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|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | CBS Detroit; CBS News Detroit |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WKBD-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | September 29, 1975 |
Former call signs | WGPR-TV (1973–1995)[1] |
Former channel number(s) |
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| Independent (1975–1994) | |
Call sign meaning | derived from former sister station WWJ radio |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 72123 |
| ERP | 380 kW |
| HAAT | 326.7 m (1,072 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°26′52.5″N 83°10′23.1″W / 42.447917°N 83.173083°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WWJ-TV (channel 62) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network via its CBS News and Stations division, alongside WKBD-TV, an independent station. The two outlets share studios on Eleven Mile Road in the Detroit suburb of Southfield; WWJ-TV's transmitter is located in Oak Park, Michigan.
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 was the first Black-owned television station in the continental United States. Though its ambitious early programming plans catering to the Black community were not entirely successful due to economic and financial limitations, the station still produced several locally notable shows and housed a fully-staffed news department. WGPR-TV helped launch the careers of multiple local and national Black television hosts and executives, including Pat Harvey, Shaun Robinson, Sharon Dahlonega Bush, and Amyre Makupson. The original studios for WGPR-TV, still in use by the radio station, have been preserved as a museum and recognized as a historical 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, changing the call sign to WWJ-TV the following year. The station has made multiple unsuccessful attempts at producing local newscasts since becoming CBS-owned, and was regarded as little more than a "relay transmitter" for network programming despite technical upgrades and a 2000 merger into then-UPN affiliate WKBD. From assuming the affiliation in 1994 until 2001, from 2002 to 2009 and again from 2012 until 2023, WWJ-TV was the only station directly owned by any of the "Big Three" networks not to have any significant local news presence. A full news department, known as CBS News Detroit, began operation in January 2023 as an extension of CBS News's streaming service.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
hcwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Facility Technical Data for WWJ-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.