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WJBK (channel 2) is a
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
in
Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
, Michigan, United States.
Owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by the
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
network through its
Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (stylized as FOX TV STATIONS; also known as FTS) is a group of television stations in the United States owned-and-operated by Fox Corporation. It owns LiveNOW from Fox, Fox Local, and Fox Soul. It also oversees ...
division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on West 9 Mile Road in the Detroit suburb of Southfield. WJBK's over-the-air
signal A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...
covers all of
Metro Detroit Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the officia ...
, along with
Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario (census population 2,796,367 in 2021) is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula, bounded by Lake Huron (includ ...
, Canada, surrounding the city of
Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places *Detroit–Windsor, Michigan-Ontario, USA-Canada, North America; a cross-border metropolitan region Australia New South Wales *Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area Queen ...
. The station is also carried on most cable systems in
southeast Michigan Southeast Michigan, also called southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are c ...
, southwestern Ontario and
northwest Ohio Northwest Ohio, or Northwestern Ohio, consists of multiple counties in the northwestern corner of the US state of Ohio. This area borders Lake Erie, Southeast Michigan, and northeastern Indiana. Some areas are also considered the Black Swamp a ...
.


History


CBS affiliate (1948–1994)

WJBK-TV first signed on the air on October 24, 1948. It was the third television station to sign-on in Detroit and Michigan, after WWJ-TV (channel 4, now
WDIV-TV WDIV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. WDIV-TV maintains studio facili ...
) and
WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...
(channel 7)—all of which have signed on in a 14-month timeframe. Despite Detroit being a major television market, it only accommodated three VHF allocations due to being shortspaced between
Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...
( channel 12) and
Saginaw Saginaw () is a city in Saginaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 44,202 at the 2020 census. Located along the Saginaw River, Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of ...
( channel 5) to the north;
Lansing Lansing () is the capital city of the U.S. state of Michigan. The most populous city in Ingham County, parts of the city extend into Eaton County and north into Clinton County. It is the sixth-most populous city in Michigan with a popul ...
(channels 6 and 10) to the west;
Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...
(channels 11 and 13) to the south; and
Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...
(channels 3, 5 and 8); Windsor, Ontario ( channel 9); and
London, Ontario London is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River (Ontario), Thames River and N ...
( channel 10) to the east. For this reason, WJBK was assigned the final VHF channel in Detroit. At sign on, the first program broadcast by WJBK was a presentation of ''Lucky Pup'' at 6:15 p.m.. The station was originally an
affiliate Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation platfo ...
of both
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
and the
DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being first overall in ...
. It was originally owned by Fort Industry Broadcasting, owned by George B. Storer and then based in nearby Toledo, Ohio. Fort Industry, which would later be renamed
Storer Broadcasting Storer Communications, known from 1927 to 1952 as the Fort Industry Company and from 1952 to 1983 as Storer Broadcasting, was an American media company that owned television and radio stations and cable television systems. Founded by George Butle ...
, also owned WJBK radio (1500 AM, now
WLQV WLQV (1500 AM broadcasting, AM) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station city of license, licensed to Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. It is owned by the Salem Media Group and broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format. It uses ...
), and 93.1 WJBK-FM (now WUFL). The station originally operated from Detroit's
Masonic Temple A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history I ...
until 1956, when its operations were moved to a purpose-built studio facility on Second Avenue in Detroit's
New Center New Center is a commercial and residential district located in Detroit, Michigan, adjacent to Midtown, one mile (1.6 km) north of the Cultural Center, and approximately three miles (5 km) north of Downtown. The area is centered just ...
section, which would be occupied by PBS member station
WTVS WTVS (channel 56) is a PBS member television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, owned by Detroit Public Media. Its main studios are located at the Riley Broadcast Center and HD Studios on Clover Court in Wixom, with an additional st ...
for nearly 40 years and is now being reconstructed for use as headquarters for the nonprofit Midnight Golf Program. WJBK-TV would eventually become an exclusive CBS affiliate by 1955, when Windsor, Ontario-based CKLW-TV (channel 9, now
CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...
O&O CBET-DT) became a DuMont affiliate. WJBK first broadcast in color around 1956. In 1970, the station moved to its current broadcast facilities on West Nine Mile Road in Southfield. Like most studio facilities built by Storer during that time, it resembles a Southern
antebellum Antebellum, Latin for "before war", may refer to: United States history * Antebellum South, the pre-American Civil War period in the Southern US ** Antebellum Georgia ** Antebellum South Carolina ** Antebellum Virginia * Antebellum architectu ...
mansion. The station went through a number of ownership and management changes with its parent companies in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1985, the equity firm
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global private-equity and investment company. , the firm had completed private-equity investments in portfolio companies with approximately $710 billion of total ...
(KKR) acquired Storer Communications, Incorporated in a
leveraged buyout A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition of a company using a significant proportion of borrowed money (Leverage (finance), leverage) to fund the acquisition with the remainder of the purchase price funded with private equity. The assets of t ...
. Storer spurned offers from
Knight-Ridder Newspapers Knight Ridder was an American media company, specializing in newspaper and Internet publishing. It was bought by McClatchy on June 27, 2006, allowing the latter to become the second largest newspaper publisher in the United States at the time ...
, Tele-Communications, Inc. and Scripps-Howard Broadcasting Co., though Scripps-Howard would successfully acquire cross-town rival ABC owned and operated station WXYZ-TV in 1986 after the ABC-Capital Cities Communications merger was approved by federal regulators. KKR then sold all of the Storer broadcast assets, including WJBK, to
Gillett Communications George Nield Gillett Jr. (born October 22, 1938) is an American businessman. Originally from Wisconsin, he lives in Vail, Colorado. Biography Gillett graduated from Lake Forest Academy in 1956. He attended Amherst College and is a 1961 graduate ...
in 1987, after an attempt to sell the stations to
Lorimar-Telepictures Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation, Inc. was an entertainment company established on February 19, 1986 with the merger of Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Telepictures Corporation. Headquartered at the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (now Sony Pi ...
in 1986 failed. When Gillett went
bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...
in 1992, it reorganized the ownership of its television stations into SCI Television. The following year, in 1993, SCI was acquired by the film and television production company
New World Communications New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment, New World Communications Group, Inc., and New World International) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia comp ...
.


Switch to Fox station (1994–present)

In May 1994,
News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
, then-parent of the
Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...
network, purchased a 20% ownership stake (amounting to a $500 million investment) in WJBK's owner New World Communications. Fox made the investment to comply with their winning bid for the broadcast rights to the
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...
's
National Football Conference The National Football Conference (NFC) is a conference of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference (AFC), each h ...
. Fox outbid
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
for the NFL broadcast rights on the condition that it would improve the network's affiliate coverage in the larger
television market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
s. As a result of Fox's investment, New World agreed to
switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
the network affiliations of most of the company's stations, including WJBK, to Fox. While
WKBD-TV WKBD-TV (channel 50), branded as CW Detroit 50, is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside WWJ-TV (channel 62), a CBS owned-and-operated station. ...
(channel 50) had been the Fox affiliate in Detroit since the network debuted on October 9, 1986, and had grown to be one of the network's strongest affiliates, Fox still considered WJBK a far-more desirable affiliation prospect on the strength of its VHF signal and the station's longtime news department. WJBK became Detroit's new Fox affiliate on December 11, 1994, after the station's affiliation contract with CBS ended, ending its 45-year affiliation with that network. With the switch, regular season games of the
Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...
' continued to air on WJBK, although there was a brief three-month interruption in coverage due to CBS losing the NFC rights for the first three months of Fox's NFC telecasts due to WKBD airing them. After losing Fox, WKBD was briefly an independent before joining the newly launched
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...
a month later. CBS found it difficult to find a new home in Detroit. WXYZ and Cleveland sister station WEWS-TV were both heavily wooed to become CBS affiliates, but the E. W. Scripps Company signed an affiliation deal with ABC in June 1994 that renewed the network's affiliations with both stations. WDIV was not an option as that station was in the middle of a long-term affiliation contract with NBC at the time. As a result, CBS was forced to deal with the market's lower-rated
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
outlets, none of which had the kind of signal penetration that WJBK had. As a contingency plan, CBS signed a long-term affiliation deal with WTOL in Toledo, Ohio; which provides city-grade coverage to most of Detroit's southern suburbs and grade B coverage of Detroit itself. It also persuaded Mid-Michigan's longtime NBC affiliate, WNEM-TV, to switch to CBS; WNEM provided stronger coverage of Detroit's outer northern suburbs than did the market's longtime CBS affiliate,
WEYI-TV WEYI-TV (channel 25) is a television station licensed to Saginaw, Michigan, United States, serving the Great Lakes Bay Region of Central Michigan as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Howard Stirk Holdings, WEYI-TV is operated by Sinclair Broadcas ...
. With just days to go before WJBK was due to switch to Fox, CBS faced the prospect of having to import WTOL, WNEM, and WLNS on area cable providers until it could find a replacement affiliate. CBS would end up purchasing low-rated UHF
independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
WGPR-TV (channel 62, now
WWJ-TV WWJ-TV (channel 62) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division, alongside WKBD-TV (channel 50), an affiliate of The CW. The two ...
) in September 1994. The last CBS network program to air on WJBK was a first-run episode of ''
Walker, Texas Ranger ''Walker, Texas Ranger'' is an American action fiction, action Crime drama, crime television series created by Leslie Greif and Paul Haggis. It was inspired by the film ''Lone Wolf McQuade'', with both the film and the series starring Chuck Norr ...
'' at 10 p.m.
Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five hours behi ...
on December 10, 1994; channel 2 officially became a Fox affiliate the next day, when the network's programming lineup moved to the station from WKBD; the first Fox network program to air on the station as a full-time affiliate was ''
Fox NFL Sunday ''Fox NFL Sunday'' is an American sports television program broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL ...
'' at noon that day, which led into that afternoon's NFL doubleheader: an early game between the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...
and the
Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...
and a mid-afternoon game between the
San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...
and the
San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...
. Former Fox affiliate WKBD briefly became an independent station before becoming a charter affiliate of UPN in January 1995. Until channel 62 built a new transmitter in 1999, WTOL served as the default CBS affiliate for most of the southern portion of the market, while WNEM served the northern portion and WLNS served the western portion. As a result of the network switch, WJBK changed its branding from "TV 2" to "Fox 2" by the fall of 1995 (becoming one of the few New World stations that switched to the network to adhere to the network's branding conventions before Fox's buyout of New World).
Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (stylized as FOX TV STATIONS; also known as FTS) is a group of television stations in the United States owned-and-operated by Fox Corporation. It owns LiveNOW from Fox, Fox Local, and Fox Soul. It also oversees ...
bought New World's ten Fox-affiliated stations, including WJBK, in July 1996; the purchase was finalized on January 22, 1997, with channel 2 becoming a Fox owned-and-operated station as a result. On December 14, 2017,
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
, owner of WXYZ-TV's affiliated network ABC, announced its intent to buy WJBK's parent company,
21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., which did business as 21st Century Fox, was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was formed on June 28, 2013, as the legal successor ...
, for $66.1 billion; the sale, which closed on March 20, 2019, excluded WJBK as well as the Fox network, the
MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...
programming service,
Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
,
Fox Sports 1 Fox Sports 1 (branded on-air as FS1) is an American pay television television channel, channel owned by the Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 airs an array of live sporting events, including Majo ...
, the
Big Ten Network Big Ten Network (BTN) is an American sports network based in Chicago, Illinois. The channel is dedicated to coverage of College athletics, collegiate sports sanctioned by the Big Ten Conference, including live and recorded event telecasts, news ...
and the Fox Television Stations unit, which were all transferred to the newly-formed
Fox Corporation Fox Corporation (commonly referred to as Fox Corp or simply Fox) is an American multinational mass media company headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown Manhattan, with offices also in Burbank, Cali ...
.


Programming


Local productions

Some of WJBK's early productions included popular children's shows. ''Milky's Movie Party'' starring Milky the
Clown A clown is a person who performs physical comedy and arts in an Improvisational theatre#Comedy, open-ended fashion, typically while wearing distinct cosmetics, makeup or costume, costuming and reversing social norm, folkway-norms. The art of ...
, played by magician Clarence R. Cummings Jr., was one of the station's first locally produced children's programs from 1950 to 1955. The program featured a mix of
cartoons A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently Animation, animated, in an realism (arts), unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or s ...
and
westerns The Western is a genre of fiction typically set in the American frontier (commonly referred to as the "Old West" or the "Wild West") between the California Gold Rush of 1849 and the closing of the frontier in 1890, and commonly associated wit ...
with Cummings performing magic tricks with other acts in front of a live audience. Cummings would eventually take the Milky character to WXYZ-TV and the former WWJ-TV (now WDIV).Kiska, Tim. From Soupy to Nuts: A History of Detroit Television. 2005. Momentum Books. Other original WJBK children's programs included a
cowboy A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...
-themed show with Sagebrush Shorty, played by
ventriloquist Ventriloquism or ventriloquy is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) speaks in such a way that it seems like their voice is coming from a different location, usually through a puppet known as a "dummy". The act of ventrilo ...
Ted Lloyd, with his sidekick dummy Skinny Dugan that aired from 1956 to 1960, featuring a mix of children's activities and various other characters that interacted with Lloyd. That program was followed by another WJBK children's favorite, ''Jungle-La'' with wildlife expert "B'wana" Don Hunt, that aired from 1960 to 1963. Hunt with his sidekick
chimpanzee The chimpanzee (; ''Pan troglodytes''), also simply known as the chimp, is a species of Hominidae, great ape native to the forests and savannahs of tropical Africa. It has four confirmed subspecies and a fifth proposed one. When its close rel ...
Bongo Bailey hosted cartoons and taught viewers about various wildlife. Hunt moved to Africa in 1964 and managed a wildlife preserve in Kenya responsible for saving some species from extinction.Golink, Ed. Detroit Kid Shows Page!
2002
After airing first on the former WWJ-TV and CKLW-TV, performer Art Cervi would obtain the
Bozo the Clown Bozo the Clown, sometimes billed as "Bozo, The World's Most Famous Clown", is a clown character created for children's entertainment, widely popular in the second half of the 20th century. He was introduced in the United States in 1946, and to tel ...
franchise for Detroit and perform the character at WJBK beginning in 1975. During its run at the station, the program would be syndicated from WJBK to cities including New York City, Los Angeles,
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
and
Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...
.Castelnero, Gordon. TV Land Detroit. 2006. The University of Michigan Press. WJBK also produced one of Detroit's first morning talk shows, ''Ladies' Day with Chuck Bergeson'', which aired from 1952 to 1959. The hour-long show included games, contests, and interviews with the biggest stars of the time including
Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedian, producer, and studio executive. She was recognized by ''Time (magazine), Time'' in 2020 as one of the most influential women of the 20th century for h ...
and
Red Skelton Richard Bernard Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national old-time radio, radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program ''The Red Skelto ...
. Bergeson also hosted other WJBK shows in the 1950s including ''Your TV Golf Pro'' and ''The Name Game''. From 1967 to 1983,
Sir Graves Ghastly Sir Graves Ghastly was a character created by Cleveland-born actor Lawson J. Deming (1913–2007) for the popular television show of the same name. Sir Graves was a vampire whose persona, look, and exaggerated laugh ("Nnnnyeah-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaa ...
, played by actor
Lawson J. Deming Lawson J. Deming (April 23, 1913 – April 24, 2007) was a radio and TV character actor best known in Detroit, MI, Detroit, Toledo, OH, Toledo, Cleveland, OH, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and parts of Canada as the Saturday afternoon television ...
, hosted WJBK's assorted sci-fi and
horror movies Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...
on Saturday afternoons; the humorous character became a popular figure in Detroit television. Deming had originally come to the station as a
puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in anci ...
eer and voice actor for the children's program '' Woodrow the Woodsman'' when that show moved from Cleveland's WKYC-TV to WJBK in 1966. In addition to playing the character in Cleveland, he also played Sir Graves on
WTOP-TV WUSA (channel 9) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of Tegna Inc., which is based in suburban McLean, Virginia. WUSA's studios and transmitter are at Broadcast House on Wisconsin Avenu ...
in Washington, D.C. at the same time. ''With This Ring'' was a nationally syndicated
religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...
program produced at the studios of WJBK from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s. The weekly 15-minute show hosted by
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
priest Raymond Schlinkert featured lectures and advice about marriage and family life. The program was syndicated to several other U.S. commercial stations, usually shown immediately following the station's sign-on or before sign-off on Sundays. WJBK would also produce Sunday public affairs/interview shows over the years including ''Focus Detroit'', hosted by reporters Woody Willis and Beverly Payne in 1973; ''Sunday in Detroit'', hosted by news anchor Kathy O'Brien, would air around 1980 and WJBK business reporter and news anchor Murray Feldman also hosted a Sunday business and financial program in the mid-1990s called ''Moneywise''. WJBK produced a local version of the syndicated program ''
PM Magazine ''PM/Evening Magazine'' is a television series with a news and entertainment format. It was syndicated to stations throughout the United States. In most areas, ''Evening/PM Magazine'' was broadcast from the late 1970s into the late 1980s. Orig ...
'' from 1978 to the mid-1980s. The show changed titles over the years eventually becoming known as ''PM Detroit'' – it also had various hosts included Ronnie Klemmer, Lorrie Kapp, Gary Cubberly and Mattie Majors. The station was also the Detroit home and active participant for comedian
Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian, with a career spanning seven decades in film, stage, television and radio. Famously nicknamed as "Th ...
' annual ''
MDA Labor Day Telethon The ''MDA Labor Day Telethon'' was an annual telethon held on (starting the night before and throughout) Labor Day in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). The Muscular Dystrophy Association was founded in ...
'' for several years. From 1983 to 1986, popular
WJR WJR (760 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Detroit, Michigan, owned by Cumulus Media, with a news/talk format. Most of WJR's broadcast studios, along with its newsroom and offices, are in the Fisher Building in Detroit's New Center ...
(760 AM) morning radio host J. P. McCarthy hosted an evening interview show with newsmakers and people of interest called ''JP'', as well as a similar program in the early 1990s entitled ''In Person with J.P. McCarthy''. He also previously hosted sports interview show specials through the 1970s. In 1995, former WXYZ-TV news anchor
Bill Bonds William Duane Bonds (February 23, 1932 – December 13, 2014) was an American television news anchor and reporter, best known for his work at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan. Bonds became an Action News anchorman beginning in the early 1970s. Ear ...
hosted the 11 p.m. talk/interview show, ''Bonds Tonight''. Bonds eventually would end up anchoring and reporting on WJBK's newscasts.


Past program preemptions and deferrals

Even though WJBK was one of CBS' stronger affiliates, it would preempt or reschedule some network programs. As the flagship station of
Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...
baseball from the 1950s to the 1970s, it would preempt network programming to televise games. From 1970 until the early 1980s, the station would air its own local morning newscast from 7 to 8 a.m. and then ''Good Morning, Detroit'' instead of the ''
CBS Morning News ''CBS News Mornings'' (formerly ''CBS Morning News'') is an American early-morning news broadcast presented weekdays on the CBS television network. The program features late-breaking news stories, national weather forecasts and sports highlight ...
''. In 1992, it chose again not to air ''CBS This Morning'' in favor of its own local newscast. The station would regularly reschedule CBS' daytime game shows and it would also move the soap opera ''
Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. ''Guiding Light'' aired on CBS for 57 years between June 30, 1952, and September 18, 2009, overlapping a 19-year broadcast on radio ...
'' from its usual network airtime of 3 pm. ET to 10 am, with episodes airing on a one-day delay. WJBK would also preempt the CBS late night schedule with syndicated
rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. The two types of reruns are those that occur during a hiatus and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word "repe ...
s including ''
Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...
'' and late night
movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...
until the debut of the ''
Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...
'' in 1993, when the station cleared the show at 11:35 p.m. After the affiliation switch, WJBK maintained its existing schedule, with the exception of the expansion of its news programming including the move and conversion of its 11 p.m. newscast to an hour-long broadcast at 10 pm. As Fox offered less network programming, especially during the daytime hours, WJBK would fill its schedule with more syndicated programs and off-network reruns. However, the station, like its fellow former New World stations, never ran the Fox Kids children's programming block. That block would remain on former Fox affiliate WKBD before eventually moving to WADL (TV), WADL (channel 38) and then WDWB-TV (channel 20, now WMYD). In 2014, WJBK cleared Steve Rotfeld Productions' Xploration Station block, making it the first time the station has ever cleared Fox children's programming.


Sports programming


Detroit Tigers

From the 1950s to the 1970s, WJBK was a pioneer in Detroit sports broadcasting. In 1949, it was the first television station in Michigan to broadcast live Detroit Tigers baseball and Detroit Lions football games. From 1953 to 1974, WJBK served as the first flagship station of the List of Detroit Tigers broadcasters, Tigers Television Network with games broadcast on stations throughout Michigan, northern Indiana, and northwest Ohio. In the 1960s, longtime Tigers broadcaster and former player George Kell hosted the pregame show ''Tigers Warm Up'' on the field during batting practice. During the 2007 Detroit Tigers season, 2007 season, the station aired some regular season Tigers games produced by Fox Sports Detroit. In 2025 Detroit Tigers season, 2025, the Tigers announced that WJBK would simulcast 10 games from FanDuel Sports Network Detroit (the former Fox Sports Detroit), including the home opener on April 4. WJBK also airs Tigers games nationally through Major League Baseball on Fox, Fox's MLB package (including the Tigers' 2006 World Series, 2006 and 2012 World Series appearances); WJBK also aired select Tigers games featured on CBS' MLB coverage from 1990 to 1993.


Detroit Pistons

WJBK also televised Detroit Pistons games from the time that the team's relocated to Detroit from Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1957, until 1972; the team's games began airing on WKBD-TV the following season. The Pistons would also air on WJBK during nationally televised games on NBA on CBS, CBS from 1973 to 1990; WJBK televised both of the first two Pistons NBA Finals championships of 1989 and 1990 (game 5 of the latter series was the last NBA game aired on CBS).


Detroit Red Wings

Detroit Red Wings NHL games, produced again by Fox Sports Detroit, would also be aired on the station from 2003–04 Detroit Red Wings season, 2003 to 2006–07 Detroit Red Wings season, 2007. In March 2007, WJBK began broadcasting Red Wings games in high definition. A package of five Red Wings games, all simulcasts from FanDuel Sports Network Detroit, would return to the station in 2024–25 Detroit Red Wings season, 2025. Previously the Red Wings aired on the station various times between 1956 and 1980 through broadcast rights held by NHL on CBS, CBS and again from 1995 to 1999 through NHL on Fox, Fox's contract with the NHL; this included the team's Stanley Cup Finals victories in 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, 1997 and 1998 Stanley Cup Finals, 1998.


Detroit Lions

WJBK has had a long-standing relationship with the NFL's Detroit Lions (first with CBS, now Fox), having carried most of its games since 1956, when CBS started airing NFL games. Except for the first three months of the 1994 Detroit Lions season, 1994 season (before the affiliation switch took effect), it has been the unofficial regular-season "home" station of the Lions ever since, including coverage of the team's Thanksgiving (United States), Thanksgiving Day home games in odd-numbered years. For the first 15 weeks of the 1994 season, the games aired on lame-duck Fox outlet WKBD. However, regular season home games were subject to the National Football League television blackout policies, NFL's local television blackout policy. This occurred five times during the 2008 Detroit Lions season, Lions' winless season of 2008 when five home games were blacked out due to low ticket sales. However, in 2015, the NFL decided to lift the blackout rules on an experimental basis, meaning that Lions games were shown on Channel 2 regardless of ticket sales; this policy was continued the next season in 2016 Detroit Lions season, 2016 as well, and has continued indefinitely as of 2019 Detroit Lions season, 2019. In previous years, WJBK had also televised Lions preseason games as the flagship station of the Detroit Lions Television Network and produced pregame and postgame shows. Those preseason broadcast rights were then held by WWJ-TV and then WXYZ-TV until 2015, when WJBK once again became the official preseason station of the Lions as well. As a CBS affiliate, WJBK aired the network's coverage of Super Bowl XVI, which was hosted locally at the Pontiac Silverdome. WJBK's sportscasters have also been team play-by-play announcers through the years with Van Patrick doing Tigers, Lions and Notre Dame Football games. Ray Lane (sportscaster), Ray Lane would be paired with National Baseball Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame announcer Ernie Harwell on Tigers' radio broadcasts from 1967 to 1972; and current sports director Dan Miller (sportscaster), Dan Miller performs radio play by play for the Lions.


News operation

WJBK currently broadcasts 68½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 11½ hours each weekday and 5½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among all broadcast television stations in the state of Michigan. In addition, WJBK produces a sports highlight program on Sunday nights following the 10 p.m. newscast called ''Sports Works'' (which is also the branding of the sports segments seen within its newscasts); the show is hosted by either WJBK sports director Dan Miller or sports anchor/reporter Woody Woodriffe, and typically features a roundtable discussion with members of the Detroit sports media including Sean Baligian, formerly of WDFN (1130 AM); Bob Wojnowski from the ''Detroit News''; Pat Caputo from the ''Oakland Press'' and WXYT-FM (97.1) and Tony Ortiz from WXYT-FM. WJBK operates a fleet of Ford Motor Company, Ford Ford E series, E350 electronic news-gathering, ENG vehicles with microwave transmission and video editing capabilities. The station also has (satellite news gathering, SNG) mobile satellite uplink capability. For aerial news coverage, WJBK shares a Eurocopter AS350BA A-star news helicopter with WXYZ-TV and WDIV-TV as part of a Local News Service agreement. The aircraft has High-definition television, HD video capability and goes by the aviation call signs, call sign "Red Bird" (although WJBK brands the helicopter as "SkyFox"). In 2009, WJBK and WXYZ-TV expanded the LNS agreement to allow the sharing of local news video. In an effort to cut expenses, WJBK and WXYZ's respective owners, Fox and the E. W. Scripps Company, established an LNS in all markets where both companies own stations. The stations pool newsgathering resources and share video during coverage of general news events. While the news department primarily focuses its local news coverage on southeastern Michigan, it also provides coverage of larger stories in southwestern Ontario, northern Ohio and the rest of Michigan.


''TV-2 Eyewitness News''

Through much of the 1960s and 1970s WJBK's ''TV-2 Eyewitness News'' dominated the newscast ratings in the Detroit market.Kiska, Tim. A Newscast for the Masses: The History of Detroit Television News. 2009. Wayne State University Press. This began with news anchor Jac LeGoff and grew when LeGoff was paired with newscaster John Kelly. Other popular longtime Detroit television personalities including Joe Weaver, Jerry Hodak, Van Patrick and Marilyn Turner would also be a part of WJBK's ratings success. The station's ratings would begin to wane in the mid-1970s after then-ABC O&O WXYZ-TV hired away WJBK's and WDIV, WWJ-TV's top talent, including Kelly and Turner and eventually LeGoff and Hodak. WJBK's newscasts remained competitive in the 1970s with a new stable of talent including anchors Joe Glover, Robbie Timmons, Harry Gallagher, Murray Feldman and Terry Murphy (broadcaster), Terry Murphy. The station also had correspondents in bureaus at the Detroit Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, City-County Building (Louis Miller), the Michigan state capital in Lansing and Washington, D.C. Nationally syndicated radio host George Noory was even a news producer at WJBK from 1974 to 1978, before becoming a news director at stations in Minneapolis and St. Louis. However, by 1980, the station's news ratings steeply declined with the growing dominance of WXYZ. Also by this time WDIV's new owners, Post-Newsweek Stations, were making aggressive changes to bolster its station's image and ratings from third place. By 1982, management at WJBK replaced most of the staff, which sank the station's news ratings further into third place, from where it would almost never recover. With new management, WJBK's news department saw a resurgence by 1990 with new staff that included Sherry Margolis, Huel Perkins and the rehiring of former anchor Joe Glover. The station would also hire away news staff and talent away from top rated WXYZ including Rich Fisher, Dayna Eubanks, Catherine Lehan, Jerry Hodak and investigative reporter Vince Wade. The station revised its image with a new logo, graphics, music and news set and began airing Detroit's first 4 p.m. newscast as part of a three-hour evening news block with half-hour newscasts at 4, 5 and 6 pm. At the same time, the station also became Detroit's first television station to launch a weekend morning newscast. Overall, WJBK's news ratings would not improve enough to surpass WXYZ and WDIV, which would continue to go head-to-head for first place. The station would also begin to simulcast its late newscast on WADL, which lasted until 1998. It would also be among the first television stations in the country to air obituaries in 1995 during the Detroit newspaper strike.


''Fox 2 News''

When WJBK switched affiliations from CBS to Fox in December 1994, the station adopted a news-intensive format. It has retained a news schedule similar to the one it had in its latter days as a CBS affiliate. The 35-minute 11 p.m. newscast was moved to 10 p.m. and expanded to an hour, and the weekday morning newscast was also expanded. The weekend 6 p.m. newscasts would also be expanded to one hour. WJBK now had a late local newscast in first place as it immediately overtook the hour-long 10 p.m. newscast that WKBD had at the time in the ratings. Eventually, WJBK would drop the 4 p.m. newscast, but the station's profile and ratings for its morning and 10 p.m. newscasts would surge with it out of direct competition from its main competitors WDIV and WXYZ. In 1995, the station would hire news anchor Bill Bonds after his departure from WXYZ-TV. Bonds would fill the 11 p.m. timeslot with a news/interview show, ''Bonds Tonight''. The newscasts were branded as ''Fox 2 Eyewitness News'' until 1997, when Fox took full ownership of the station and rebranded its newscasts as ''Fox 2 News''. By that time, the station would also release its previous WXYZ hires. At the same time, Fox's news management brought on new talent including Dan Miller, Alan Lee and Monica Gayle from Seattle, as well as Rob Wolchek from Fresno, California. By 1998, the station would bolster its image by improving its investigative and consumer advocate unit and branding it as ''The Problem Solvers''. It also adopted a slogan complementary to Detroit's working class heritage, "''News That Works for You''". On September 24, 2007, WJBK relaunched an 11 p.m. newscast, using the ''NewsEdge'' format originally used by Fox Tampa station WTVT. It also changed its logo, graphics and news theme to an image that became standard on the Fox O&O stations. In April 2008, the station became the first Fox-owned station (and the third television station in Detroit) to broadcast its news programming in high definition. On September 12, 2016, WJBK added an extra half-hour to its 6 p.m. newscast.


Mornings

WJBK had a tradition of producing its own morning news shows instead of airing CBS' morning news programs, beginning with a 7:30 a.m. newscast in 1969. The newscast would soon expand to an hour starting at 7 am. It became a mix of news, interviews and features and would be renamed ''Good Morning, Detroit'' and eventually moved to 8 am. During its run, Vic Caputo would co-anchor separately with Beverly Payne, Ken Ford and Kathy O'Brien. Payne would be the first African-American female news anchor in Detroit. ''Good Morning, Detroit'' eventually became ''Morning Magazine'', hosted by Kathy O'Brien and Gary Cubberly. In 1982, ''Morning Magazine'' was discontinued and briefly became ''Two's Company'', also hosted by O'Brien and Cubberly. In 1992, the station preempted CBS' morning news program again when WJBK rehired Jerry Hodak from WXYZ to co-anchor ''Eyewitness News Morning''. Just prior to that, WJBK also debuted Detroit's first weekend morning newscast, which was first anchored by former ''PM Magazine'' host Gary Cubberly. Competitor WDIV would follow with its own weekend morning newscast, as did eventually WXYZ. Since then, the station has broadcast more morning news hours than any other Detroit television station. In September 2009, the morning newscast was expanded to 5½ hours, airing from 4:30 to 10 am. In September 2011, ''Fox 2 News Morning'' expanded to 6½ hours from 4:30 to 11 am, where it joins the station's hour-long midday newscast at 11 am. WJBK has also had the longest-running midday newscast in the Detroit market, which originated in 1966 in the noon timeslot, before moving to 11 a.m. shortly after the switch to Fox. On Wednesday, May 6, 2015, WJBK's morning show became the subject of notoriety for a blooper, wherein an anchor hoped the middle day of the week, which is often referred to as "wikt:hump day, hump day", would have clear skies, and turn out to be a "dry hump day". In the fall of 2018, WJBK begin expanding its current morning newscasts to 8 hours with addition of half-hour starting at 4 am. On September 19, 2022, ''Fox 2 News Morning'' expanded to noon, with the midday newscast pushed back into the noon hour.


Ratings

As of February 2012, WJBK's ''Fox 2 News Morning'' has consistently remained the Detroit market's highest-rated local morning newscast (6–7 a.m., 4.5 rating/17 share). After years of faltering at a distant third against WDIV and WXYZ, WJBK began to make gains in its audience growth in other newscasts. While WDIV continued to have the most-watched evening and late newscasts, WJBK's 10 p.m. news (7.5 rating/12 share) remains the highest-rated prime time newscast in
Metro Detroit Metro Detroit is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and over 200 municipalities in the Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the officia ...
. Its early evening 5 and 5:30 p.m. newscasts (6.0/13) have surpassed WXYZ-TV's longtime dominant 5 p.m. newscast (5.8/13) for second place, while WJBK's 6 p.m. newscast (5.1/10) has become a very close third moving within one rating point to WXYZ's newscast in that timeslot (6.1/12). Since debuting in 2007, WJBK's 11 p.m. newscast ''Newsedge'' has been in third place overall (5.0 rating/9 share).


Notable current on-air staff

* Dan Miller (sportscaster), Dan Miller – sports director; also ''SportsWorks'' host * Lee Thomas (reporter), Lee Thomas – entertainment reporter * Rob Wolchek – "Problem Solvers" investigative and "Hall of Shame" feature reporter


Notable former on-air staff

*
Bill Bonds William Duane Bonds (February 23, 1932 – December 13, 2014) was an American television news anchor and reporter, best known for his work at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan. Bonds became an Action News anchorman beginning in the early 1970s. Ear ...
– news anchor and interviewer (1995–1998; was top anchor at
WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...
from 1964 to 1995; also anchored at KABC-TV and WABC-TV, died 2014) *
Lawson J. Deming Lawson J. Deming (April 23, 1913 – April 24, 2007) was a radio and TV character actor best known in Detroit, MI, Detroit, Toledo, OH, Toledo, Cleveland, OH, Cleveland, Washington, D.C., and parts of Canada as the Saturday afternoon television ...
– played horror movie host
Sir Graves Ghastly Sir Graves Ghastly was a character created by Cleveland-born actor Lawson J. Deming (1913–2007) for the popular television show of the same name. Sir Graves was a vampire whose persona, look, and exaggerated laugh ("Nnnnyeah-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaa ...
(1967–1983; died in 2007) * Sonny Eliot – weathercaster (1980–1983, previously with
WDIV-TV WDIV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. WDIV-TV maintains studio facili ...
and later with WWJ (AM), WWJ; died 2012) * M. L. Elrick – investigative reporter * Jerry Hodak – meteorologist (1965–1977) and news anchor (1992–1996; went to WXYZ-TV after each time as meteorologist and science editor, retired in 2010 after having forecasted weather longer than anyone in Detroit television) * Amy Jacobson – reporter (now with WIND (AM), WIND in Chicago) * Ray Lane (sportsman), Ray Lane – sports anchor (1961–1982; became sportscaster at
WKBD-TV WKBD-TV (channel 50), branded as CW Detroit 50, is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside WWJ-TV (channel 62), a CBS owned-and-operated station. ...
and for Detroit Red Wings, Detroit Pistons, Pistons and Detroit Tigers, Tigers games) * Charlie LeDuff – investigative reporter (2012–December 2016); contract not renewed * J. P. McCarthy, Joseph "J.P." McCarthy – interview show host (occasionally from 1972 to 1986; morning show host on WJR; died 1995) * Fred McLeod (sportscaster), Fred McLeod – sports anchor/reporter (1981–1989; moved to WDIV, later at Fox Sports Ohio; died 2019) * Terry Murphy (broadcaster), Terry Murphy – news anchor (1974–1975; became news anchor at WLS-TV in Chicago and host of ''Hard Copy'') * George Noory – assignment editor/producer (mid-1970s; now host of the overnight radio show ''Coast to Coast AM'') * Van Patrick – sports director (1960–1974; died 1974) * Charles Pugh – anchor/reporter (1999–2009; became Detroit City Council president) * Jeff Rossen – reporter (1998–2001; moved to WABC-TV in New York, now an NBC News correspondent)


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's signal is Multiplex (TV), multiplexed:


Analog-to-digital conversion

WJBK began airing its digital high-definition feed, WJBK-DT, on its pre-transition UHF channel 58 starting on October 1, 1998. The station shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, per the U.S. Digital Television transition federal mandate. In concurrence, the station's digital signal switched to its assigned post-transition VHF channel 7 which was until that day occupied by WXYZ-TV's analog signal. WJBK was assigned its post-transition digital signal on May 7, 2007. As part of the SAFER Act, WJBK kept an analog signal on the air for two additional weeks until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters. Digital television receivers continue to display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2. WJBK is the only American television station in the Detroit–Windsor television market that broadcasts its digital signal on the VHF band. Canadian station CBET-DT, broadcasting from McGregor, Ontario, is on VHF channel 9. All other Detroit–Windsor DTV stations are on the UHF band, which includes channels 14 to 36 after the FCC repack.


Out-of-market coverage


Canada

WJBK also serves as a Fox station for other Canadian cable providers, including on Rogers Cable in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, Ontario. It was also one of five Detroit television stations seen in Canada on satellite provider Shaw Direct. As of April 2009, Shaw Broadcast Services (formerly CANCOM) replaced WJBK's signal with Rochester, New York Fox affiliate WUHF. As a CBS affiliate, WJBK was carried on Cable Atlantic (now Rogers Cable) in Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia from 1985 until it affiliated with Fox in 1994. Both provinces are now served by Boston CBS O&O WBZ-TV. Coverage on cable providers outside the Detroit–Windsor market may be subject to syndex and network blackout (broadcasting), blackouts in the United States and simsubbing in Canada.


Newscasts

When WJBK became a Fox station, WGKI/WGKU (now WFQX-TV/WFUP), the Fox affiliate in Cadillac, Michigan, stopped simulcasting WKBD's 10 p.m. newscast in favor of WJBK's; this arrangement ended when WGKI began producing its own 10 p.m. newscast in 2000. In January 2007, WFQX began simulcasting WJBK's morning newscast from 6 to 8 a.m. under the title ''Michigan's Fox News Morning''. The simulcasts were made possible with an agreement that offered northern Michigan businesses advertising opportunities during the newscast. WFQX would also air the second half of WJBK's 10 p.m. newscast following its own half-hour 10 p.m. newscast. WFQX would drop WJBK's newscasts altogether in October 2007, after the station was sold and CBS affiliate WWTV began producing WFQX's 10 p.m. and morning newscasts.


See also

* Media in Detroit * Channel 2 virtual TV stations in the United States


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wjbk 1948 establishments in Michigan Buzzr affiliates Catchy Comedy affiliates Companies based in Southfield, Michigan Fox Broadcasting Company affiliates Fox Television Stations Heroes & Icons affiliates Movies! affiliates NFL primary television stations New World Communications television stations Television channels and stations established in 1948 Television stations in Detroit, JBK