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WXYZ-TV (channel 7) 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 ...
in
Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...
, United States, affiliated with
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
. It is owned by the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
alongside
independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
WMYD WMYD (channel 20) is an independent television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV (channel 7). Both stations share studios at Broadcast House on 10 Mile Road in ...
(channel 20). Both stations share studios at Broadcast House on 10 Mile Road in Southfield, where WXYZ-TV's transmitter is also located. However,
master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as switc ...
and some internal operations are based at the studios of
sister station In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement. Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
and fellow ABC affiliate
WRTV WRTV (channel 6) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Meridian Street north of downtown Indianapolis, and its transmit ...
in
Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
.


History


ABC-owned station

The station first signed on the air on October 9, 1948, with 10½ hours of programming as the second television station in both Detroit and Michigan, over a year behind WWJ-TV (channel 4, now WDIV-TV) and 15 days ahead of WJBK-TV (channel 2). Channel 7 was also the third of ABC's five original owned-and-operated television stations to sign on, after WABC-TV in New York City and WLS-TV in Chicago, and before KGO-TV in San Francisco and KABC-TV in Los Angeles. WXYZ-TV was created out of ABC-owned radio station WXYZ (1270 AM), which produced the popular radio programs '' The Lone Ranger'' and ''
The Green Hornet The Green Hornet is a superhero created in 1936 by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker, with input from radio director James Jewell. Since his 1930s radio debut, the character has appeared in numerous serialized dramas in a wide variety of media ...
''. WXYZ radio personality Dick Osgood was host of WXYZ-TV's inaugural broadcast. The television station originally broadcast from studios located in the Maccabees Building on Woodward Avenue in midtown Detroit, across from the Detroit Institute of Arts. In the 1950s, WXYZ-TV began producing a series of popular and innovative programs that featured many personalities from WXYZ radio. The station's success generated revenues large enough that it became instrumental in financially helping the then-struggling ABC network and other ABC ventures during the 1950s, including ABC-Paramount Records. In 1959, all of WXYZ's radio and television operations moved into new broadcast facilities at Broadcast House, at 20777 West Ten Mile Road in Southfield, where WXYZ's television operations remain. The facility was built on the site of a former farm and included three television production studios and its own free-standing broadcast tower with a single-person maintenance elevator. WXYZ began broadcasting network programs in color in 1962 and started broadcasting local programs and newscasts in color around 1964. By 1978, WXYZ-TV was the second most-dominant television station in the United States in terms of local viewership, no doubt attributable to ABC's prime-time ratings dominance and the continued success of ''Channel 7
Action News ''Action News'' is a local television newscast format originating in the United States. First conceived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, it is characterized by a tight format with strict time limits on set packages, a focus on surrounding suburbs, ...
'' with lead news anchor
Bill Bonds Bill 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. Early caree ...
. In 1979, ABC named Jeanne Findlater as WXYZ-TV's general manager. She was the first woman to hold that title at a major market television station. WXYZ-TV was carried by the Cancom system from 1983 as the ABC station for Canadian cable television providers too distant to receive a border station's signal over-the-air, though later, Seattle station
KOMO-TV KOMO-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Seattle, Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue-licensed Univision a ...
was added to Cancom's offerings as a
Pacific Time Zone The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00) ...
alternative.


E. W. Scripps Company station

In May 1985, Capital Cities Communications, which owned Detroit radio stations
WJR WJR (760 AM) is a commercial 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 area. A ...
(760 AM) and WHYT (96.3 FM, originally WJR-FM, now
WDVD WDVD (96.3 FM broadcasting, FM) is a hot adult contemporary Radio broadcasting, radio station in Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Owned and operated by Cumulus Media, WDVD's studios and offices are located in the Fisher Building in Detroit's New Center ...
), announced its acquisition of ABC. In order to comply with the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) ownership limits of the time, the new Capital Cities/ABC would have to sell either WXYZ-TV or each of three radio stations that the two companies had owned – WJR, WHYT, or ABC-owned WRIF (101.1 FM; the former WXYZ-FM, which was sold as part of the merger). ABC had sold WXYZ (AM) a year earlier in 1984 to the radio station's general manager, Chuck Fritz, who changed its call sign to WXYT. Upon gaining FCC approval of the merger in February 1986, the new company sold WXYZ-TV as well as Capital Cities'
Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...
station WFTS-TV to the
E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...
. Capital Cities/ABC intended to keep channel 7 together with WJR and WHYT through a waiver of the FCC's cross-ownership rules, as a contingency in case a similar request involving ABC's New York City television flagship and Capital Cities' Philadelphia outlet was denied. At the time, Cozzin Communications (a broadcast group owned by stand-up comedian/actor Bill Cosby) emerged as another prospective bidder for the station. ABC retained some of WXYZ-TV's assets, including the satellite uplink for its satellite news-gathering service '' ABC NewsOne''. Under Scripps ownership, WXYZ-TV retained the ABC network affiliation and continued to use ABC's (originally) proprietary '' Circle 7'' logo. Scripps used the station's popularity as leverage for Detroit's cable providers to carry the Scripps-owned
HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. As of February 2015, appr ...
cable network, using the FCC's retransmission consent rule to force local cable systems to carry HGTV. Under this rule, a television station that is carried on a cable system under must-carry rules can request cable systems to compensate the station for carrying it. The station was selected as the site of the first '' Town Meeting with President Bill Clinton'' in February 1993, which was hosted by Bill Bonds. President Clinton would address questions from audience members at WXYZ-TV's studios as well as audiences at other television stations via satellite.


1994 affiliation switch repercussions

On May 23, 1994,
New World Communications New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment and New World Communications Group, Inc.) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia company. It was founded in 197 ...
, the owner of then-CBS affiliate WJBK (channel 2), signed an affiliation deal with Fox Broadcasting Company. This deal, which displaced Fox from WKBD-TV (channel 50), prompted CBS to attempt to lure WXYZ-TV, as well as sister station WEWS-TV in Cleveland to drop its ABC affiliation in favor of switching to CBS; WDIV was not an option for the network, as that station had a long-term affiliation contract with NBC at the time. As a contingency plan, ABC approached SJL Broadcast Management (later known as Montecito Broadcast Group, now SJL Broadcasting and once again controlled by the principals of
Lilly Broadcasting Lilly Broadcasting, LLC is a privately owned American broadcasting company owned and operated by the Lilly Brothers’ Brian Lilly and Kevin Lilly. The company was founded in September 1999 with the purchase of WENY-TV (ABC) and WENY-FM & AM ra ...
) about buying Toledo, Ohio's WTVG (channel 13) and Flint's WJRT-TV (channel 12) to cover the Detroit area, in the event that WXYZ-TV became a CBS station. Both stations' city-grade signals reached portions of the Detroit area (WTVG to the south, and WJRT-TV to the north; ABC has since sold both stations). On June 16, 1994, Scripps signed a long-term deal with ABC that would keep WXYZ-TV and WEWS-TV as affiliates of the network (they remain ABC affiliates to this day). As a condition of that agreement, television stations in other cities, including WTSP in Tampa– St. Petersburg, KTVK in Phoenix and WJZ-TV in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...
, would lose their ABC affiliations to competing Scripps-owned stations (WFTS-TV, KNXV-TV, WMAR-TV) in those cities. This deal would end up causing WJZ-TV owner Westinghouse Broadcasting to sign their own affiliation deal with CBS, which affiliated with (and then purchased)
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 (on ...
independent station An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
WGPR-TV (channel 62, now WWJ-TV), after it failed to reach deals to affiliate with WKBD-TV or the market's other independent stations, WXON (channel 20, now
WMYD WMYD (channel 20) is an independent television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV (channel 7). Both stations share studios at Broadcast House on 10 Mile Road in ...
) and WADL (channel 38), the former two stations opting to respectively affiliate with UPN and The WB instead.


Present day

WXYZ-TV has been active in several community service projects. The station received the National Community Service Award from the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, edu ...
for outstanding community service in 1989. WXYZ-TV is a partner in several charitable endeavors including the
Society of Saint Vincent de Paul The Society of St Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the sanctification of its members by personal service of the poor. Innumerable Catholic parishes have ...
, Operation Can Do and Detroit's annual children's immunization fair. On October 4, 2006, WXYZ became the first television station in Michigan and the first Scripps-owned station to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in
high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...
. WXYZ-TV became the first television station in Detroit to transmit an over-the-air digital signal, broadcasting on UHF channel 41 on September 29, 1998. The station shut down its analog signal, over
VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...
channel 7, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 41. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 7. WJBK began using the channel 7 allocation for its digital signal after the transition. WXYZ-TV's third digital subchannel originally carried a video feed of the station's tower camera at Broadcast House. Most recently, it formerly carried Doppler7Weather, a local weather channel looping weather radar, temperatures and live local radar, along with an L-Bar (similar to that used by The Local AccuWeather Channel and the defunct
NBC Weather Plus NBC Weather Plus was an American weather-oriented digital broadcast and cable television network owned as a joint venture between NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC television network. The service, which was broadcast in standard d ...
, though it was operated independently from either network) that showed current conditions and five-day local forecasts. On May 21, 2010, this channel was removed to prepare and utilize its channel bandwidth exclusively for mobile television, labelled as WXYZ-MH 7.3 and simulcasting 7.2/ Live Well Network at 1.83 Mbit/s. WXYZ-TV, along with WDIV-TV, became the first Detroit stations to offer
Mobile DTV Mobile television is television watched on a small handheld or mobile device. It includes service delivered via mobile phone networks, received free-to-air via terrestrial television stations, or via satellite broadcast. Regular broadcast stand ...
feeds on August 6, 2010. On July 12, 2012, the E. W. Scripps Company signed an affiliation agreement with
Bounce TV Bounce TV is an American digital multicast television network owned by Katz Broadcasting, a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created to target African Americans", the channel fe ...
to make WXYZ-TV the Detroit area affiliate of the network, becoming the first Scripps-owned station to affiliate with Bounce TV.


Programming


Syndicated programming

In addition to clearing the entire ABC schedule,
syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...
programming on WXYZ includes ''
Right This Minute ''Right This Minute'' (alternatively abbreviated as ''RTM'') was an American syndicated television program that debuted on September 12, 2011. Produced by MagicDust Television in conjunction with television station groups Cox Media Group, Gray ...
'', '' Tamron Hall'', and '' The Kelly Clarkson Show'', among others.


Programming history

In the 1950s, WXYZ-TV created a series of widely popular locally produced children's programs. The most famous program, ''Lunch with Soupy'', launched the career of comedian Soupy Sales. The program debuted in 1953 and was such a success that ABC moved production to Los Angeles in 1960 and aired the show nationally. Soupy also hosted a very popular late night adult comedy show during that same period in the 1950s called ''Soupy's On''. Other successful children's shows to follow would include ''Wyxie's Wonderland'' hosted by Detroit comic Marv Welch. In 1954, Bob Brickwedde (using the stage name Bob Henry) hosted the ''Nash Theater Hour'' on Thursday nights and hosted Western movies featuring Deadeye and Black Bart on Saturdays as "Sheriff Bob". ''Ricky the Clown'' was hosted by professional
clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...
and
magician Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...
Irv Romig and ''The Johnny Ginger Show'' was hosted by local comic
Johnny Ginger Galen Grindle (born June 16, 1934), better known as Johnny Ginger, was a pioneer of Detroit television. Biography Grindle was born in Toledo, Ohio. His parents, Ray and Edna, were a Vaudeville family act performing at the Paramount Theater in Tol ...
. The ''Auntie Dee Show'' hosted by
Dee Parker Dee Parker (died March 13, 2000) was an American model, singer, and actress best known for her work on local television in Detroit, Michigan. She also made recordings and performed in night clubs, with big bands, and with a symphony orchestra. E ...
was a popular children's talent show. In 1974, WXYZ-TV launched and produced another successful children's show, the nationally syndicated '' Hot Fudge.'' Former WXYZ-TV general manager John Pival is credited for launching several other popular innovative programs in the 1950s and 1960s including the ''World Adventure Series'' with host George Pierrot, an author on world travel and a speaker at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The program showed films about exotic locations around the world. ''The Lady of Charm'' and later ''House O' Charm'' with host Edythe Fern Melrose was a predecessor to today's Martha Stewart home-making programs. ''Prize Movie'' with popular host Rita Bell introduced feature films and held a viewer call-in contest (with cash prizes that started at $7) to name the title of a song she played on the air. Several music programs also aired including ''Club Polka'' and ''Club 1270''. WXYZ-TV disc jockey Ed McKenzie also brought his talents to television with ''The Ed McKenzie Saturday Party'', which featured live musical performances from such artists as Chuck Berry and
Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
. WXYZ-TV also had a series of popular morning shows starting with the ''Pat and Johnny Show'', hosted by WXYZ radio announcers Pat Tobin and Johnny Slagle. Later in 1966, ''The Morning Show'' debuted as a morning variety program with host Bob Hynes. The station also helped to launch the career of Dennis Wholey, who started his ''AM Detroit'' talk show at WXYZ before going on to
WTVS WTVS (channel 56) is a PBS member television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, owned by the Detroit Educational Television Foundation. Its main studios are located at the Riley Broadcast Center and HD Studios in Wixom, with an addit ...
(channel 56) to host ''
PBS Late Night ''Late Night America'', formerly ''PBS LateNight'' is PBS's first nationally broadcast talk and viewer phone-in television program, hosted by Dennis Wholey Dennis Wholey (born July 2, 1939) is an American television host and producer, and the auth ...
''. The most popular and successful WXYZ morning talk show was ''Kelly & Company'', which ran from 1978 to 1995 and was hosted by a married couple who were both former members of WXYZ-TV's news staff, John Kelly (who served as news anchor) and Marilyn Turner (who served as a weathercaster). It was primarily a talk show with featured guests and a studio audience. In 1984, Turner and Kelly would also host the short-lived afternoon program, ''Good Afternoon Detroit''. The program was a pilot for other ABC-owned stations including those in New York and Chicago to launch their own ''Good Afternoon...'' shows. In 1965, the Sunday morning public affairs show ''Spotlight on the News'' debuted, with WXYZ-TV's news director Bill Fyffe as its first host. The show was later hosted by political reporter Jim Herrington and continues to air today with WXYZ-TV editorial and public affairs director Chuck Stokes as its host, writer and producer. ''Spotlight'' is now Detroit's longest-running current events television program. It has featured local and national public officials including U.S. presidents and won numerous awards. Another public affairs show that aired Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. from 1967 to 1981 was ''Haney's People'' with host Don Haney. WXYZ-TV has also been involved in several Detroit traditions over the years, having aired special coverage of Detroit's Thanksgiving Day Parade, The North American International Auto Show Charity Preview, the annual Woodward Dream Cruise and the City of Detroit's celebrations of its 250th anniversary in 1951 and 300th anniversary in 2001. WXYZ's special coverage has also included the victory parades of the city's professional sports teams, most recently the
Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...
'
Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup (french: La Coupe Stanley) is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, an ...
victory in
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
and the Detroit Pistons'
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
championship in
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
. WXYZ-TV also aired the Red Wings'
2002 Stanley Cup Finals The 2002 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2001–02 season, and the culmination of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs. It was contested by the Western Conference champion Detroit Red Wings and the ...
series win, and the station provided local coverage of Super Bowl XL that was held at
Ford Field Ford Field is a domed American football stadium located in Downtown Detroit. It primarily serves as the home of the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the annual Quick Lane Bowl college football bowl game, state champ ...
. The station is also the official broadcaster of the Christmas parade in Rochester, Michigan. In 1987, the station created and produced a weekly educational literacy program aimed at children called ''
Learn To Read ''Learn To Read'' is an adult educational TV series that consists of 30 programs, hosted by entrepreneur and literacy advocate Wally Amos. Co-instructors include Doris Biscoe (who was an anchorwoman for WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan) and Charlott ...
'', which was based on the audio-lingual method of literacy education, and was co-produced by Kentucky Educational Television. One of the hosts of this series was then WXYZ-TV news anchor Doris Biscoe. During Game 2 of the 2004 NBA Finals in Detroit, Jimmy Kimmel appeared on
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
's halftime show to make an on-air plug for that night's episode of ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...
''. He suggested that if the Detroit Pistons defeated the
Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...
, "they're gonna burn the city of Detroit down ... and it's not worth it." Channel 7 officials immediately announced that night's show would not air on the station. Hours later, ABC officials pulled that night's show from the entire network. Kimmel later apologized. Also later that year, the station opted to preempt '' Saving Private Ryan'', along with the other Scripps stations (by stark contrast, WTVG and WJRT-TV, then ABC O&Os, aired the movie). In
2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
, WXYZ-TV replaced WWJ-TV as the new
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...
of the Detroit Lions Television Network, assuming broadcast rights to the team's over-the-air preseason game telecasts. The agreement ended in
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
, with the telecasts being moved to WJBK.


News operation

WXYZ-TV presently broadcasts hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with seven hours each weekday, four hours on Saturdays and hours on Sundays); in addition, the station produces two half-hour sports programs that air on Sundays, the weekly sports highlight program ''7 Sports Cave'' (which airs weekly at 11 a.m.) and the Detroit Lions highlight program '' Ford Lions Report Live'' (which only airs during the
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
season).


History

WXYZ-TV's newscasts had long been dominant in the Detroit market's news ratings partly due to the popularity of longtime lead news anchor Bill Bonds. The station's news department started as a small operation, with short twice-a-weeknight updates anchored by previous staff announcer Lee McNew and longtime sportscaster
Dave Diles David L. Diles (October 14, 1931 – December 29, 2009) was an American sports broadcaster and journalist, as well as an author. He was a broadcaster for ABC Sports and hosted the “Prudential College Football Scoreboard Show”. Early life Dav ...
. WXYZ would later gain credibility for its coverage of the 1967 Detroit race riots. In the 1970s, WXYZ-TV began an aggressive build-up of its news department by adopting many elements of the ''
Eyewitness News ''Eyewitness News'' is a style of television news presentation that emphasizes visual elements and action video, replacing the older "man-on-camera" newscast. History Pioneered by Westinghouse The earliest known use of the ''Eyewitness New ...
'' format, such as the ''
Cool Hand Luke ''Cool Hand Luke'' is a 1967 American prison drama film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman and featuring George Kennedy in an Oscar-winning performance. Newman stars in the title role as Luke, a prisoner in a Florida prison cam ...
'' music theme that was used by ABC's four other owned-and-operated television stations in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. However, it opted to title its newscasts ''Action News'', since rival WJBK-TV was already using the ''Eyewitness News'' brand. Under the direction of general manager Jim Osborn and news director Phil Nye, the station would lure popular news personalities from rival stations, WJBK-TV and WDIV-TV (then known as WWJ-TV) to join its already well-known anchors Dave Diles and Bill Bonds. WXYZ-TV assembled Detroit's most popular news anchors and reporters for its news staff such as John Kelly, Jac LeGoff, Al Ackerman, Marilyn Turner, Jack McCarthy,
Jerry Hodak Jerry Hodak (born April 11, 1942)
, Don Lark and Doris Biscoe. By 1973, WXYZ-TV's newscasts became the highest-rated in Detroit for the first time ever, a lead it would maintain for almost four decades. Its success was linked to the serious, controversial, opinionated hard delivery of lead anchor Bill Bonds. ABC tried to apply Bonds' success in Detroit at KABC-TV in Los Angeles in the late 1960s and again in 1975 at New York City's WABC-TV; in both cases, he was unsuccessful and soon returned to WXYZ-TV. During the 1980s and 1990s, Bonds hosted the interview segment, ''Up Front'', on WXYZ-TV's 5 p.m. newscast. During the interviews, Bonds confronted the Detroit area's public officials and newsmakers with hard-hitting and sometimes controversial questions. Bonds' hard-edge style was widely known in Detroit for both captivating viewers while repulsing others, leading Bonds to become the station's icon and its main star. In Ron Powers' book, ''The Newscasters'', Powers called Bonds "one of the six most influential news anchors in the country." However, Bonds had public battles with alcoholism which are credited with his dismissal from the station in 1995. Bonds anchored newscasts and a late night talk-show called ''Bonds Tonight'' at WJBK-TV shortly afterwards and later hosted a radio show at WXYT. Bonds returned to WXYZ-TV in 1999 to present editorials during the newscasts but left the station after only a few months. WXYZ-TV's ratings dominance was challenged by WDIV-TV in the 1980s, due in part to a change of ownership and culture at WDIV and viewers looking for an alternative to Bonds' hard-hitting style of news presentation. The two stations continue to battle for ratings to this day. In recent years, the station's news coverage received several journalism honors including two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards, and the George Foster Peabody Award. WXYZ-TV's ''Action News'' was named the best television newscast in the U.S. by United Press International in 1989. In the 1990s, WXYZ-TV continued to expand its morning newscast, ''Action News This Morning'' to the eventual start time of 5 a.m. This newscast had originated in the form of short news updates that aired during ''
Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
''. One of its longtime co-anchors was Erik Smith, who worked at Channel 7 off-and-on for over 40 years. During most of that time, Smith also reported on human-interest and entertainment stories. Smith also won acclaim for his award-winning series ''From the Heart'' which began in the late 1990s as a collection of heartwarming, historical and inspirational stories from around the Detroit area. Smith left the station in May 2010, due to a dispute with management, five days before his contract was set to expire. In 2001, WXYZ-TV debuted a 7 p.m. newscast, a move that occurred after the September 11 attacks when the station chose to move ABC's '' World News Tonight'' ahead by 30 minutes to 6:30 p.m. The 7 p.m. newscast became a forum for interviewing guests and newsmakers on daily issues and became a ratings success in key demographics. The station also expanded its noon newscast to one hour. In 2002, WXYZ-TV entered into a news share agreement with
Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...
, then-owner of WWJ-TV and UPN affiliate WKBD-TV to produce WKBD's 10 p.m. newscast; this resulted in WKBD shutting down its news department, while also effectively cancelling the newscast it produced for WWJ-TV. A handful of Viacom's Detroit employees were transferred to WXYZ-TV. Viacom would also transfer the operations of its
CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...
satellite news-gathering service
CBS Newspath CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs ''CBS News Sunday Morning'', ''60 Minutes'', and '' 48 Hou ...
to offices at WXYZ-TV's Broadcast House studios, since WXYZ-TV would also be allowed to use the resources of CBS News. The newscast was canceled in late 2004 due to poor viewership (today, WKBD airs local news under the ''
CBS News Now ''CBS News Now'' is the ''de facto'' umbrella title for a set of hybrid local/national newscasts produced by CBS News and Stations airing on most of the group's CW affiliates or independent stations, with production led by the CBS Local News I ...
'' format and WWJ-TV is slated to debut ''CBS News Detroit'' either in late summer or early fall 2022). ''Action News'' continued its success with longtime anchors Diana Lewis, Robbie Timmons, meteorologist Jerry Hodak, sportscaster Don Shane and up until October 9, 2006, anchor Frank Turner, who became a successful replacement to Bill Bonds. Another addition to the news staff was anchor Stephen Clark, a former anchor at WCBS-TV in New York and CBS News correspondent. Chief meteorologist Jerry Hodak was the station's primary weathercaster for at least 26 of his more than 40 years in Detroit television. In July 2010, Hodak announced his retirement from WXYZ-TV with his last broadcast occurring two months later on September 23. In 2006, WXYZ-TV also boasted the most veteran general assignment reporters in Detroit television with Cheryl Chodun, Bill Proctor, Mary Conway and Val Clark, each of whom worked at least 20 years at the station. In the November 2006 ratings period, shortly after the switch to HD, all of WXYZ-TV's newscasts placed first in their respective timeslots except at 11 p.m., which lagged behind WDIV-TV. From the November 2007 ratings period until before the May 2009 ratings period, WXYZ-TV's newscasts were #1 in each of its respective timeslots. However, it finished behind rival WDIV-TV, which took first place in the evening and late news timeslots in the May 2009 sweeps period due largely to lower ratings of shows leading into WXYZ-TV's news programs. Both WXYZ-TV and WDIV-TV have been among the country's strongest affiliates of their respective networks over the years although WDIV-TV has taken over first place in all newscast time slots since late 2009. In very recent years, however, WXYZ-TV and WJBK have been battling for second place in the 5 to 6:30 p.m. block behind WDIV-TV. WXYZ-TV's investigative unit, the "7 Investigators", gained notoriety in 2002 with chief investigative reporter Steve Wilson and his stories of financial mismanagement at the Kmart Corporation, an undercover investigation that exposed high-pressure sales tactics used by a well-known financial firm, and confrontations with elected officials in Detroit, especially Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. On August 7, 2008, Kilpatrick appeared in front of a judge in Wayne County Circuit Court. The hearing was called to discuss a potential violation of his bond in one of the two felony cases against him. The hearing was called after Wilson uncovered and revealed photos of the mayor in nearby Windsor, Ontario, Canada. A stipulation of the mayor's bond was that he was not to leave the country, and that he give the court 72 hours' notice if he planned to leave the state of Michigan for any reason. Mayor Kilpatrick was then ordered to spend the night in the Wayne County jail. The current team of "7 Investigators" is made up of Heather Catallo, Ross Jones, and Jim Kiertzner. On August 3, 2011, WXYZ-TV unveiled a new news set during its noon newscast, a project which the station had been working on since June 2011. The new set features new high definition cameras and monitors and a redesigned weather center under the new forecast branding "7 First Alert Weather". On October 3, 2012, Diana Lewis left WXYZ-TV after working at the station for a total of 32 years (having joined the station in 1977, before leaving in 1985 and returning to Channel 7 four years later). On January 26, 2014, WXYZ-TV discontinued the ''Sunday Sports Update'' in favor of expanding its Sunday 11 p.m. newscast to one hour. In turn, one week later on February 2, the station launched a new Sunday morning sports program, the ''7 Sports Cave''. On June 16, 2014, WXYZ-TV introduced a new 10 p.m. newscast for its new sister station, WMYD, under the name of ''7 Action News at 10 on TV 20 Detroit''. The newscast replaced an outsourced newscast with local reporters anchored by staff at former WMYD sister station WPTA in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Months later, the station introduced two more hours of morning news on WMYD as well. On September 8, 2014, WXYZ-TV introduced a new 4 p.m. newscast called "The Now Detroit". On February 23, 2015, WXYZ-TV expanded into Downtown Detroit with a new street-side studio inside the Chase Tower; this new studio serves as the location for ''7 Action News at Noon'' anchored by Joanne Purtan, and other WXYZ/WMYD programs. On Wednesday, May 13, 2020, WXYZ-TV upgraded its on-air graphics for its general programming and newscasts. These graphics are being used for all Scripps TV stations.


Notable current on-air staff

* Brad Galli – sports reporter/anchor *
Keenan Smith Keenan Smith (born October 31, 1972, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American television broadcaster who is a reporter/anchor for the morning and noon newscasts at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Michigan. Smith joined the network around September 201 ...
– morning and noon news anchor/meteorologist * Faraz Javed – multimedia journalist and weekend morning reporter


Notable former on-air staff

* Dennis Archer – public affairs show host (1973–1979, later Michigan Supreme Court Justice and mayor of Detroit) *
Bill Bonds Bill 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. Early caree ...
– longtime lead anchor of ''Action News'' (1961–1968, 1971–1975 & 1976–1995) (deceased) *
Dave Diles David L. Diles (October 14, 1931 – December 29, 2009) was an American sports broadcaster and journalist, as well as an author. He was a broadcaster for ABC Sports and hosted the “Prudential College Football Scoreboard Show”. Early life Dav ...
– sports director, also worked with
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
(deceased) *
Johnny Ginger Galen Grindle (born June 16, 1934), better known as Johnny Ginger, was a pioneer of Detroit television. Biography Grindle was born in Toledo, Ohio. His parents, Ray and Edna, were a Vaudeville family act performing at the Paramount Theater in Tol ...
– host of ''The Johnny Ginger Show'' *
Steve Handelsman Stephen Hale "Steve" Handelsman (born December 9, 1948) is an American journalist. As a former national correspondent for NBC News, his reports was seen on many NBC stations, sometimes with him "tagging out" with the mentioning of an NBC station' ...
– investigative reporter, fill-in anchor (1978–1984; now retired) * Chris Hansen – (later with WDIV-TV and NBC News) *
Jerry Hodak Jerry Hodak (born April 11, 1942)
– chief meteorologist (retired on September 23, 2010) *
Bill Proctor Bill Proctor is the Leon County, Florida District 1 County Commissioner, a role in which he has served since 1996. Since 2000 he has also been an instructor in political science at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Florida since 2000. ...
– longtime general assignment and investigative reporter (retired) *
Bill Ratner William Gerald Ratner (born February 25, 1947) is an American voice actor, author and solo performance artist. He is best known as the voice of Flint (G.I. Joe), Flint in Hasbro's syndicated TV cartoon ''G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1985 TV ...
– one of his former voice-over clients (2000s–2011?) * Soupy Sales – host of ''Lunch with Soupy'' and ''Soupy's On'' (deceased) * Tom Shannon – morning host (1960s) *
Robbie Timmons Robbie Timmons is an retired American TV news anchor/reporter for Detroit television stations WJBK-TV and WXYZ-TV. She was the first female news anchor in American history to anchor the 6:00pm and 11:00pm broadcasts in March 1973 while anchoring t ...
(1982–2010) – longtime co-anchor of ''Action News'' at 5 (retired) * Steve Wilson – chief investigative reporter


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:


Coverage

In addition to carriage across Southeast Michigan, WXYZ-TV is carried on most cable providers in
Southwestern Ontario Southwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Southern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It occupies most of the Ontario Peninsula bounded by Lake Huron, including Georgian Bay, to the north and northwest; the St. Clair River, Lake St. ...
and
Northwestern 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 are ...
. Coverage on cable systems outside the Detroit/ Windsor market may be subject to
syndication exclusivity Syndication exclusivity (also known as syndex) is a federal law () implemented by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States that is designed to protect a local television station's rights to syndicated television programs b ...
rules and network blackouts in the United States and simsubbing in Canada. The station can be received from as far away as Flint, Michigan, with a good-quality antenna. It is also carried on cable in Grand Marais, Michigan. The station also serves several other parts of Canada as an ABC affiliate on satellite provider Shaw Direct as well as on cable providers in several Canadian markets including Windsor, London,
Sault Ste. Marie Sault Ste. Marie is a cross-border region of Canada and the United States located on St. Marys River, which drains Lake Superior into Lake Huron. Founded as a single settlement in 1668, Sault Ste. Marie was divided in 1817 by the establishment of ...
,
Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...
and Thunder Bay, Ontario, Saint John, New Brunswick, and all of Manitoba (except for areas served by
Shaw Shaw may refer to: Places Australia *Shaw, Queensland Canada *Shaw Street, a street in Toronto England *Shaw, Berkshire, a village *Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton *Shaw, Swindon, a List of United Kingdom ...
's Steinbach or Winnipeg system, which carry
WDAZ-TV WDAZ-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Devils Lake, North Dakota, United States, serving the Grand Forks area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by the Forum Communications Company, which also owns the ''Grand Forks Herald''. ...
out of
Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...
, instead) and the National Capital Region. WXYZ-TV was previously offered as the ABC affiliate on cable through Cable Atlantic (now
Rogers Cable Rogers Cable Inc. is Canada's largest cable television service provider with about 2.25 million television customers, and over 930,000 Internet subscribers, primarily in Southern & Eastern Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador. Ro ...
) in Newfoundland and Labrador including in St. John's from 1985 to 1997 (which has since been replaced by Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV). As of 2010, however, some Rogers Cable customers in Newfoundland and Labrador began receiving WXYZ-TV again along with WDIV and WWJ. Until April 2011, Comcast subscribers in Holly, which is located within the Detroit market in northwestern
Oakland County Oakland County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the Metro Detroit, metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 Census, its population was 1, ...
, were unable to see much of WXYZ-TV's programming, as it was often blacked out at the request of Flint's WJRT-TV; the blackout was due to the Comcast system being tied to the Flint headend, instead of one in Oakland County or elsewhere in Detroit. That month, following complaints from Detroit stations and area viewers of being blacked out or unavailable in an area that they were supposed to serve, Comcast discontinued blackouts of the Detroit stations it already carried, added additional stations from that market and dropped many Flint–
Tri-Cities Tri-Cities most often refers to: *Tri-Cities, Tennessee, United States *Tri-Cities, Washington, United States Tri-City, Tricity or Tri-Cities may also refer to: Populated places Americas Canada *Tri-Cities (British Columbia), consisting of Co ...
area stations from that system. WJRT-TV was one of two stations retained (along with WCMZ-TV) as it was considered to have significant viewership in the Holly area.


See also

* Circle 7 logo *
Media in Detroit As the world's traditional automotive center, Detroit, Michigan, is an important source for business news. The Detroit media are active in the community through such efforts as the ''Detroit Free Press'' high school journalism program and the Old ...


References

* * * * *


External links

* * – Bounce TV Detroit
Photos of WXYZ's news set
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wxyz-Tv XYZ-TV ABC network affiliates Bounce TV affiliates Laff (TV network) affiliates Court TV affiliates E. W. Scripps Company television stations Television channels and stations established in 1948 Companies based in Southfield, Michigan