies between established CBS stations and UPN outlets. However, in Detroit, it was the UPN station, WKBD, that was larger and had a functional local news department. WWJ-TV's inability to launch a news service of their own was attributed to start-up costs that, while initially estimated at $1 million,[135] were deemed too onerous[158] but Detroit Free Press columnist John Smyntek criticized the station for having effectively become "a CBS relay transmitter".[159] Even before the Viacom deal, the possibility of WKBD producing local news for channel 62 was being investigated, and a full dress rehearsal of a WWJ-TV newscast from channel 50 had been conducted.[160] While WWJ-TV made considerably more money airing syndicated fare in lieu of local newscasts, those programs started to become more expensive to purchase and thus made local news cheaper.[158]

Channel 50 has actually used the same approach for three years on its 10 p.m. newscast, but nobody noticed because that hour pulls the approximate ratings of a 3 a.m. infomercial about chinchilla breeding on The Discovery Channel.

Neal Rubin, on the "straight to the point" format of WWJ-TV's local news[161]

Viacom appointed WKBD's general manager, Mike Dunlop, to head up both stations, though only financial and technical staffs were initially combined.[162] In February 2001, it was then announced that WKBD would produce an 11 p.m. newscast for WWJ-TV, to use channel 50's existing talent from its Ten O'Clock News, starting on April 2. The move was made for two reasons: the station was losing its lucrative syndicated rights to Seinfeld, previously aired at 11 p.m., to WJBK-TV, and there were ratings and advertisers that only a newscast could command.[159] However, it was built based around the resources of WKBD-TV, which already aired Detroit's least-watched local newscast[158] as WJBK overtook it in the ratings at 10 p.m. right after the 1994 affiliation switch.[142] While CBS wanted either a 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. newscast launched on WWJ-TV at the same time, Dunlop declined to do so, saying, "I'd rather go up against two newscasts at first than three".[158]

The new WWJ-TV newscast promised viewers "tonight's local news, straight to the point". In The Detroit News, Neal Rubin derided the station's approach as "closed-captioned for the intelligence impaired" and overuse of the phrases "straight facts" and "straight to the point".[161] It failed to make a ratings impression, and general manager Mike Dunlop and Viacom parted ways in August.[163] In February 2002, Amyre Makupson and co-anchor Rich Fisher were moved exclusively to WWJ-TV's 11 p.m. newscast to allow WKBD to shift to a presentation targeting younger viewers.[164] The newscast on channel 62 also became known as "62 CBS Eyewitness News".[165] Despite the changes, Tom Long wrote in The News that the WKBD and WWJ newscasts could be called "the attack of the clones" for their similarity.[166]

Low ratings, however, doomed the effort. In September 2002, rumblings surfaced that Viacom was about to pull the plug on the WKBD–WWJ news operation—the last newsroom Viacom inherited from Paramount that was still operating[167]—which were met by lukewarm responses from executives.[168] Viacom then decided to contract with WXYZ-TV for a 10 p.m. newscast on channel 50,[169] with channel 62 airing reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond at 11.[170] The last full newscast on WWJ-TV aired on December 3, 2002.[171]

"First Forecast"

 
WWJ-TV logo used from 2008 to 2012
 
Former First Forecast logo

In January 2008, the station rebranded itself as "WWJ-TV", dropping the "CBS Detroit" moniker it had been using, and reintroduced local weather updates titled "First Forecast" during The Early Show and at 11 p.m.[172] That same year, the station entered into a three-year contract with the Detroit Lions to broadcast their preseason games and in-season coaches' shows, which had been on WKBD.[173] In 2009, the weather forecasts expanded with a new live two-hour morning program, First Forecast Mornings. News headlines on the program were provided through a partnership with the Detroit Free Press.[174] From 2011, Syma Chowdhry, later of WXYZ-TV and News 12 New Jersey, was the program's news anchor.[175] First Forecast Mornings ended on December 28, 2012, and was replaced with the CBS Morning News and a re-airing of Dr. Phil; a statement issued by the station read, "WWJ remains committed to local programming where it makes sense."[176]

In 2017, CBS Radio agreed to merge with Entercom, which separated WWJ radio from WWJ-TV.[177] Due to the nature of the sale, CBS retained the trademark rights to "WWJ",[178] which was leased back to Entercom (now Audacy, Inc.) for use on the radio station under a long-term licensing agreement.[179]

CBS News Detroit

See also: CBS News (streaming service) § CBS News Local

The demand now is to be able to consume content when and where viewers want it. And this is a great opportunity to do that and really offer them content that flows like water, from streaming to linear and to digital and to social platforms.

Adrienne Roark, president, CBS Stations[180]

On December 14, 2021, WWJ-TV/WKBD parent ViacomCBS (since renamed Paramount Global)[181] announced it would start a full-scale news service in Detroit, CBS News Detroit, which was slated to begin in the late summer or early fall of 2022.[180] This announcement followed prior unveiling of plans by CBS News to rebrand their over-the-top media service CBSN[182] and localized iterations of CBSN among the entire owned-and-operated station group as the CBS News Streaming Network and "CBS News Local", respectively.[183] WWJ-TV/WKBD vice president/general manager Brian Watson approached Wendy McMahon, co-president of CBS News and Stations,[184] about establishing the news service; McMahon later described her initial reaction as, "...I thought to myself, 'This never happens. Until now.'"[185] A local newscast had previously been restored to WKBD in 2020, produced from KTVT in Fort Worth, Texas, and having been launched after the successful rollout of CBSN's localized platforms.[186]

Unique for an American broadcast television station, CBS News Detroit will produce 137 hours a week of online streaming news, with 40 of those hours simulcast in key time periods over WWJ-TV.[180] Correspondents are assigned to beats organized by community, including a State Capitol reporter in Lansing;[185] each of the 14 reporters has their own Ford Bronco equipped with mobile editing systems, allowing them to produce reports without visiting the Southfield studio.[187] A lifted Ford F-150 serves as a mobile weather truck.[188] The newsroom, which also serves as the news set, has an industrial design.[188]

In January 2022, Paul Pytlowany, an employee of WKBD since 1988 and the director of local production and community affairs for WKBD and WWJ-TV since 2017, was named the founding news director.[189] The initial series of on-air talent hires announced on July 11, 2022, included Amyre Makupson's daughter, also named Amyre, as executive producer of community impact, a move WWJ-TV billed as her "following in the footsteps of her mother".[190] Veteran broadcaster Ronnie Duncan, named as the station's lead sports anchor, is the father of CBS Weekend News anchor and network correspondent Jericka Duncan.[191]

On September 1, 2022, WWJ-TV rebranded from "CBS 62" to "CBS Detroit" in anticipation of the launch of CBS News Detroit. By year's end, the launch plan had changed, owing to supply chain- and pandemic-induced delays:[187] weeknight newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m. launched on January 23, 2023,[192][193] with additional local news in the morning, midday and afternoon hours to follow later in the first half of the year.[194] Notably, the delay meant the station missed out on selling political advertising during the new newscasts in the run-up to state elections in November.[187]

Local programming

WWJ-TV produces one current affairs program, Michigan Matters, a panel discussion program focusing on issues relevant to metro Detroit. It is hosted by Carol Cain, columnist for the Detroit Free Press; panelists have included Denise Ilitch and L. Brooks Patterson.[195] It also airs "Eye on Detroit" feature segments during CBS Mornings.[189]

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WWJ-TV[196]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
62.1 1080i 16:9 WWJ-HD Main WWJ-TV programming / CBS
62.2 480i StartTV Start TV
62.3 DABL Dabl
62.4 FAVE TV Fave TV

WWJ-TV began broadcasting a digital signal on UHF channel 44 shortly after the Oak Park tower went into service in 1999.[151] Analog broadcasts on channel 62 ended on June 12, 2009, as part of the digital television transition.[197][198]

In 2020, WWJ became one of five Detroit stations participating in the launch of ATSC 3.0 (Next Gen TV), provided by WMYD in the Detroit market.[199]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b FCC History Cards for WWJ-TV
  2. ^ Peterson, Bettelou (August 23, 1968). "Detroit's New UHF TV Station: Channel 62 Set to Debut Sept. 15". Detroit Free Press. Detroit, Michigan. p. 5-D. from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
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  18. ^ a b c d e Garland, Hazel (March 27, 1976). "Video Vignettes". Pittsburgh Courier. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. p. 14. from the original on January 28, 2022. Retrieved January 23, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
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Bibliography

  • Castelnero, Gordon (2006). TV Land Detroit. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. pp. 8–9, 160–178, 221. ISBN 978-0-472-03124-5. Retrieved March 2, 2022.

Documentaries

  • Henderson, Stephen (January 8, 2017). WGPR-TV Museum | American Black Journal Clip (ep. 4514) (Television production). Detroit, Michigan: WTVS. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  • Henderson, Stephen (January 7, 2018). WGPR-TV Museum | American Black Journal Clip (ep. 4609) (Television production). Detroit, Michigan: WTVS. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  • Henderson, Stephen (February 5, 2018). WGPR | American Black Journal Clip (Television production). Detroit, Michigan: WTVS. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  • Henderson, Stephen (February 19, 2021). WGPR-TV | American Black Journal Clip (ep. 4908) (Television production). Detroit, Michigan: WTVS. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  • Kalinski, Pete (September 29, 2015). Digging Detroit: Episode 12 - WGPR TV's 40th Anniversary (YouTube). Kevin Walsh; Thomas J. Reed, Jr. Detroit, Michigan: Digging Detroit Productions. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  • Moore, Larry (April 5, 2017). WGPR Broadcast Museum Show (Television production). Detroit, Michigan: We Luv Detroit/WMYD. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  • Visit at the WGPR Museum TV & Radio Station! (YouTube). Fantabulous30. September 11, 2021. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  • A Little History About Black Broadcast Television Production in Detroit, Michigan, USA (YouTube). MacSpeaking. February 5, 2018. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  • WGPR Museum Special (YouTube). SteelHeartMedia. February 2, 2017. from the original on February 2, 2022. Retrieved February 2, 2022.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to WWJ-TV.
  • Official website
  • WGPR-TV History legacy site
  • WGPR Historical Society
  • Guided tour of the William V. Banks Broadcast Museum/WGPR-TV Studios on YouTube

February 05, 2023
television, station, detroit, known, from, 1947, 1978, wdiv, channel, television, station, detroit, michigan, united, states, owned, operated, television, network, under, common, ownership, with, affiliate, wkbd, under, network, news, stations, group, both, st. For the television station in Detroit known as WWJ TV from 1947 to 1978 see WDIV TV WWJ TV channel 62 is a television station in Detroit Michigan United States owned and operated by the CBS television network Under common ownership with CW affiliate WKBD TV under the network s CBS News and Stations group both stations share studios on Eleven Mile Road in the Detroit suburb of Southfield while WWJ TV s transmitter is located in Oak Park WWJ TVDetroit MichiganUnited StatesChannelsDigital 21 UHF Virtual 62BrandingCBS Detroit CBS News DetroitProgrammingAffiliations62 1 CBS62 2 Start TV62 3 Dabl62 4 Fave TVOwnershipOwnerCBS News and Stations Paramount Global CBS Broadcasting Inc Sister stationsWKBD TVHistoryFirst air dateSeptember 29 1975 47 years ago 1975 09 29 Former call signsWGPR TV 1973 1995 1 Former channel number s Analog 62 UHF 1975 2009 Digital 44 UHF 1999 2020 Former affiliationsIndependent 1975 1994 Call sign meaningderived from former sister station WWJ radioTechnical informationLicensing authorityFCCFacility ID72123ERP380 kWHAAT326 7 m 1 072 ft Transmitter coordinates42 26 52 5 N 83 10 23 1 W 42 447917 N 83 173083 W 42 447917 83 173083LinksPublic license informationPublic fileLMSWebsitewww wbr cbsnews wbr com wbr detroit wbr Founded as WGPR TV in 1975 by Dr William V Banks and the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons as an extension of WGPR 107 5 FM channel 62 in Detroit holds the distinction of being the first Black owned television station in the continental United States Though its ambitious early programming plans catering to the Black community did not fully pan out the station still produced several locally notable shows and housed a fully staffed news department WGPR TV helped launch careers of multiple local and national Black television hosts and executives with Pat Harvey Shaun Robinson Sharon Dahlonega Bush and Amyre Makupson among the most notable of alumni The original studios for WGPR TV still in use by the radio station have been preserved as a museum and recognized as a cultural landmark with inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places In 1994 when a major affiliation switch threatened to leave CBS without an affiliate in the Detroit market after multiple failures to secure a more successful station the network bought WGPR TV and dropped all existing programming in favor of CBS and syndicated programs later changing the call letters to WWJ TV The station has made multiple unsuccessful attempts at producing local newscasts in its more than 25 years under CBS ownership From assuming the affiliation in 1994 until 2001 from 2002 to 2009 and again from 2012 until 2023 WWJ TV held a dubious distinction as the only station directly owned by either of the Big Three networks not to have any significant local news presence A full news department known as CBS News Detroit began in January 2023 as an extension of CBS News s streaming service Contents 1 Prior use of channel 62 in Detroit 2 WGPR TV 2 1 Built by Masons 2 2 Signing on with a local focus 2 3 Financial and technical challenges 2 4 Turning to religion and creativity 2 5 After Banks s death 2 6 Changes and controversies 2 7 CBS comes calling 2 8 Legacy of WGPR TV 3 WWJ TV 3 1 New name new power but no news 3 2 CBS Viacom merger and 62 CBS News 3 3 First Forecast 3 4 CBS News Detroit 4 Local programming 5 Technical information 5 1 Subchannels 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 Documentaries 10 External linksPrior use of channel 62 in Detroit EditMain article WMYD On September 15 1968 WXON TV began broadcasting on channel 62 2 Licensed to nearby Walled Lake Michigan WXON TV operated on channel 62 for a total of four years In 1970 it purchased the construction permit of WJMY a channel 20 station that was built out but which its owner United Broadcasting had no financial resources to operate for 413 000 in United expenses 3 Land mobile interests pushed back against the sale seeking that channel 20 be reassigned for their use in metro Detroit 3 The Federal Communications Commission FCC approved the move in June 1972 4 and WXON moved from channel 62 to channel 20 using the former WJMY construction permit on December 9 1972 5 WGPR TV EditBuilt by Masons Edit We don t believe anybody else can do as well presenting black culture as we ourselves William V Banks 6 The move of WXON TV from channel 62 to channel 20 left the former available for assignment again in Detroit On October 10 1972 less than two months before WXON vacated the channel W G P R Inc the owner of WGPR 107 5 FM applied to the FCC for a new construction permit on channel 62 1 On May 31 1973 the FCC approved the application What made this action noteworthy was the nature of WGPR it was owned by the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons which had been founded by Dr William V Banks in Canton Ohio in 1950 and a quarter century later boasted 350 000 members Purchased by the Masons in 1964 7 WGPR FM was one of three Black owned radio stations in Metro Detroit and one of four that directly programmed to the Black community Despite being lower rated and placing a heavy emphasis on gospel music and religious fare particularly on Sundays the Masons rebuffed an offer of 1 5 million for WGPR FM in 1973 equivalent to 9 156 297 in 2021 8 Dr William V BanksWGPR TV would thus become the first Black owned television station in the mainland United States 9 as the two television stations in the U S Virgin Islands WSVI and WBNB TV were Black owned 10 Banks promised a schedule of mostly locally produced programs and news focusing on items of interest to Detroit s Black community 9 telling Jet that the station will provide in depth penetration into the problems goals aspirations and achievements of Blacks and related ethnic groups 11 The pursuit of a television station wholly owned and operated by Blacks was not without merit a 1975 Cablelines survey found Black people watched television at an average of 30 hours a week compared to 21 hours a week for Whites while Black children watched television for seven hours every day 12 Meanwhile Banks s pursuit of a television station also had connections with the prior channel 62 in Detroit Banks had analyzed purchasing WXON TV which was for sale for 1 million but the Ford Foundation and four Detroit banks denied him financing Following this an attempt was made to acquire WJMY which instead was sold to WXON TV in order for them to move from channel 62 to channel 20 13 Construction took nearly two years in part because lenders were unwilling to loan money to finance the station s start up 14 However work accelerated in 1975 as the Masons sold real estate holdings elsewhere to finance operations A former industrial office building at 3146 East Jefferson Avenue was purchased to house WGPR radio and television while federal government support expedited the purchase of steel necessary to erect a new transmitter facility 15 Broadcasting began at noon on September 29 1975 with recorded greetings from President Gerald R Ford and Senator Robert P Griffin 16 Ford said in his address WGPR will serve as a symbol of successful Black enterprise This is truly a landmark not only for the broadcasting industry but for American society I only wish I could be with you in person as WGPR goes on the air 17 Banks would credit President Ford for helping remove bureaucratic red tape for the Masons and overriding existing directives from The Pentagon for the steel purchase 18 The Detroit Free Press hailed the station s sign on in an October 3 1975 editorial as a new dimension and added stature to the area s entire telecommunications industry 19 Signing on with a local focus Edit Detroit is a city of 1 4 million people more than half of whom are Black Yet if you watch the other stations you find that the programming is only about one or two percent Black We felt that there was room for another station one that speaks to a Black audience James Panagos WGPR TV vice president 18 Amyre Porter Makupson Doug Morison and Sharon Crews presented WGPR TV s nightly Big City News in 1976 Channel 62 would debut into a television environment with a dearth of Black talent and programming This was most acute in the areas of syndicated shows and advertising James Panagos WGPR TV s vice president of sales was unable to hire a Black ad salesman so he set up a school to train TV sales professionals 6 Some White employees were hired with the stipulation that they train Black employees in their fields 20 38 Despite a national recession WGPR TV was able to secure 125 000 in advertising commitments from national companies including the major automakers and department stores Sears and Kmart enabling them to cover all operating costs for the first year an additional 300 000 was raised within the station s first 40 days on air 18 Little programming fulfilling the station s promise was available to the station in the syndication market with reruns of the Bill Cosby drama I Spy being the highest profile show and the only one on WGPR TV that starred a Black actor 18 I Spy Rawhide and Up and Coming were aired as management felt the shows treated Black people respectfully and acceptably 20 41 Consequently channel 62 leaned heavily on local program production much of it from scratch 21 Proposed programs included a soap opera A Time to Live set at a bar a live morning show with a studio audience The Morning Party and a children s show The Candy Store alongside other public service programming 6 Vice president of programming George White who joined WGPR FM in 1970 as program director 22 boasted that WGPR TV would operate as a complete production house 23 Bill Humphries hosted Speaking of Sports 20 39 which focused on local athletics and high school sports 21 Conrad Patrick one of the station s 15 White employees on a staff of 48 had planned to host a game show named Countdown 24 Additional syndicated offerings like The Abbott and Costello Show Get Smart Felix the Cat and assorted B movies comprised the remainder of the schedule 20 39 Prior to launch one distribution company in Puerto Rico was interested in syndicating A Time to Live and The Scene internationally to Argentina and the Caribbean 21 Several Black focused public affairs shows including Black on Black which WGPR TV and WEWS TV jointly produced and James Brown s syndicated variety series Future Shock were also carried 20 41 I remember when I told my parents I wanted to go into journalism but they had other ideas They were used to women being in positions of being a nurse a very honorable profession or a teacher which is what my mother was I told my father a broadcast journalist he looked at me strangely and said well Pat I don t know about that I mean you don t look anything like Walter Cronkite Pat Harvey 25 One show the live dance music program The Scene drew on the success of WGPR radio and was among its most successful 26 cars would sometimes clog Jefferson Avenue to see the stars arrive for tapings 27 Scene co host Nat Morris was originally hired in 1972 for WGPR FM and was simply given directions to play music with the cameras focusing on the dancers throughout 28 Often compared to American Bandstand and Soul Train the program inspired multiple popular area dance moves during competitions in what George White dubbed electronic sociology A full time talent coordinator was responsible for fielding mail in requests for prospective on stage dancers and booking singers and musical acts 29 James Brown The Gap Band The Time and Jermaine Jackson were among the program s most notable musical guests 30 Prince then a part of The Time had also been heavily promoted on WGPR FM with several gold records given to the stations from both he and the band 31 When Nat Morris took time off for a vacation Panagos tapped Pat Harvey who joined WGPR TV in 1976 32 as a sales assistant to be Morris s fill in host dubbed The Disco Lady In addition to being on The Scene Harvey hosted a daily five minute public affairs show on WGPR FM before joining WJBK TV channel 2 the market s CBS affiliate in their community affairs department 25 Harvey later found greater success as a news anchor for Chicago s WGN TV and Los Angeles s KCAL TV becoming the highest paid Black news anchor in the country in 1995 at the latter station after signing a multi year 1 million contract 32 Another early show Rolling Funk also featured dance music but in a roller derby environment taped at an Inkster roller rink This program was produced independently by a Black owned production company with aspirations for syndication 33 In the area of news WGPR TV s promise lured Jerry Blocker away from WWJ TV channel 4 the city s NBC affiliate 24 where he became Detroit s first Black newsman in 1967 34 Big City News initially aired twice a day 24 intending to cover topics that the three network affiliated TV newsrooms in town did not 15 Big City News targeted Detroit s urban population and eschewed the suburban audience which was more interested in crime reporting that disproportionately covered Blacks 20 41 Blocker explained that there are many stories both negative and positive that are not being told and that s what we re trying to get into 35 Emphasis was given on positive stories about the Black community social advocacy issues and community events 36 Sharon Crews was the station s first weather presenter 10 while Amyre Makupson nee Porter later the host of WKBD TV s 10 p m newscast 37 got her start at WGPR TV s news department 38 Previously working in public relations Makupson was laid off when the noon newscast she anchored was cancelled after 30 days due to lack of money but she volunteered at the station for the next 18 months later explaining you don t walk into a door without a tape you have to get a tape from somewhere 39 Employees often fell into their jobs in similar ways Ken Bryant Jr later a producer for WKBD WWJ TV had been hired as a cameraman but wound up becoming the director of the first edition of Big City News 20 38 The mere existence of a news department at WGPR TV was credited with increasing the number of Black writers anchors and sources at the network affiliated stations 40 One area of Big City News was technically innovative it was the first television news operation in Detroit to utilize videotape for news gathering purposes eschewing film entirely 35 Financial and technical challenges Edit 1976 WGPR TV print advertisement showing the station s butterfly logo After a year on the air the fanfare and some of the more ambitious goals have been lost in the dust In retrospect the station has done better than some expected simply by surviving But it has not lived up to all the rhetoric of those first weeks Howard Rontal 36 Amyre Makupson s situation was not unique as the station s early months were very rough Technical failures were common broadcast hours were cut back and programming plans were curtailed after just one month when Banks felt the station was losing too much money 27 Hopes of WGPR TV making an immediate ratings impact by luring existing Black viewers from the other channels in the market five licensed to Detroit proper and two in Windsor Ontario failed to materialize 18 Commercials particularly from the national clients that had made pledges to WGPR TV either failed to play correctly or would not play at all due to poor equipment General Motors in particular withdrew their advertising but allowed the station to keep the money 28 Banks s daughter station vice president Tenicia Gregory left a job as a college instructor to help run the station and never left despite the early struggles Gregory later said television turned out to be more than any of us thought at the end of 1975 it was obvious that I couldn t walk away from it It was impossible 39 Sharon Crews Dahlonega Raiford Bush in 2012 Where promises of 90 percent local production had once been made by Banks that figure was 30 percent by the end of 1975 26 A Time to Live the star program was delayed heavily by a conflict of interest dispute involving its writers both of whom were Black reporters for The Detroit News and ultimately never aired along with several other announced shows 36 Substantial downsizing and reorganizations took place at WGPR TV the news department was reduced from twelve people to six 20 42 and Blocker departed after less than a year on the advice of a doctor 27 while Sharon Crews left at the end of 1976 to join WGHP TV 41 Altogether payroll was trimmed from 35 000 a month to 18 000 a month by July 1977 alongside other austerity measures 42 The station had lost as much as 15 000 a week equivalent to 75 538 in 2021 during its first year on air 20 42 amid threats of equipment repossession and closure 27 WGPR s transmitter was damaged following an August 1976 thunderstorm forcing the station to be off the air for an entire weekend while repairs were made 43 Camera tube replacements for one of the two cameras The Scene used could not take place as the 35 000 cost was deemed prohibitive resulting in mismatched pictures from the cameras 28 Even the technical innovation of using videotape became a hindrance due to continuous wiping resulting in both degraded overall quality on air and much of the station s early years being lost 20 34 In 1977 one station vice president Ulysses W Boykin testified before the United States Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications that there appears to have been a conspiracy in the United States that has kept the Black minority out of meaningful participation in radio and television ownership and has prevented those Black owned stations from getting a fair share of the business as well as any financing 13 Advertising remained a primary obstacle as few White owned business were willing or motivated to partner with Black owned media let alone channel 62 limiting the amount of local output that could be produced even further 20 39 40 One major problem however was far beyond the station s control Detroit s decreasing overall population and concurrently growing Black population which by 1976 was larger than either Louisville Kentucky or Nashville Tennessee 36 coupled with overall economic disinvestment resulted in fewer opportunities for Black entrepreneurs 20 42 One analysis of Black capitalism in Detroit during the mid 1970s saw as many as 90 percent of Black run businesses failing in the first five years through a combination of managerial inexperience under capitalization poor locations and bankers unwilling to offer loans 36 Still some ad agencies partnered with WGPR TV despite minimal ratings Young amp Rubicam representative Judy Anderson explained There aren t any ratings You ve got to go by the seat of your pants I believe in addressing the black market as much as you can 42 Turning to religion and creativity Edit However Banks was able to keep the station afloat by brokering time to religious ministries 27 The Masons and Banks especially held deep religious convictions and operated under Christian beliefs and values 20 36 When the Masons purchased WGPR FM in 1964 Banks gave the call sign which originally stood for Grosse Pointe Radio the alternate meaning of Where God s Presence Radiates 44 Among the earliest national ministries that purchased airtime was The PTL Club which by 1976 was on channel 62 for four hours a day 36 and became one of the station s more popular religious programs 45 By 1977 The PTL Club purchased 24 hours a week on the station generating 36 000 monthly 42 Various ethnic groups also purchased airtime on WGPR TV The Arab Voice of Detroit was a weekly Saturday night program hosted by Faisal Arabo aimed at Metro Detroit s Arab language communities 46 and Iraqi American population one of the largest of any American city 47 Arabo launched Arab Voice in June 1979 48 after having hosted a similar radio show over WJLB 1400 AM 49 Channel 62 also aired shows aimed at other ethnicities including Dino s Greece Polish Panorama and Romanian Variety 20 40 such programming had been introduced as far back as early 1976 50 While these shows opened up WGPR TV to other underserved minority voices a commitment Banks made in the station s license application 50 this was criticized by some for turning the station into a home for special interests and thus ignoring the Black community 51 Some of the televangelists channel 62 featured were controversial Richard Brookes hosted Faith for Miracles which debuted in December 1977 on Sunday afternoons and eventually added two weekday programs Brookes on air presence encountered scrutiny after a August 20 1979 Detroit Free Press front page story revealed his history with spousal abuse adultery and violence along with substantial unpaid debts to Canton station WJAN TV and a Cleveland advertising agency 52 his program was dropped several weeks later after a loss in donations 53 Rev Laurence J London who hosted a Sunday evening program was arrested in June 1982 along with his wife by Birmingham police on charges of prostitution and solicitation 54 Jerry Falwell Sr s The Old Time Gospel Hour was also picked up by WGPR TV 39 and attracted attention in 1985 when Falwell called Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu a phony for representing Blacks in South Africa and his anti Apartheid stances 55 Tenicia Gregory defended the station s airing of Falwell saying If we say we reject all the programming that has opinion that we do not believe in personally we would not be able to be on the air to train all of the minorities we have and offer the public alternative programming and programming from a black perspective 39 One church used their paid airtime on channel 62 in a novel way the Metropolitan Church purchased a prime time hour on WGPR TV for 1 200 for a fundraising campaign on November 7 1981 limited solely to the congregation as not all of the church s members consistently attended The hour long program raised 404 902 equivalent to 1 206 851 in 2021 56 All night movies were also added to broaden channel 62 s appeal in 1977 57 which made the station the first in the market to operate 24 hours a day 42 58 Horror host Ron The Ghoul Sweed moved his Z movie comedy show to WGPR TV on January 6 1978 after prior runs on WXON and WKBD TV 59 but the program was quietly cancelled by June 60 The weekly Black Film Showcase debuted on February 3 1979 hosted by Karen Hudson Samuels the program centered around feature films starring Blacks along with profiles on the stars and a panel discussion 61 Detroit representative Charles Diggs hosted Diggs Washington Forum a panel discussion program taped from Washington D C as part of the station s public service offerings 62 Banks offered the time slot after Diggs helped amend a treaty with the Canadian Radio television and Telecommunications Commission CRTC that allowed the station to be viewable over the air in Canada saying We feel indebted to him so we did what we could to help him out 36 Gregory who frequently referred to her father as Dr Banks later reflected on his deferrals whenever she asked him for advice instilling the importance of making decisions for herself 39 Nat Morris remembered Banks once insisted a newer set for The Scene was not necessary with the parable the set is not the show prompting Morris to focus on the show in a more substantial manner 28 One potential method of making money however never panned out In 1979 the station sold the rights for a potential subscription television service to be broadcast over WGPR TV to Universal Subscription Television US TV an affiliate of Canadian communications company CanWest Capital Corporation 63 At the time Universal was operating one subscription operation on Boston s WQTV and held authorizations to operate in several other areas including Long Island Minneapolis and Sacramento California 64 In 1981 US TV was acquired in two parts by Satellite Television amp Associated Resources of Santa Monica California the first acquisition included unbuilt franchises for services on WGPR TV and KSTS in San Jose California 65 However no such pay service ever materialized likely because Detroit already had two such operators in place 66 By the eighth year however channel 62 was finally turning a profit 27 and offering over 60 hours a week of local programming 39 The station also began airing assorted sporting events starting in 1981 with Michigan State Spartans men s basketball Major League Baseball on NBC games preempted by WDIV TV NBA on CBS games preempted by WJBK TV and Mizlou Television Network s coverage of the 1981 Astro Bluebonnet Bowl 67 After Banks s death Edit The idea was they could be a black entry onto the airwaves But Channel 62 has fallen far short of what the black community hoped for in Detroit I hope something happens to get them off dead center There won t be any change however until the black community approaches management and says We want change and are willing to support you Buzz Luttrell former WXYZ TV reporter 68 William V Banks died in August 1985 at the age of 82 69 Banks s death triggered a brief round of dissension among the Masons including a March 1986 lawsuit by 46 members of the lodge claiming that Ivy Banks William s widow had denied any information about the financial condition of the WGPR stations to them 70 One of the plaintiffs was George Mathews an accountant and former Union Carbide employee from Niagara Falls New York Unsolicited offers were also received for channel 62 most notably a bid from a company called Heart of Downtown Television headed by Lansing television station owner Joel Ferguson and including former boxer Thomas Hearns and former basketball player and future Detroit mayor Dave Bing 71 Analysts believed that the station would be able to pose a ratings and revenue threat to WXON and WKBD with even a minor investment in programming and equipment noting that WKBD had been sold for 70 million two years earlier 68 While the February 1985 Arbitron ratings listed WGPR TV in last place in every category with only one percent of all television sets in the Detroit media market tuned in to channel 62 39 the combined profit margin for WGPR radio and television in 1984 was 31 percent well above the National Association of Broadcasters NAB average of 18 8 percent for an average UHF station 68 No sale materialized and after a judge ruled in favor of the Masons and against Ivy Banks Mathews moved to Detroit to run WGPR TV and improve a station that per New York media analyst Peter Appert was not even attempting to claim a meaningful audience share in the market 72 Tenicia Gregory who Mathews replaced as general manager then sued Mathews while Ivy Banks counter sued the Masons for 1 3 million equivalent to 3 1 million in 2021 in unpaid loans 73 Mathews who had no background in broadcasting and admitted to Ebony magazine that he was relying on people who were competent and loyal in his new job 74 took over the station as the marketplace for television stations began to cool after several recent purchases were now deemed to have been at inflated prices consequently Mathews took WGPR off the market for the short term 72 Veteran broadcaster Don Haney predicted that the station s heavy emphasis on paid religious programming would need to change in order to improve from a competitive stance 68 By June 1987 Panagos confirmed that WGPR would add more general entertainment fare and movies to the schedule by the fall 73 while program director Joe Spencer later admitted the station was intending to shirk the special interest label 75 When The PTL Club which WGPR TV continued to air three times a day on weekdays became ensnared in controversy over former host Jim Bakker station program director Joe Spencer said no phone calls were fielded either in protest or support 76 while Panagos asserted WGPR TV would not drop the program despite the ministry owing 126 945 77 Changes and controversies Edit My mother looked at me and I told her I was going to do television and she says You re strange You re weird What do you mean you re going to do TV Because when we grew up black people were not on television that much unless they made the news True story R J Watkins 78 December 31 1987 saw the end of one WGPR programming mainstay The Scene was dropped from the lineup and replaced with Contempo a similar dance music program but focusing on newer music 79 The New Dance Show also debuted on WGPR TV in 1988 as an informal successor to The Scene produced and hosted by R J Watkins and airing at 6 p m weeknights 78 In contrast to the disco influences of The Scene The New Dance Show focused more heavily on techno and house music with music selections that ranged from Kraftwerk to 2 Live Crew to CeCe Peniston 80 Watkins who produced both The New Dance Show and Video Request would eventually syndicate both shows via satellite to over 40 different markets Watkins hosted a kick off party on April 10 1992 at the State Theatre to celebrate the occasion which WGPR TV carried live 81 During this time channel 62 also added several programs aimed at other specialty audiences in southeastern Michigan In August 1986 the station started carrying the International Television Network which was an overnight four hour block of primarily foreign language subtitled programs complementing the existing locally based ethnic fare 82 Telecasts of Michigan Wolverines football and Eastern Michigan Eagles football were also added 75 However the station was still criticized in 1989 for persistent technical deficiencies equipment issues and an uneven programming structure that still weighed heavily on religious fare even with promising local efforts including those from R J Watkins 83 WGPR station ID used until the CBS switch in 1994 In 1989 John Barron wrote a story for Detroit Monthly that included watching 24 hours of channel 62 s programming He described the station s eclectic output as a video menagerie of specialty programs unusual local preachers among them Detroit area native Jack Van Impe locally produced shows with production values reminiscent of something you d expect from a terrorist seeking ransom and cheap local ads as little as 35 for thirty seconds that were morsels for connoisseurs of the weird summing it up as the zeitgeist of Detroit the entire spectrum of the city s cultural influences its hopes its dreams and what it wants to sell 84 Shaun Robinson began her media career at WGPR TV as a news reporter anchor and talk show host Its programming rarely attracted significant viewership or community attention with one exception talk show Strictly Speaking which was most famously hosted by Shaun Robinson Robinson joined channel 62 after graduating from Cass Technical High School and Spelman College 85 initially as a Big City News reporter but soon fronted Strictly Speaking a topical talk show 86 where one media outlet dubbed her our own Oprah 87 Robinson left WGPR TV in March 1989 to become the evening co anchor for Flint s WEYI TV 88 her replacement Darieth Cummings Chisholm 83 boasted of wanting to take Oprah s place at one speaking engagement 89 On a 1990 edition of the program which had Rita Clark assuming host duties Kwame Kenyatta of the New Afrikan People s Organization made comments about what he claimed was Israel s unholy alliance with South Africa which resulted in the organization receiving death threats and coverage of the controversy by WWJ radio 90 Several months later Faisal Arabo s Arab Voice program received unwanted attention when Arabo traveled to Iraq twice to meet Saddam Hussein in October and December 1990 46 the first trip resulting in the freeing of 14 hostages 91 Public sentiment due to the Gulf War led Anheuser Busch to drop their sponsorship of Arab Voice while Arabo denied his program had political leanings 46 WGPR TV also picked up some assorted network shows it aired CBS s The Pat Sajak Show in late night when WJBK TV declined to carry it 92 and added the NBC soap opera Santa Barbara in 1991 after WDIV TV dropped the program 93 When WJBK TV dropped CBS This Morning to launch a local morning newscast in September 1992 WGPR TV picked it up the following month 94 After must carry rules requiring local cable systems to carry all broadcast stations in their area were struck down in 1985 WGPR TV did lose carriage on two suburban systems a Harron Cable system on the Macomb St Clair county line and Grosse Pointe Cable the latter of which had dropped channel 62 in 1991 in order to carry C SPAN2 95 In May 1992 all but one 96 of the non management employees at WGPR radio and television voted to unionize with the United Auto Workers UAW citing unfair working conditions One anonymous employee told The Detroit News that if the management didn t like the way you looked didn t like the way you said hello you were gone 97 The UAW filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board NLRB claiming that management refused to bargain and demanded all negotiation sessions be recorded That September the news department was dismantled and all 11 employees laid off management blamed the recession but former employees claimed the layoffs were retaliation for their organizing activities 97 the NLRB found in favor of the workers and recommended they be granted back pay and the reinstatement of their jobs 96 Mathews was reputed to run the Masons and especially WGPR with an iron fist per a December 1992 story in the Michigan Chronicle and to give women preferential treatment 96 With the loss of local newscasts from the schedule WGPR TV continued to add more assorted off network reruns A lineup change in July 1993 had the station running Lou Grant The Streets of San Francisco and Combat in the early evening hours as counterprogramming against local newscasts and sitcoms 98 WGPR TV s license renewal was briefly delayed in 1993 because it was one of seven television stations the FCC cited for failing to meet educational and informational standards in children s programming 99 CBS comes calling Edit Further information 1994 1996 United States broadcast television realignment The station has no news and no history in the market It s amazing An anonymous CBS executive describing WGPR TV 100 On May 23 1994 New World Communications owner of Detroit s CBS affiliate WJBK TV announced that it had reached a deal to convert 12 stations from CBS to Fox affiliation 101 The deal came on the heels of CBS losing the rights to National Football Conference football games to Fox New World owned a string of mostly CBS affiliates in markets that were home to NFC football teams including Detroit 102 As a result CBS needed to find multiple new affiliates in each of the affected markets but that would turn out to be far easier said than done in Detroit Over a three month period CBS explored and exhausted almost every available option to find a new affiliate partner or to identify a station to acquire First the network attempted to woo the NBC and ABC affiliates WDIV TV and WXYZ TV away from their existing alliances It failed to do so both NBC and ABC negotiated renewals with their stations that increased network compensation payments as much as four to fivefold 100 In the case of ABC s renewal with WXYZ TV additional contracts were secured with stations owned by WXYZ s parent company Scripps Howard in several other cities 103 Unable to lure a VHF station CBS s next target was WKBD TV On paper channel 50 was a good fit for CBS not least because it was the outgoing Fox affiliate and already produced local news However WKBD had been purchased the year before by Paramount Communications which was already preparing to launch UPN in January 1995 with WKBD as a charter affiliate Paramount reportedly turned down an offer of between 120 and 130 million 103 CBS then approached WXON TV the network seemed more interested in an acquisition than a purchase according to WXON s station manager and offered half of what channel 20 s owners thought the station was worth reported to be as high as 200 million 103 CBS also contacted WADL channel 38 an independent station owned by Frank Adell Adell was interested in CBS but CBS offered him a poor deal he sought five years and compensation in line with other deals the network was making with new affiliates while the network merely offered Adell one year without any compensation payments 103 CBS s concern over Detroit was so great that the network also executed contingency plans In June 1994 the network reached a deal to switch from UHF station WEYI TV to VHF station WNEM TV in the Saginaw Flint area 104 It s difficult to part with anything you love But we don t have the financial capabilities to do what we d like to here And we take pride in the fact that we re now making it possible to bring some new jobs to the City of Detroit George Mathews on the Masons selling WGPR TV after 19 years 105 In WGPR TV which had already been carrying CBS This Morning CBS finally found itself a home in Detroit but one that Mike Duffy of the Detroit Free Press branded a last resort for the network 106 On September 23 1994 CBS announced it would purchase WGPR TV for 24 million equivalent to 43 9 million in 2021 107 operating channel 62 under a local marketing agreement until the sale was approved 105 The purchase brought with it the promise of 140 new jobs and an immediate push to upgrade the station s signal to achieve parity with the other network affiliates 105 It also spared the station from imminent removal from cable systems in Windsor Ontario that had planned to drop channel 62 to make way for new Canadian cable channels to be launched in early 1995 108 CBS s purchase made national headlines due to the network s duress along with the station s high channel number and relative obscurity outside of the inner city one unnamed network executive unaware of WGPR TV s history told The New York Times reporter Bill Carter this station has no news and no history in the market 100 On December 11 1994 WGPR TV became the new CBS affiliate in Detroit backed by a major promotional blitz 103 amounting to 1 million in ad spending over the first 10 weeks 109 The first week was marred by issues that prevented some cable subscribers from seeing the station clearly while ratings for channel 62 rose 11 000 percent over the station s former programming on the first Sunday night ratings for CBS dipped by 25 percent 110 CBS s desperate purchase of channel 62 however would come at the cost of WGPR TV s existing programming inventory which was fully displaced by new syndicated and network programs Such shows as The New Dance Show which had replaced The Scene as channel 62 s music program after it ended in 1987 and Arab Voice of Detroit a long running Saturday block aimed at southeast Michigan s large Middle Eastern community disappeared from the Detroit airwaves 27 as did the religious programs that had once kept it afloat 111 Arab Voice host Faisal Arabo was offered a 30 minute slot on Saturday mornings by the incoming CBS management free of charge but Arabo would not have been able to sell advertising to make a profit causing him to decline the offer 101 In the case of The New Dance Show and other programs produced by R J Watkins s Key Wat Productions many moved to a new low power station on channel 68 that started the next year 112 which Watkins operated alongside his newly acquired WHPR FM 88 1 113 CBS s sale application however met with some opposition and attempts to keep the station Black owned Joel Ferguson who had been rebuffed in 1986 joined forces with Bing and Roy Roberts an executive at General Motors to propose operation as a Black owned CBS affiliate Ferguson claimed he had offered 31 million for channel 62 weeks before the Masons took the 24 million CBS bid 114 but Mathews claimed no such offer was ever made saying There was no one else in line when CBS came to us 115 Ferguson s group known as Spectrum Detroit later expanded to include other business and religious leaders in the Black community 116 with one pastor calling the station sacred property 115 In December the Spectrum Detroit group converted its proposal to an objection to the sale of WGPR TV to CBS 117 Representative John Conyers promised to pressure the FCC to reject the sale believing that channel 62 could retain existing Black focused programming if it remained Black owned 115 A Ukrainian American man from Troy Michigan filed an objection claiming that a report on 60 Minutes was distorted and inaccurate even though 60 Minutes was produced by CBS News and not WGPR TV 118 In a satirical mocking of CBS s obvious desperation Detroit News columnist Jon Pepper jokingly predicted Joel Ferguson s group still had a chance to purchase the station in turn forcing CBS to buy a ham radio unit located in a Plymouth Michigan basement for 40 million 119 The demise of WGPR TV as originally envisioned was noted for marking the end of a station that had been started with a purpose but ultimately failed to deliver Adolph Mongo writing in the Michigan Chronicle asked 51 What happened How did a potentially great vehicle for Black people in the Detroit metropolitan area turn into the butt of many jokes in the media community Programming was a joke Technical problems were an everyday occurrence The news department was eliminated and employees were treated worse than field hands working on a big plantation Despite all those problems the station had almost 20 years to become a sense of pride for the citizens of Detroit Yet it never happened Legacy of WGPR TV Edit WGPR TV FM StudioU S National Register of Historic Places Location3146 E Jefferson Ave Detroit MichiganCoordinates42 20 25 N 83 1 1 W 42 34028 N 83 01694 W 42 34028 83 01694MPSThe Civil Rights Movement and the African American Experience in 20th Century Detroit MPSNRHP reference No 100006101 120 Added to NRHPJanuary 27 2021Even as the station never truly fulfilled its promised potential WGPR TV has been regarded as a needed starting point for many budding careers Amyre Makupson Sharon Crews Pat Harvey Shaun Robinson and current ESPN executive David Roberts 121 all began their careers at channel 62 before finding greater fame elsewhere Ivy Banks remarked Dr Banks never wanted to hold anybody back he was happy for them He knew that they could get a better salary somewhere else 27 Former WGPR TV program director Joe Spencer concurred saying they d come in here get their first year or two under their belts learn how to operate a camera perform before the camera and write for TV Then other stations would snap them up 44 CBS s purchase of channel 62 portended changes in FCC policy particularly the repeal of a tax incentive program meant to encourage minority ownership 122 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996 which removed and relaxed ownership caps 44 19 television stations were owned by African Americans in 1994 27 a number that decreased to two in 2016 122 but went back to 12 in 2017 with four distinct owners holding those 12 stations 44 Byron Allen a Detroit native currently owns or operates 30 television stations via his Entertainment Studios holdings which were purchased between 2019 123 and 2021 but came mostly as the result of divestitures from much larger mergers and acquisitions 124 125 Washington Post contributor Kristal Brent Zook has criticized the FCC for failing to come up with alternative strategies to help current and prospective minority owners burdened two fold by both media consolidation and historical discrimination 122 You start losing people and you lose the history It s a story that needs to be told Without Karen Hudson Samuels and Joe Spencer it the William V Banks Broadcast Museum would never have happened They re the Esther Gordy Edwards of Motown Amyre Makupson 44 WGPR s place in history has been preserved by organizations and former employees Makupson Spencer former news director Karen Hudson Samuels The Scene host Nat Morris and former cameraman director Bruce Harper co founded the WGPR TV Historical Society in 2011 during an informal reunion with Samuels serving as executive director and Spencer as spokesman 44 Plans were made by the group to create a museum for the television station at the former studios which remain as the home to WGPR FM still under Mason ownership 126 Spencer referred to the station as a trailblazer in many ways 127 while Samuels who was also one of the station s first interns 128 said of the effort We thought if we didn t tell the story who would 44 In 2016 the Detroit Historical Museum opened a temporary exhibit detailing the history of WGPR TV 38 with artifacts from both the TV and radio stations 31 The William V Banks Broadcast Museum named in honor of WGPR TV s founder opened to the public on Martin Luther King Jr Day January 16 2017 127 The building itself was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021 announced on February 1 2021 the start of Black History Month 129 130 An NRHP plaque would be affixed to the building s front entrance above the Michigan History Center s historical marker which was unveiled in 2016 131 The achievement would turn somber eight days later when Karen Hudson Samuels died on February 9 2021 shortly after the studios were listed on the National Register Samuels was remembered as a pioneering journalist and mentor who worked to preserve much of Detroit s Black history 128 300 surviving episodes of The Scene were rebroadcast starting in January 1995 via Detroit area cable access television 30 alongside repeats of The New Dance Show 132 Nat Morris has frequently made public appearances over the years embracing the legacy of The Scene with one cast reunion in 2017 intentionally falling on his 70th birthday quipping I didn t want to throw two parties 28 Another reunion of dancers from both The Scene and The New Dance Show took place during the Detroit Cultural Center s 2021 Dlectricity festival with Morris as emcee 133 When noting the lasting influence The Scene has had in the community Morris said We captured a period of Detroit We were captured at our finest 28 In 2021 Bruiser Brigade a Detroit hip hop collective led by Danny Brown released an album titled TV62 a direct reference to WGPR with the station s historic butterfly logo featured on the cover Jade Gomez of Paste noted that the album feels like flipping through television channels and submerges the audience into their own playful public access show 134 WWJ TV EditNew name new power but no news Edit There are some places where we re going into markets where there are literally no news department and the channel position is like almost triple digits Where that s happening we re obviously going to take a hit Andrew Heyward CBS News vice president on potential rating declines for the CBS Evening News 135 CBS moved channel 62 s operations after taking over the station to an office building in the River Place development Even with the objections filed against the sale CBS committed to relaunching channel 62 as a CBS owned and operated station and appointed network vice president Jay Newman to help guide the launch 136 The network s 1 million promotional blitz 137 centered around re branding WGPR TV as CBS Detroit and 62 CBS downplaying the call sign entirely 138 Included in the campaign were some CBS personalities including Murphy Brown star Candice Bergen making fun of the high channel position with Bergen saying in one ad I m thinking of a really big number 137 CBS executive vice president George Schweitzer said of the campaign we ve taken the potential disadvantage of being on a high number and turned it into a point of difference 138 Joe Spencer was retained as program director during this transition and was tasked with setting up a new schedule as a CBS outlet 136 As WGPR TV had no news presence for nearly three years the early evening hours included The Jane Whitney Show and A Current Affair as lead ins to the CBS Evening News while Late Show with David Letterman had a start time of 11 p m as opposed to the network time slot of 11 35 p m 137 Network executives including CBS News vice president Andrew Heyward 135 were especially concerned over the CBS Evening News already struggling in ratings locally against World News Tonight and NBC Nightly News not having a local lead in of any sort 106 Industry analysts felt the purchase and relaunch of channel 62 while CBS s worst case scenario was the best case scenario for Detroit W B Doner amp Co executive Harvey Rabinowitz was encouraged at CBS needing to invest millions of dollars into building what was a brand new television station 103 CBS signed a lease to move channel 62 to Stroh s River Place as temporary office space 136 while many existing WGPR TV staffers were kept and retrained for technical positions 137 Because of this the station had to use the studio facilities of WTVS for Detroit Making It Happen a town hall meeting on January 31 1995 with former WXYZ TV anchorman Bill Bonds as moderator 139 Bonds presence was as a freelancer as he signed a contract with WJBK TV the next day 140 Newman admitted prior to the affiliation change that WGPR TV s relaunch as a CBS station may be the quickest start up operation in history certainly in a major market 136 Compounding matters was viewer confusion over where certain network shows were moving to an anonymous The Young and the Restless fan told the Free Press I wonder if GE makes a TV radio that gets channel 62 having followed the show while at work via her TV radio 141 As it was initial Nielsen ratings from the week of the switch showed CBS s soap operas and Late Show remaining competitive on channel 62 but ratings for the Evening News declined precipitously 142 WWJ TV s current broadcast tower was built on land that also housed WWJ radio s former studios pictured and a transmitter site that was replaced On July 24 1995 the FCC denied the two objections and approved the sale of WGPR TV to CBS also granting it a waiver to keep its two Detroit radio stations WWJ 950 AM and WYST 97 1 FM 143 which had been owned by CBS since 1988 144 In denying the objections the commission recognized that the terms of the local marketing agreement showed George Mathews still holding control over channel 62 s programming finances and staffing for a two year period regarded the affiliation switch as something the minority controlled license holders agreed to and saw the sale as in the public interest 145 The network immediately announced that it would expand its heretofore temporary River Place offices and that the call letters would be changed to WWJ TV mimicking their AM sister 143 These changes occurred once the sale was consummated on September 20 1995 146 returning the WWJ calls to the television dial for the first time since the original WWJ TV channel 4 became WDIV TV on July 22 1978 after it was sold off 147 Jay Newman was formally named as channel 62 general manager and sought to have a new facility constructed housing CBS s TV and radio properties but declined to give a timetable saying It s like buying a house it doesn t happen right away 143 CBS faced many challenges in its effort to make WWJ TV competitive David Poltrack the executive vice president for planning and research for the CBS stations called Detroit the toughest situation for us in the country and CBS ratings fell 46 percent year over year 148 In the first week of the 1995 1996 television season CBS ratings fell by half over the first week of the 1994 1995 season on WJBK TV 149 The physical plant was among the largest needed improvements and channel 62 had an inadequate signal now that it was a market wide network affiliate In 1997 CBS was approved to build a new transmitter facility broadcasting at the UHF maximum of five million watts from a 1 087 foot 331 m mast in Oak Park that would replace the former WGPR TV facility in Royal Oak Township 150 The 10 million facility was activated on July 1 1999 and also enabled the station to begin digital television broadcasts the tower would also be used by some of CBS s FM radio stations and the original digital transmitter for WTVS 151 They can move Murder She Wrote revamp the entire primetime lineup and hire Leslie Moonves as entertainment chief but there s one thing CBS can t change Channel 62 in Detroit Joe Flint writing for Variety 149 In October 1995 CBS announced that it would set up a news department for WWJ TV and had hired Steve Sabato from WLKY in Louisville Kentucky to serve as the news director That April CBS had felt the pain of not having more than a bureau with one correspondent in Detroit When federal agents investigating the Oklahoma City bombing raided a farmhouse in Decker north of Detroit in Sanilac County CBS was the last network to break in with a special report CBS News had one WNEM TV reporter live by telephone but no pictures compared to the coverage that ABC NBC and CNN were able to offer using the resources of their Detroit affiliates 152 The station would also tap WWJ radio to produce cut ins for air during the CBS Group W newsmagazine Day and Date 153 Jay Newman was no stranger to a start up news operation as CBS appointed him to manage Miami s WCIX TV a former Fox affiliate with a minimal news presence in 1989 he suggested WWJ TV should consider alternate methods of news delivery to stand out among the entrenched competition but that are based in good journalism 154 By the start of 1996 however Sabato had returned to Louisville and news plans for channel 62 were on hold 155 During the late 1990s the station s chief local programming effort was a weekly 30 minute newsmagazine In Depth Detroit hosted by former WDIV anchor and reporter Rich Mayk which debuted in 1997 156 The station also sporadically offered other news specials and live forums but Newman conceded that WWJ TV was still unable to start a news operation although the network continued to evaluate other options 157 CBS Viacom merger and 62 CBS News Edit In 1999 Viacom owner of WKBD acquired CBS In a number of markets this combination created newly permitted duopolies between established CBS stations and UPN outlets However in Detroit it was the UPN station WKBD that was larger and had a functional local news department WWJ TV s inability to launch a news service of their own was attributed to start up costs that while initially estimated at 1 million 135 were deemed too onerous 158 but Detroit Free Press columnist John Smyntek criticized the station for having effectively become a CBS relay transmitter 159 Even before the Viacom deal the possibility of WKBD producing local news for channel 62 was being investigated and a full dress rehearsal of a WWJ TV newscast from channel 50 had been conducted 160 While WWJ TV made considerably more money airing syndicated fare in lieu of local newscasts those programs started to become more expensive to purchase and thus made local news cheaper 158 Channel 50 has actually used the same approach for three years on its 10 p m newscast but nobody noticed because that hour pulls the approximate ratings of a 3 a m infomercial about chinchilla breeding on The Discovery Channel Neal Rubin on the straight to the point format of WWJ TV s local news 161 Viacom appointed WKBD s general manager Mike Dunlop to head up both stations though only financial and technical staffs were initially combined 162 In February 2001 it was then announced that WKBD would produce an 11 p m newscast for WWJ TV to use channel 50 s existing talent from its Ten O Clock News starting on April 2 The move was made for two reasons the station was losing its lucrative syndicated rights to Seinfeld previously aired at 11 p m to WJBK TV and there were ratings and advertisers that only a newscast could command 159 However it was built based around the resources of WKBD TV which already aired Detroit s least watched local newscast 158 as WJBK overtook it in the ratings at 10 p m right after the 1994 affiliation switch 142 While CBS wanted either a 5 p m or 6 p m newscast launched on WWJ TV at the same time Dunlop declined to do so saying I d rather go up against two newscasts at first than three 158 The new WWJ TV newscast promised viewers tonight s local news straight to the point In The Detroit News Neal Rubin derided the station s approach as closed captioned for the intelligence impaired and overuse of the phrases straight facts and straight to the point 161 It failed to make a ratings impression and general manager Mike Dunlop and Viacom parted ways in August 163 In February 2002 Amyre Makupson and co anchor Rich Fisher were moved exclusively to WWJ TV s 11 p m newscast to allow WKBD to shift to a presentation targeting younger viewers 164 The newscast on channel 62 also became known as 62 CBS Eyewitness News 165 Despite the changes Tom Long wrote in The News that the WKBD and WWJ newscasts could be called the attack of the clones for their similarity 166 Low ratings however doomed the effort In September 2002 rumblings surfaced that Viacom was about to pull the plug on the WKBD WWJ news operation the last newsroom Viacom inherited from Paramount that was still operating 167 which were met by lukewarm responses from executives 168 Viacom then decided to contract with WXYZ TV for a 10 p m newscast on channel 50 169 with channel 62 airing reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond at 11 170 The last full newscast on WWJ TV aired on December 3 2002 171 First Forecast Edit WWJ TV logo used from 2008 to 2012 Former First Forecast logo In January 2008 the station rebranded itself as WWJ TV dropping the CBS Detroit moniker it had been using and reintroduced local weather updates titled First Forecast during The Early Show and at 11 p m 172 That same year the station entered into a three year contract with the Detroit Lions to broadcast their preseason games and in season coaches shows which had been on WKBD 173 In 2009 the weather forecasts expanded with a new live two hour morning program First Forecast Mornings News headlines on the program were provided through a partnership with the Detroit Free Press 174 From 2011 Syma Chowdhry later of WXYZ TV and News 12 New Jersey was the program s news anchor 175 First Forecast Mornings ended on December 28 2012 and was replaced with the CBS Morning News and a re airing of Dr Phil a statement issued by the station read WWJ remains committed to local programming where it makes sense 176 In 2017 CBS Radio agreed to merge with Entercom which separated WWJ radio from WWJ TV 177 Due to the nature of the sale CBS retained the trademark rights to WWJ 178 which was leased back to Entercom now Audacy Inc for use on the radio station under a long term licensing agreement 179 CBS News Detroit Edit See also CBS News streaming service CBS News Local The demand now is to be able to consume content when and where viewers want it And this is a great opportunity to do that and really offer them content that flows like water from streaming to linear and to digital and to social platforms Adrienne Roark president CBS Stations 180 On December 14 2021 WWJ TV WKBD parent ViacomCBS since renamed Paramount Global 181 announced it would start a full scale news service in Detroit CBS News Detroit which was slated to begin in the late summer or early fall of 2022 180 This announcement followed prior unveiling of plans by CBS News to rebrand their over the top media service CBSN 182 and localized iterations of CBSN among the entire owned and operated station group as the CBS News Streaming Network and CBS News Local respectively 183 WWJ TV WKBD vice president general manager Brian Watson approached Wendy McMahon co president of CBS News and Stations 184 about establishing the news service McMahon later described her initial reaction as I thought to myself This never happens Until now 185 A local newscast had previously been restored to WKBD in 2020 produced from KTVT in Fort Worth Texas and having been launched after the successful rollout of CBSN s localized platforms 186 Unique for an American broadcast television station CBS News Detroit will produce 137 hours a week of online streaming news with 40 of those hours simulcast in key time periods over WWJ TV 180 Correspondents are assigned to beats organized by community including a State Capitol reporter in Lansing 185 each of the 14 reporters has their own Ford Bronco equipped with mobile editing systems allowing them to produce reports without visiting the Southfield studio 187 A lifted Ford F 150 serves as a mobile weather truck 188 The newsroom which also serves as the news set has an industrial design 188 In January 2022 Paul Pytlowany an employee of WKBD since 1988 and the director of local production and community affairs for WKBD and WWJ TV since 2017 was named the founding news director 189 The initial series of on air talent hires announced on July 11 2022 included Amyre Makupson s daughter also named Amyre as executive producer of community impact a move WWJ TV billed as her following in the footsteps of her mother 190 Veteran broadcaster Ronnie Duncan named as the station s lead sports anchor is the father of CBS Weekend News anchor and network correspondent Jericka Duncan 191 On September 1 2022 WWJ TV rebranded from CBS 62 to CBS Detroit in anticipation of the launch of CBS News Detroit By year s end the launch plan had changed owing to supply chain and pandemic induced delays 187 weeknight newscasts at 6 and 11 p m launched on January 23 2023 192 193 with additional local news in the morning midday and afternoon hours to follow later in the first half of the year 194 Notably the delay meant the station missed out on selling political advertising during the new newscasts in the run up to state elections in November 187 Local programming EditWWJ TV produces one current affairs program Michigan Matters a panel discussion program focusing on issues relevant to metro Detroit It is hosted by Carol Cain columnist for the Detroit Free Press panelists have included Denise Ilitch and L Brooks Patterson 195 It also airs Eye on Detroit feature segments during CBS Mornings 189 Technical information EditSubchannels Edit The station s digital signal is multiplexed Subchannels of WWJ TV 196 Channel Res Aspect Short name Programming62 1 1080i 16 9 WWJ HD Main WWJ TV programming CBS62 2 480i StartTV Start TV62 3 DABL Dabl62 4 FAVE TV Fave TVWWJ TV began broadcasting a digital signal on UHF channel 44 shortly after the Oak Park tower went into service in 1999 151 Analog broadcasts on channel 62 ended on June 12 2009 as part of the digital television transition 197 198 In 2020 WWJ became one of five Detroit stations participating in the launch of ATSC 3 0 Next Gen TV provided by WMYD in the Detroit market 199 See also Edit Michigan portal Television portal United States portalMedia in DetroitReferences Edit a b FCC History Cards for WWJ TV Peterson Bettelou 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tower will boost Channel 62 s signal Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 2B Archived from the original on January 23 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com a b Smyntek John July 2 1999 Stronger WWJ TV adds digital signal Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 2E Archived from the original on January 23 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com Huff Richard April 24 1995 Michigan face off Friday found CBS News caught short Daily News New York New York p 62 Archived from the original on January 28 2022 Retrieved January 28 2022 via Newspapers com Lafayette Jon October 30 1995 Detroit station building news division carving new identity Electronic Media pp 6 37 Coe Steve September 4 1995 Starting from scratch In the wake of sales and affiliation changes stations face the challenge of creating a news department PDF Broadcasting amp Cable Vol 125 no 36 pp 31 32 Archived PDF from the original on September 26 2021 Retrieved January 28 2022 via World Radio History The poop on Shatner and BIG 62 news Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan January 17 1996 p 6F Archived from the original on January 23 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com Finally Prince explains name switch Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan January 16 1997 p 20D Archived from the original on January 25 2022 Retrieved January 25 2022 via Newspapers com Shaw Ted August 14 1998 Local show profiles voice of the Tigers The Windsor Star Windsor Ontario Canada p B3 Archived from the original on January 25 2022 Retrieved January 25 2022 via Newspapers com a b c d Smyntek John April 2 2001 WWJ TV to use sister station s night news crew Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 1C 6C Archived from the original on January 28 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com a b Smyntek John February 15 2001 Detroit CBS station to launch newscast Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 6E Archived from the original on January 23 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com Smyntek John September 15 1999 Viacom can have 2 area stations Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 1E Archived from the original on January 29 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com a b Rubin Neal April 11 2001 WWJ TV news Just the facts The Detroit News Detroit Michigan p 2A Viacom chooses new chief to run Channels 50 and 62 Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan September 13 2000 p 8D Archived from the original on January 28 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com Smyntek John August 30 2001 Channels 50 62 VP out Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 2C Archived from the original on January 23 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com Smyntek John February 1 2002 Fisher Makupson will drop one of their 2 news shows Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 2H Archived from the original on January 23 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com Channel 50 series aims at helping more Detroiters learn to read Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan September 23 2002 p 2C Archived from the original on July 11 2022 Retrieved March 1 2022 via Newspapers com Long Tom June 4 2002 Can these newscasts be saved News director Ken Jobe strives to lift Channels 50 and 62 out of the ratings cellar with fresh faces and stories The Detroit News Detroit Michigan p 1E Trigoboff Dan November 25 2002 CBS Drops News in Detroit Broadcasting amp Cable Archived from the original on September 24 2015 Retrieved January 24 2022 Smyntek John September 19 2002 Late newscasts in doubt on 50 62 Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 1E 3E Archived from the original on January 23 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com Smyntek John November 19 2002 TV news poised for change Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 1A 2A Archived from the original on January 23 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com Smyntek John November 20 2002 Viacom WXYZ deal made to cut costs Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 3D Archived from the original on January 23 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com Smyntek John December 4 2002 Channel 50 s exodus aids Channel 7 s news Detroit Free Press Detroit Michigan p 6F Archived from the original on January 28 2022 Retrieved January 23 2022 via Newspapers com Madden Toby Mekeisha January 1 2008 WWJ TV to begin weather reports The Detroit News Detroit Michigan p 1D O Hara Mike April 15 2008 Exhibition games move to Channel 62 The Detroit News Detroit Michigan p 3D Bachman Katy March 30 2009 CBS TV s Detroit O amp O Adds Local Newscast Mediaweek Archived from the original on January 28 2013 Retrieved March 30 2009 WWJ Adds Syma Chowdhry To Morning News TVNewsCheck February 10 2011 Archived from the original on January 29 2022 Retrieved January 24 2022 Eck Kevin December 12 2012 No More Local Morning News on Detroit s WWJ TVSpy Archived from the original on December 14 2012 Retrieved January 23 2021 Littleton Cynthia February 2 2017 CBS Sets Radio Division Merger With Entercom Variety Archived from the original on February 3 2017 Retrieved February 2 2017 CBS and Entercom Are Merging Their Radio Stations Fortune Reuters Archived from the original on February 2 2017 Retrieved February 2 2017 Entercom CBS Radio Merger Is Complete RadioInk com Archived from the original on November 18 2017 Retrieved November 17 2017 WWJ Trademark of CBS Mass Media Corp Registration Number 2329739 Serial Number 75713100 trademarks justia com Justia Trademarks Archived from the original on January 24 2022 Retrieved January 24 2022 Exhibit 2 8 Execution Version Trademark License Agreement TV Station Brands by and between CBS Broadcasting Inc CBS Mass Media Corporation and CBS Radio Inc and certain subsidiaries of CBS Radio Inc www sec gov November 16 2017 Archived from the original on February 28 2020 Retrieved February 27 2020 a b c Hinds Julie December 14 2021 Detroit CBS station announces return to local TV newscasts with 24 7 streaming Detroit Free Press Archived from the original on January 28 2022 Retrieved January 24 2022 Goldsmith Jill February 15 2022 ViacomCBS To Rebrand As Paramount Global Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on February 15 2022 Retrieved February 16 2022 Steinberg Brian September 22 2021 CBS to Phase Out CBSN Name for News Streaming Service Variety Archived from the original on January 28 2022 Retrieved September 22 2021 Johnson Ted September 22 2021 CBS News To Change Name Of CBSN Streaming Service Deadline Archived from the original on September 22 2021 Retrieved September 22 2021 Weprin Alex April 15 2021 Neeraj Khemlani and Wendy McMahon Named Co Heads of CBS News and CBS TV Stations The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on May 2 2021 a b Schneider Michael December 14 2021 CBS to Motor News Department Back Into Detroit Launching Local Broadcasts on WWJ TV After 20 Years Variety Archived from the original on December 14 2021 Retrieved December 14 2021 Malone Michael January 17 2020 Three CBS Owned CW Stations Add Nightly News Broadcasting amp Cable Archived from the original on January 29 2022 Retrieved January 17 2020 a b c Malone Michael December 19 2022 CBS News Detroit Set To Launch Broadcasting amp Cable Archived from the original on December 19 2022 Retrieved December 19 2022 a b Winslow George January 23 2023 CBS News Detroit Aims to Reinvent Local News TV Tech Retrieved January 23 2023 a b Miller Mark K January 28 2022 Paul Pytlowany Named WWJ WKBD News Director TVNewsCheck Archived from the original on January 29 2022 Retrieved January 28 2022 This article incorrectly states that the two stations became a duopoly in 1995 Miller Mark K July 11 2022 CBS News Detroit Announces First Anchor Hirings And Community Impact EP TVNewsCheck Archived from the original on July 11 2022 Retrieved July 11 2022 Malone Michael December 21 2022 Dad Does Sports for CBS Station Daughter Anchors at CBS News Broadcasting amp Cable Archived from the original on December 21 2022 Retrieved December 21 2022 Malone Michael January 23 2023 CBS News Detroit Launches January 23 Broadcasting amp Cable Archived from the original on January 23 2023 Retrieved January 23 2023 Hinds Julie January 23 2023 CBS News Detroit to debut 2 local weeknight newscasts with plans for more Detroit Free Press Retrieved January 23 2023 Malone Michael December 13 2022 Local News Close Up Full Speed Ahead in Motor City Broadcasting amp Cable Archived from the original on December 13 2022 Retrieved December 13 2022 Kaczmarczyk Jeffrey May 12 2012 Entrepreneur Rick DeVos talks about Start Garden ArtPrize 2012 on Media Matters sic on CBS TV in Detroit MLive Archived from the original on January 24 2022 Retrieved January 24 2022 RabbitEars TV Query for WWJ www rabbitears info Archived from the original on January 24 2022 Retrieved January 24 2022 DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds PDF Archived from the original PDF on August 29 2013 Retrieved March 24 2012 Wendland Mike February 4 2009 House delays digital TV switch to June Detroit Free Press Archived from the original on February 8 2009 Miller Mark December 10 2020 Five Detroit Stations Launch ATSC 3 0 Broadcasts TVNewsCheck Archived from the original on January 24 2022 Retrieved January 24 2022 Bibliography EditCastelnero Gordon 2006 TV Land Detroit Ann Arbor Michigan University of Michigan Press pp 8 9 160 178 221 ISBN 978 0 472 03124 5 Retrieved March 2 2022 Documentaries EditHenderson Stephen January 8 2017 WGPR TV Museum American Black Journal Clip ep 4514 Television production Detroit Michigan WTVS Archived from the original on February 2 2022 Retrieved February 2 2022 Henderson Stephen January 7 2018 WGPR TV Museum American Black Journal Clip ep 4609 Television production Detroit Michigan WTVS Archived from the original on February 2 2022 Retrieved February 2 2022 Henderson Stephen February 5 2018 WGPR American Black Journal Clip Television production Detroit Michigan WTVS Archived from the original on February 2 2022 Retrieved February 2 2022 Henderson Stephen February 19 2021 WGPR TV American Black Journal Clip ep 4908 Television production Detroit Michigan WTVS Archived from the original on February 2 2022 Retrieved February 2 2022 Kalinski Pete September 29 2015 Digging Detroit Episode 12 WGPR TV s 40th Anniversary YouTube Kevin Walsh Thomas J Reed Jr Detroit Michigan Digging Detroit Productions Archived from the original on February 2 2022 Retrieved February 2 2022 Moore Larry April 5 2017 WGPR Broadcast Museum Show Television production Detroit Michigan We Luv Detroit WMYD Archived from the original on February 2 2022 Retrieved February 2 2022 Visit at the WGPR Museum TV amp Radio Station YouTube Fantabulous30 September 11 2021 Archived from the original on February 2 2022 Retrieved February 2 2022 A Little History About Black Broadcast Television Production in Detroit Michigan USA YouTube MacSpeaking February 5 2018 Archived from the original on February 2 2022 Retrieved February 2 2022 WGPR Museum Special YouTube SteelHeartMedia February 2 2017 Archived from the original on February 2 2022 Retrieved February 2 2022 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to WWJ TV Official website WGPR TV History legacy site WGPR Historical Society Guided tour of the William V Banks Broadcast Museum WGPR TV Studios on YouTube Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title WWJ TV amp oldid 1136607363, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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