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WDJT-TV (channel 58) 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
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...
, United States, affiliated with
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
. It has been owned by
Weigel Broadcasting Weigel Broadcasting Co. is an American television broadcasting company based in Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV (Channel 26), at 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood. It currently owns 25 television sta ...
since its inception (and is the company's only CBS affiliate), and is
sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...
to
Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...
-licensed
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 ...
WMLW-TV WMLW-TV (channel 49) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station licensed to Racine, Wisconsin, United States, serving the Milwaukee area. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting alongside CBS affiliate WDJT-TV (channe ...
(channel 49), Class A
MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...
station
WBME-CD WBME-CD, virtual channel 41 (UHF digital channel 17), is a low-power, Class A MeTV owned-and-operated television station licensed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, it is sister to CBS affi ...
(channel 41), and
Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...
affiliate
WYTU-LD WYTU-LD (channel 63) is a low-power television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language Telemundo network. Owned by Weigel Broadcasting (as the company's only Telemundo affiliate), it is sister to CBS ...
(channel 63). The stations share studios in the Renaissance Center office complex on South 60th Street in
West Allis West Allis is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 60,325 at the 2020 census. History The name West Allis derives from Edward P. Allis, ...
(with a Milwaukee postal address), while WDJT-TV's transmitter is located in Milwaukee's
Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US President Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for seven miles (11 km) from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, ...
.


History


Launch and early struggles

The station first signed on the air on November 10, 1988, operating as an
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 ...
. Its call letters were selected in honor of its original owners, Debra Jackson and John Torres, the former of whom died before the station took to the air. With the banks skittish about the station's prospects due to Jackson's death, Torres sold controlling interest to
Weigel Broadcasting Weigel Broadcasting Co. is an American television broadcasting company based in Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV (Channel 26), at 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood. It currently owns 25 television sta ...
in order to get more financing. Weigel bought out Torres' interest shortly before the station signed on, retaining the call letters, unchanged. Originally branded as "Classic 58", its programming fare consisted of older
sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...
s, lower-tier first-run syndicated shows, a couple of rejected network programs from NBC affiliate
WTMJ-TV WTMJ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Kenosha-licensed Ion Television station WPXE-TV (channel 55). WTMJ-TV's studios are loca ...
(channel 4) and then-CBS outlet
WITI Witiness Chimoio João Quembo (born 26 August 1996), known as Witi, is a Mozambican professional footballer who plays for Portuguese club C.D. Nacional as a winger. Club career Born in Beira, Witi began his career with Sporting Club da Be ...
(channel 6), and a mix of
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
and lower-demand studio films. The locally based show ''The
Bowling Bowling is a target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a ball toward pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). The term ''bowling'' usually refers to pin bowling (most commonly ten-pin bowling), though ...
Game'' also moved to the station in 1989 after a two-year hiatus from
WVTV WVTV (channel 18) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with The CW and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located on Calumet Road in the Park Place office park near the I-41/US 45 ...
(channel 18), airing intermittently until 1991. It operated from a bare-bones facility on the top floors of the Marc Plaza Hotel (now the
Hilton Milwaukee City Center The Hilton Milwaukee City Center is a historic Art Deco-style hotel opened in 1928 and located in the Westown neighborhood of downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is owned by the Marcus Corporation, which also owns the Pfister Hotel and the Saint ...
), using a transmitter atop the hotel that had once been used by WVTV and low-power WMKE-LP (then-channel 8, now channel 21). As an independent, WDJT found the going difficult against WVTV and
WCGV-TV WCGV-TV (channel 24) was a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, which operated from 1980 to 2018. In its latter years, it was owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV; it had common ownership with ...
(channel 24). Although Milwaukee was big enough on paper to support what were essentially three independent stations (
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 (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
affiliate WCGV was essentially programmed as an independent, as the network would not air a full week's worth of programming until 1993), there simply was not enough programming to go around. Most of the stronger first-run and off-network syndicated programs had been picked clean not only by WVTV and WCGV, but also the market's three network affiliates. It was also hampered by a weak signal that effectively limited channel 58's coverage area to Milwaukee and its inner-ring suburbs such as Cudahy, Waukesha and
West Allis West Allis is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. A suburb of Milwaukee, it is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. The population was 60,325 at the 2020 census. History The name West Allis derives from Edward P. Allis, ...
. The few syndicators who otherwise would have been willing to air their programming on channel 58 largely shied away due to its weak signal. Additionally, it was near the top of the UHF dial; generally until the cable age, most southeastern Wisconsin households never tuned past
WMVT WMVT (channel 36) is a secondary PBS member television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is owned by Milwaukee Area Technical College alongside primary PBS member WMVS (channel 10). Collectively branded as Milwaukee PBS, the ...
, the area's secondary
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
member station on channel 36. The station also came to the air three years before
must-carry In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system. North America Canada Under current CRTC regulations, the lowest tier of service on ...
rules were put into place. In January and February 1992, WDJT carried full-day coverage of the
criminal trial Criminal procedure is the adjudication process of the criminal law. While criminal procedure differs dramatically by jurisdiction, the process generally begins with a formal criminal charge with the person on trial either being free on bail or ...
of
serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...
Jeffrey Dahmer Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer (; May 21, 1960 – November 28, 1994), also known as the Milwaukee Cannibal or the Milwaukee Monster, was an American serial killer and sex offender who killed and dismemberment, dismembered seventeen men and boys ...
fed and produced by WITI. This allowed WITI to carry the CBS lineup without preemption, while giving Milwaukee an over-the-air venue for the full trial. Until 1993, many area cable systems chose not to carry it due to a lack of compelling programming, poor signal quality or inadequate viewership—most notably
Marcus Cable Marcus Cable Company was an American cable television provider headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and founded by Jeffrey A. Marcus and the Milwaukee-based Marcus Corporation. It was the nation's largest closely held cable-television company and the n ...
(now part of
Charter Communications Charter Communications, Inc., is an American telecommunications and mass media company with services branded as Spectrum. With over 32 million customers in 41 states, it is the second-largest cable operator in the United States by subscribers, ...
), the largest cable provider in Milwaukee's outer suburbs. On the systems that did carry it, it was relegated to a lower-tier slot; it aired on channel 29 on Milwaukee's
Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...
system, and on channel 48 in outlying areas. Only with the requirements of must-carry launching that year was Weigel able to start the procurement process of more prominent cable coverage, though its channel position was still at the whim of each provider under that provision.


Joining CBS

In May 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 ...
announced that most of its stations, including Milwaukee's WITI, would become Fox affiliates. CBS approached all four of Milwaukee's other major stations–WTMJ-TV,
WISN-TV WISN-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, it is the second-oldest television station to remain with the company in all of its various iterations behind f ...
(channel 12, which was affiliated with CBS from 1961 to 1977), WVTV, and WCGV (which to that point carried selected CBS programs that WITI chose not to carry). None of those stations were interested, although WVTV's then-owner,
Gaylord Broadcasting Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc. () is a hotel, resort, entertainment, and media company named after National Historic Landmark the Ryman Auditorium, built as a tabernacle by Captain Thomas G. Ryman in 1892 and later the home of the Grand Ole Op ...
(which had by that time had ceded operational control to WCGV), switched two of its other stations (
KTVT KTVT (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, broadcasting CBS programming to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Independent statio ...
in
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...
and
KSTW KSTW (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area as an affiliate of The CW. Owned by the CBS News and Stations group, the station maintains studios on East Madison Street in Seat ...
in
Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, Washington, Olympia, and northwest of Mount ...
) to CBS. This left CBS to negotiate with the city's lower-profile independents, WJJA (channel 49, now WMLW-TV) and WDJT, as well as
religious Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...
station
WVCY-TV WVCY-TV (channel 30) is a religious independent television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, owned by locally based VCY America, Inc. The station's studios are located on West Vliet Street in Milwaukee. Through a channel sharing a ...
(channel 30). After negotiations with both WJJA and WDJT fell through, CBS made an abortive attempt to buy WVCY before station owner
Vic Eliason Victor Carl "Vic" Eliason (May 14, 1936 – December 5, 2015) was an American evangelical clergyman who founded the VCY America Radio Network, a conservative Christian radio, Christian broadcasting Christian ministry, ministry, based in Milwaukee, ...
, in consultation with
VCY America VCY America, is a traditional, evangelical, conservative Christian ministry based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The VCY America Radio Network maintains a format of Christian talk and teaching, as well as traditional Christian music through its broadc ...
's board, decided not to sell. With just days before WITI was to join Fox, CBS was faced with having to pipe in affiliate
WISC-TV WISC-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Madison, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with CBS and MyNetworkTV. It is the flagship television property of locally based Morgan Murphy Media, which has owned the station since its inception. ...
in
Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...
, or its two owned-and-operated stations in the region,
WFRV-TV WFRV-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on East Mason Street in Green Bay, and its transmitter is located north of Mor ...
in Green Bay (now owned by
Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
) or
WBBM-TV WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington Stre ...
in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
(the latter being receivable over the air in the southern portion of the market), for cable subscribers while it found a new affiliate in Milwaukee. Out of desperation, CBS agreed to affiliate with WDJT, despite its subpar signal and the lack of a news department. CBS faced similar situations in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
,
Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
,
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
and
Detroit 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 th ...
. In all these cases, the longtime CBS affiliates all switched to Fox. While CBS was able to land on higher-profile stations in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
,
Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
and
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, it was unable to do so in
Detroit 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 th ...
or Milwaukee; in both cases, even the former Fox
affiliates In the broadcasting industry (particularly in North America, and even more in the United States), a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or ...
there turned down CBS, both becoming charter affiliates of the
United Paramount Network (UPN) The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which p ...
instead. This would be one of two 11th-hour affiliation deals Weigel landed with a Big Three network; a year later, its low-powered outlet in
South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in and the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, St. Joseph County, Indiana, on the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2020 United S ...
; W58BT (now WBND), signed on as an ABC affiliate after longtime affiliate
WSJV WSJV (channel 28) is a television station licensed to Elkhart, Indiana, United States, serving the South Bend area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Heroes & Icons. It is owned by Gray Television alongside NBC affiliate WNDU-TV (c ...
switched to Fox. On December 11, 1994, WDJT became the sixth station in Milwaukee to carry CBS. The network first aligned with WTMJ secondarily from 1947 to 1953, followed by now-defunct
WCAN-TV WCAN-TV (channel 25) was a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, which operated from 1953 to 1955. It was the second television station and first ultra high frequency (UHF) outlet in Milwaukee and was owned by Midwest Broadcas ...
(channel 25) from 1953 to 1955, WVTV (then known as WXIX, itself then owned by CBS, experimenting with UHF operations) from 1955 to 1959, WITI from 1959 to 1961, WISN-TV from 1961 to 1977, and WITI again from 1977 to 1994. The first CBS program to air on channel 58 that day was ''
CBS News Sunday Morning ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' (normally shortened to ''Sunday Morning'' on the program itself since 2009) is an American news magazine A news magazine is a typed, printed, and published magazine, radio or television program, usually published ...
''. Some existing syndicated programming on WDJT's schedule which would otherwise air in CBS-designated timeslots was either moved to overnight slots on the station or turned over to sister station W65BT (now
WBME-CD WBME-CD, virtual channel 41 (UHF digital channel 17), is a low-power, Class A MeTV owned-and-operated television station licensed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, it is sister to CBS affi ...
, channel 41) to fulfill contracts. Not even Weigel had expected WDJT to replace WITI as Milwaukee's CBS affiliate. For the next year and a half, channel 58 was thus forced to make do with a hastily made logo of WDJT's italic
Times New Roman Times New Roman is a serif typeface. It was commissioned by the British newspaper ''The Times'' in 1931 and conceived by Stanley Morison, the artistic adviser to the British branch of the printing equipment company Monotype, in collaboration wit ...
'58' of the time in red (and later yellow) to the right of the CBS Eyemark, and a bare-bones image campaign using default CBS graphics (even up to 1999, it utilized the music of CBS' "Welcome Home" imaging campaign of the time for its newscasts). Meanwhile, the station began searching for a new studio befitting its new status, as well as building a news department. Until the 2009
digital television transition The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...
, WDJT was the only CBS affiliate in Wisconsin that broadcast on the UHF band, but retains the highest PSIP channel number out of the state's CBS affiliates post-transition. WDJT's CBS affiliation sent the area's cable systems scrambling to add the station or give it a higher profile slot. It took until March 1995 for some portions of Marcus Cable's service area to pick up the station, though outer portions of the market had access to WISC, WFRV or WBBM as a second CBS signal depending on their location. Viewers in these areas who did not have set-top antennas thus missed several major events to which CBS held the rights, including the
PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also k ...
, the
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, the
Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...
,
Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
basketball, and the NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments. Despite these issues, the affiliation move to WDJT immediately resolved several scheduling issues CBS had while with WITI. ''
The Young and the Restless ''The Young and the Restless'' (often abbreviated as ''Y&R'') is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in fictional Genoa City (not the real-life similarly-named Genoa City, Wi ...
'', which had aired on a one-day
delay Delay (from Latin: dilatio) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Delay 1968'', a 1981 album by German experimental rock band Can * ''The Delay'', a 2012 Uruguayan film People * B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and acto ...
at 9a.m. weekdays since the early 1980s on WITI, began airing in the network-mandated timeslot for the
Central Time Zone The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Central America, some Caribbean Islands, and part of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. Central Standard Time (CST) is six hours behind Coordinate ...
of 11:00 a.m. on WDJT, without a delay. The station also cleared ''
CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987, to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012, to September 6, 2021. The program was aired from Monday through Saturday. ...
'' for its full two hours; WITI had preempted the first hour. WDJT also picked up the ''
Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'', which had aired on WCGV after WITI passed on it (one of the few CBS affiliates to do so). ''
Donahue Donahue is the Americanized version of Irish surname Donohoe, which, in turn, is an Anglicized version of the ancient Irish name "Donnchadh" (sometimes "Donncha"). Donncha was a common “first name” in 9th Century Ireland, and when the use of ...
'' moved to the station in September 1995 for its last season from WTMJ as WDJT's first true high-profile syndication acquisition. However, outside of network hours, the station's schedule resembled that of a minor-network affiliate or a lower-tier independent; it consisted mostly of low-profile sitcoms, first-run syndicated programs turned down by the other Milwaukee stations, and second-run syndicated fare. WDJT eventually acquired a near-universal channel 5 cable slot on most area systems, but several complications (including systems which didn't carry it on cable channel 5, mainly those in the northern part of the market) disallowed WDJT from utilizing an alternate "CBS 5" branding, including likely confusion with then-CBS O&O WFRV-TV in Green Bay, which broadcast on (and continues to use as its virtual channel) channel 5. In early 1996, WDJT moved to a new studio in a converted commercial building which was part of the former
Allis-Chalmers Allis-Chalmers was a U.S. manufacturer of machinery for various industries. Its business lines included agricultural equipment, construction equipment, power generation and power transmission equipment, and machinery for use in industrial setti ...
manufacturing complex on South 60th Street, right on the line between Milwaukee and West Allis. The station launched a news department, and its first newscasts aired on March 18, 1996, three days before that year's NCAA tournament. WDJT also had one of the first local news websites in the state, and it was among the first in the nation to be a digital-only news operation on-air from launch, mainly running on AVID systems. That year, WDJT also began to carry freshman series ''
Judge Judy ''Judge Judy'' is an American Court show#Arbitration-based reality court show, arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judy Sheindlin, Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudi ...
'', which gave the station its first ratings traction outside of network hours, though it moved to WITI by September 1998 as that station decided to move away from an afternoon schedule dependent on "tabloid" talk shows. Three years later in 1999, the station's current Lincoln Park transmitter was put into service, giving the station an over-the-air signal comparable to Milwaukee's other major commercial stations. Weigel would use this tower to bring WDJT's two low-powered sister stations on an even footing in the market with all the market's main stations transmitting from the same area. The station scored a major coup in early 2004 just before
Ken Jennings Kenneth Wayne Jennings III (born May 23, 1974) is an American game show host, author, and former game show contestant. He is the highest-earning American game show contestant, having won money on five different game shows, including $4,522,70 ...
started his record ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...
'' winning streak, when the perceived costs and demographics of syndication of that show, along with
Sony Pictures Television Sony Pictures Television Inc. (abbreviated as SPT) is an American television production and distribution studio. Based at the Sony Pictures Studios complex in Culver City, it is a division of Sony Entertainment's unit Sony Pictures Entertainm ...
/
King World King World Productions, Inc. (also known as King World Entertainment, King World Enterprises, or simply King World) was a production company and syndicator of television programming in the United States independently established in 1964 until acq ...
companion show ''
Wheel of Fortune The Wheel of Fortune or ''Rota Fortunae'' has been a concept and metaphor since ancient times referring to the capricious nature of Fate. Wheel of Fortune may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Art * ''The Wheel of Fortune'' (Burne-Jo ...
'', led to WTMJ-TV deciding not to renew rights to either series. Channel 4 had aired the syndication version of ''Wheel of Fortune'' since its premiere in 1983, and had aired ''Jeopardy!'' since its 1984 premiere. WDJT snapped up the rights for both game shows beginning in September 2005, and decided to schedule them in their traditional
block scheduling Block scheduling or blocking is a type of academic scheduling used in schools in the American K-12 system, in which each pupil has fewer classes per day. It is more common in middle and high schools than in primary schools. Each class is schedu ...
setup between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00p.m. before prime time; the station had dropped its 6p.m. newscast several years before to carry the first two seasons of ''
The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...
'' at 6p.m., which later moved to WISN-TV. ''Jeopardy!'' then gained ratings being led in by the ''
CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featuring news reports, feature s ...
'' rather than low-tier programming such as ''
American Journal ''American Journal'' (alternately titled ''American Journal: Coast to Coast'' for its final season; also known as ''AJ'') is a syndicated television newsmagazine program that ran from 1993 to 1998. The series was distributed by King World Produc ...
'' in its former 3:00 p.m. berth on WTMJ. With both programs united in the pre-prime time slot, they have continued to do well on WDJT, easily outrating their competition of 6p.m. local news on the other three Milwaukee stations, along with entertainment newsmagazine programming at 6:30 p.m. WTMJ has since struggled with either lower-tier entertainment newsmagazines or local newscasts in the 6:30 p.m. timeslot. In 2007, WDJT gained national attention after its live news truck broke through ice on Big Muskego Lake in Muskego while covering a story on ice safety. The estimated cost of repair was $250,000. A week later, the station began airing a
public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...
on ice safety which premiered during CBS'
Super Bowl XLI Super Bowl XLI was an American football game played between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...
coverage, making light of the situation by referring to their news department as providing "the most in-depth coverage in Milwaukee." The station asked
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
to allow it to carry as many
New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...
games as were available for the 2008 season, since that team acquired former Packer quarterback
Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 20 ...
on August 7, 2008, and expected high viewer interest from Milwaukee viewers for Jets games. Since CBS holds the rights to the AFC contract, the majority of Jets games are carried on that network. Station general manager Jim Hall asserted that the Jets were the station's "adopted team" for that season (the Jets traded Favre to the
Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...
in the 2009 off-season). On August 29, 2008, WDJT became the first commercial television station in Milwaukee to produce a local program in high definition without the assistance of
Milwaukee Public Television Milwaukee PBS is the collective brand for two Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member television stations licensed to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States: WMVS (channel 10) and WMVT (channel 36). Both stations are owned and operated by the Mi ...
or other stations in the
Hearst Television Hearst Television, Inc. (formerly Hearst-Argyle Television) is a broadcasting company in the United States owned by Hearst Communications. From 1998 to mid-2009, the company traded its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ...
chain, as WISN had done in the past—when it aired the hour-long special ''105 Years in the Making'', which was produced in conjunction with
Harley-Davidson Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...
's 105th Anniversary celebration that weekend. In late May 2010, the station became the fourth commercial station in the market begin airing its syndicated programming in high definition, a process which was completed in the fall of 2014 with an all-HD schedule of local and syndicated programming (outside of
paid programming Paid or PAID may refer to: * ''Paid'' (1930 film), an American film starring Joan Crawford * ''Paid'' (2006 film), a Dutch film *''Personality and Individual Differences'', a journal See also * Paide Paide is a town in Estonia and the ...
). The station began to air internal promos in HD at the start of the 2011–12 television season, and outside advertising in the format in January 2012 in concert with the station's conversion to HD news. In 2010, one of WDJT's live trucks drove away from a scene with its telescoping mast raised and into high voltage electrical
transmission lines In electrical engineering, a transmission line is a specialized cable or other structure designed to conduct electromagnetic waves in a contained manner. The term applies when the conductors are long enough that the wave nature of the transmis ...
. The two occupants of the vehicle were able to escape unharmed. Another WDJT truck had previously hit electrical wires in nearby Waukesha in April 2005, causing the top of the mast to snap off. On July 22, 2010, the Milwaukee area experienced a major
flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...
ing event which caused major damage in several parts of
Milwaukee County Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous coun ...
. Although Weigel's West Allis studios did not suffer any damage, the Lincoln Park transmitter, located only a few hundred feet from Lincoln Creek suffered flooding damage within the transmission shed, forcing the station off the air for the majority of three days while the equipment was dried out and repaired. WMLW-CA's analog transmitter was used to relay WDJT's signal in some form to viewers; WTMJ offered the use of its 4.3 subchannel to transmit WDJT's programming to a majority of the Milwaukee market as gratitude for a 2009 incident in which WTMJ was taken off-the-air due to a lightning strike and Weigel offered the station the use of a WBME subchannel temporarily. This TV and Shorewest TV were also off-the air until July 25, when WDJT resumed full operations over the Weigel transmitter. For many years, WDJT had been one of CBS' weaker affiliates. However, the station's syndicated schedule, including the Sony game show block, has placed WDJT in a better ratings position than CBS-affiliated UHF stations in Detroit and Atlanta, and the station is well competitive in prime time and late night due to the network's high ratings. The station also has retained the same "CBS 58" branding since December 1994, compared to Detroit and Atlanta, where the branding and newscast direction has shifted for each station multiple times. As such, it has fared relatively well compared to most of the other former independent stations and Fox affiliates that affiliated with CBS or another "Big Three" network during the 1994–96 affiliation switches. As of August 26, 2014, WDJT became the longest-tenured CBS affiliate in the Milwaukee market, passing WITI's 19 years and 8½ months of service over two separate stints. The affiliate switches it made in Milwaukee and South Bend eventually gave Weigel Broadcasting the push to expand beyond its Chicago base; by establishing a strong relationship with CBS through its WDJT affiliation, along with a number of experiments on its stations, it would eventually lead to the launch of several strong networks in the age of
digital subchannels In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
, including
MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...
,
MeTV+ MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television progra ...
,
Heroes & Icons Heroes & Icons (H&I) is an American Digital terrestrial television, digital broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Usually carried on the digital subchannels of its affiliated television station in most markets, the network ai ...
,
Decades A decade () is a period of ten years. Decades may describe any ten-year period, such as those of a person's life, or refer to specific groupings of calendar years. Usage Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "du ...
, and in
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...
s with the current-day
Paramount Global Paramount Global (doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. I ...
and
Fox Corporation Fox Corporation (stylized in all-caps as FOX Corporation) is a publicly traded American mass media company operated and controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New York City. Incorporated ...
,
Start TV Start TV is an American free-to-air television network owned as a joint venture between Weigel Broadcasting and the CBS News and Stations subsidiary of Paramount Global. Predominantly carried on the digital subchannels of its affiliated televis ...
and
Movies! Movies! (also known as simply M!) is an American free-to-air television network, owned by Popcorn Entertainment, LLC, a joint venture between Weigel Broadcasting and the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation. The network's prog ...
. On October 30, 2014, the station debuted its first major imaging change to its logo since 2001, retiring its
Eurostile Eurostile is a geometric sans-serif typeface designed by Aldo Novarese in 1962. Novarese created Eurostile for one of the best-known Italian foundries, Nebiolo, in Turin. Novarese developed Eurostile to succeed the similar Microgramma, which ...
numerical logo which had been revised once in September 2011 in favor of a news graphics and openings package used by CBS
owned-and-operated station 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 ...
s. The new logo's silver CBS Eyemark and gold channel numbers in bold
Helvetica Helvetica (originally Neue Haas Grotesk) is a widely used sans-serif typeface developed in 1957 by Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann. Helvetica is a neo-grotesque design, one influenced by the famous 19th century (1890s) ...
resemble those of CBS'
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
flagship
KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent outl ...
. The new imaging also saw the end of the all-day use of the Ten at 10:00 format with weather closing out the starting 'A block' outside of the morning newscast with an 'on the 1's' format with traffic reports. The station's weather reports now are part of the traditional midpoint 'B block' of each newscast. The station unveiled a new set on October 12, 2015, after a two-month process where the separated newsroom (which was used as a combined set from the news department's launch until 2011) and news studio space introduced in 2011 were combined during a large-scale remodeling. A new secondary set space with exposed brick walls and wood columns from the building's Allis Chalmers days is used for other purposes, including food drive programming, musical and arts performances, an intimate space for interviews, and the station's local version of ''Sunday Morning''.


Subchannel history


WDJT-DT2 (MeTV)

WDJT was the originating station of Me-TV Milwaukee, which carried a lineup of classic television series modeled after the MeTV format introduced by Chicago sister station WWME-CA in 2005. It launched on March 1, 2008, on
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
58.3. In mid-April 2008, Weigel acquired
Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...
-licensed
home shopping Home shopping is the electronic retailing and home shopping channels industry, which includes such billion dollar television-based and e-commerce companies as Shop LC, HSN, Gemporia, TJC, QVC, eBay, ShopHQ, Buy.com and Amazon.com, as well as tradit ...
station WJJA (channel 49, now
WMLW-TV WMLW-TV (channel 49) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station licensed to Racine, Wisconsin, United States, serving the Milwaukee area. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting alongside CBS affiliate WDJT-TV (channe ...
), and immediately began moving MeTV programming to that station, changing the station's callsign to WBME-TV. The simulcast was maintained until October 30, 2008, after a new digital transmitter for WBME on the Weigel tower was turned on in mid-October.JS Online: MeTV for a wider audience
/ref> On August 7, 2012, MeTV (in its national network form) returned to WDJT on channel 58.2, as WBME and WMLW-CA swapped their programming between the two stations' prior channel allocations to allow WMLW to air HD programming on a full-power signal; WMLW had been carried on 58.2 since 2004, both to provide a signal of that station receivable in the entire market and a quality feed of the station to local cable providers. In this form, the station carries most of the national feed of MeTV with some minor variations in non-critical hours for license maintenance concerns such as E/I programming, along with a late-night rebroadcast of WDJT's 9p.m. newscast on WMLW.


WDJT-DT3


This TV (November 2008–March 2015)

On November 1, 2008, Weigel launched the digital multicast network
This TV This TV (also known as This TV Network and alternately stylized as thisTV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by Allen Media Broadcast Networks, LLC, part of the Allen Media Group division of Entertainment Studios. Originally fo ...
in Milwaukee on WDJT-DT3 in cooperation with
MGM Television MGM Television Worldwide Group and Digital (alternatively Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television Group and Digital, commonly known as MGM Television and then-known as MGM/UA Television; common metonym: Lion) is an American television production/dis ...
, which provides the network with films and television series from the MGM library. The introduction "
man on the street ( )Vox Populi
. Oxford Diction ...
" promotions for the network were recorded throughout Milwaukee, and This TV's original imaging voice was Robb Edwards, former radio host at WTMJ (620 AM) and
WOKY WOKY (920 AM, "The Big 920") is a commercial radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It is owned and operated by iHeartMedia and broadcasts a sports format affiliated with Fox Sports Radio. Its studios and offices, which became the ...
(920 AM), and the public address announcer at
Miller Park American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium used primarily for baseball. It is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Milwauk ...
, making it one of the few This O&O stations in the Weigel era of the network. This TV remained on the subchannel as of November 1, 2013, despite
Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television and radio stations throughout the United Sta ...
(which assumed ownership of WITI eight weeks later when its acquisition of Local TV was finalized) taking over operations of the network until 2021; Weigel maintained rights to the network on WMLW, then WYTU-LD2, until the launch of Start TV in September 2018. Tribune chose to continue offering an affiliation in the market for the network instead due to WITI's channel share with WVCY-TV, and currently the network is carried by
WIWN WIWN (channel 68) is a television station licensed to Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, United States (in the Green Bay market), but primarily serving the Milwaukee area as an affiliate of Cozi TV. It is owned by CNZ Communications as sister to Milwauk ...
on its fifth subchannel.


Heroes & Icons (March 2015–January 2018)

On March 3, 2015, Weigel moved This TV to WMLW's third subchannel in order to consolidate their owned subchannel networks onto WDJT, and shuffled Heroes & Icons, which had launched on September 29, 2014 on WMLW-DT3 locally with a format of action, crime and western programming targeted towards men, to WDJT-DT3.


WMLW simulcast (January 2018–present)

H&I moved to WMLW-DT3 on January 8, 2018, as part of a wide-ranging number of moves involving the sale of the WMLW spectrum to the FCC in the 2016 spectrum auction. On that date, a full-market 16:9
widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
standard definition simulcast of WMLW's main signal was added to WDJT-DT3.


WDJT-DT4


Shorewest TV (October 2009–June 2013)

Brookfield-based Shorewest
Realtor A real estate agent or real estate broker is a person who represents sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and agen ...
s created Shorewest TV in October 2005, as an offshoot of earlier local cable shopping channels that often featured their listings along with those of other agencies, as
digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previou ...
and
video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...
became commonplace and allowed Shorewest the ability to buy their own channel slot on Time Warner Cable. In the form of the cable channel, basic pictorial tours of local homes and real estate classified by region or house types were presented using information compiled on a database used by both the channel and Shorewest's website, with narration given by agents encouraging viewers to call for more information on the property presented, along with limited advertising for partner contractors and programs from local homebuilders and mortgage providers. The VOD version of Shorewest TV (except for homes in Rock County, which is outside the Milwaukee viewing area) was discontinued with the launch of 58.4 in order to encourage viewership of the over-the-air channel and a common schedule allowing easy DVR recording of a regional block. Independent agencies affiliated with Shorewest (such as Sheboygan's Shorewest-United Realtors) continued to maintain a presence on their local VOD systems. On October 13, 2009, Shorewest and Weigel Broadcasting launched Shorewest TV over digital channel 58.4 under a time-lease arrangement in order to increase Shorewest TV's audience throughout southeastern Wisconsin. Charter Communications, which already carried the video-on-demand version of the service, also added the subchannel in this form to its systems. As is the current case with many digital subchannels (including This TV and others in the Milwaukee area), the channel was not carried over Dish Network or DirecTV. The format of Shorewest TV remained the same over-the-air, although to address license concerns regular breaks featuring public service announcements were taken (intermixed with promos for Weigel's Milwaukee stations), while Shorewest TV carried the E/I-compliant program ''
Green Screen Adventures ''Green Screen Adventures'' is a children's television series which premiered in 2007. The series was originally produced for local broadcast on WCIU-TV (Channel 26) in Chicago, which is the flagship station of Weigel Broadcasting, and is design ...
'', which was produced by WCIU, seven days a week at 7a.m. In the past, Shorewest TV was moved to WBME-DT2 during NCAA multicasting periods to address multicasting bandwidth concerns and does see quality reductions at some times to allow WDJT to devote more bandwidth to certain CBS programming. Since July 2010, some paid programming slots were offered throughout the day over 58.4, usually at times where main channels had more viewership, and not for more than a half-hour every few hours.


TouchVision Milwaukee (July 2013–January 2015)

At 5a.m. on July 1, 2013, Shorewest TV ended as the time lease by the agency ended for the channel space in order to focus o
Shorewest.TV
a new venture which features on-demand viewing of properties by location, price range and building type. In its place, WDJT-DT4 launched TouchVision, a national network which launched in beta form on the station with a national rollout beginning as Weigel prepared to transfer its interest in This TV, and is programmed from Weigel's Halsted Street studios with a separate LLC under the management of former radio and
Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...
executive
Lee Abrams Lee Abrams (born 1952) is an American media executive who has held a number of posts for large and influential companies, and is generally credited with developing the Album Oriented Rock format first heard at WQDR Raleigh and thereafter employ ...
, the network provides a looping presentation in widescreen of world and national news through pictures and video, mainly adapted from wire services, along with other information such as local weather and sports score cut-ins and several original feature segments. A three-minute automated weather segment featuring a loop of mapping and forecasts from the station's weather computers and skycam network, or a three-minute local news capsule alternate at the bottom of the hour.


Decades (January 2015–January 2018)

On January 12, 2015, the station stopped carrying TouchVision on WDJT-DT4 and began to carry Heroes & Icons temporarily; Touchvision would remain carried as an hour every morning in the market on WMLW and nationally on H&I, but was discontinued with little notice on January 14, 2016. The next day, Weigel Broadcasting announced that WDJT-DT4 would be among the charter stations that would carry the "soft launch" block of
marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
programming for the four months leading up to the May 25 launch of Weigel and CBS' joint venture network Decades, which has most of its carriage through CBS-owned stations. The soft launch began at midnight on January 16 with a binge marathon of '' The Millionaire''.


Telemundo simulcast (January 2018–present)

Decades moved to WBME-CD2 on January 8, 2018, as part of a wide-ranging number of moves involving the sale of the WMLW spectrum to the FCC in the 2016 spectrum auction, and their channel merger onto WBME's spectrum. On that date, the full-market simulcast of WYTU-LD and the Telemundo schedule was moved to WDJT-DT4 from its former berth on WMLW-DT4.


WDJT-DT5


Start TV (September 2018–present)

With WYTU-LD3, WDJT's fifth subchannel was activated at the start September 2018 as a charter affiliate of Weigel's newest network, Start TV.


Programming


Syndicated programming

Syndicated programming on WDJT includes ''
The Drew Barrymore Show ''The Drew Barrymore Show'' (often shortened to ''Drew'') is a first-run syndicated American talk show hosted by actress Drew Barrymore. The show is distributed by CBS Media Ventures and debuted on September 14, 2020. In April 2022, the show w ...
'', ''
Inside Edition ''Inside Edition'' is an American news broadcasting newsmagazine program that is distributed in first-run syndication by CBS Media Ventures. Having premiered on January 9, 1989, it is the longest-running syndicated-newsmagazine program that is n ...
'', ''Jeopardy!'', ''Wheel of Fortune'' and '' Dr. Phil'', along with '' NCIS'' and '' NCIS: New Orleans'' on weekends, all distributed by
CBS Media Ventures CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glob ...
.


News operation

Weigel's Milwaukee news operation, branded as the ''CBS 58 News'', presently broadcasts 48½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 8½ hours each weekday, 2½ hours on Saturdays, and 3½ hours on Sundays) across WDJT itself (which carries 33½ hours itself) and sister station WMLW (carriage of 18 hours per week, with 3 hours on weekends simulcast with WDJT), along with a weeknight forecast rundown during the half-hour break for ''
The Late Late Show with James Corden ''The Late Late Show with James Corden'' (also known as ''Late Late'') is an American late-night talk show on CBS. It is the fourth and current iteration of '' The Late Late Show''. Airing in the U.S. from Monday to Friday nights at 12:37:28am ...
''. In addition, WDJT produces the public affairs program ''Eye to Eye'' (which airs Sunday mornings) as well as a nightly local 10p.m. Spanish-language evening newscasts for co-owned Telemundo affiliate
WYTU-LD WYTU-LD (channel 63) is a low-power television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language Telemundo network. Owned by Weigel Broadcasting (as the company's only Telemundo affiliate), it is sister to CBS ...
; several of WDJT's reporters are
bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...
and present news stories for both stations, and Telemundo anchor Carlos Vergara anchored as a substitute on WDJT's newscasts in the past. The 10p.m. newscast is rebroadcast overnights on WBME-CD to meet the station's Class A license local programming requirements and allow a 10p.m. news encore in some form. WDJT also produces a nightly weather forecast segment using its meteorologists for its Chicago sister station (and Weigel flagship)
WCIU-TV WCIU-TV (channel 26) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is the flagship television property of locally based Weigel Broadcasting, which has owned the station since its inception, and is siste ...
. As of the 2017 season, the station provides a pre-game news segment, and pre-game and post-game "ride home" weather segments for the
Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...
as its official weather forecast provider, which are carried on the scoreboard at Miller Park, along with a logo placement on the bottom left-hand corner of the scoreboard at all times, which formerly featured WTMJ-TV's logo when they were the official weather provider for the team. The station also presents a "Weather Day" event for area school children in late April every year, which occurs at
Miller Park American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium used primarily for baseball. It is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Milwauk ...
before a Brewers day game where those area schools receive free tickets to that game, following a broad and educational scientific meteorological presentation by WDJT's weather staff. The station also gathered most news for
CBS Radio CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broadc ...
in Milwaukee until the start of 2016 (WTMJ radio now currently holds a dual CBS Radio/
ABC Radio News ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...
affiliation and also provides coverage to CBS Radio), due to the lack of any area radio station airing the network's hourly newscasts (which were broadcast by WOKY, which had no news division, until a September 2008 format change); it also has a forecast and advertising agreement with the stations of the Milwaukee Radio Alliance, which include
WLDB WLDB (93.3 FM "B93.3 FM") is a commercial radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is owned and operated by the Milwaukee Radio Alliance, a partnership between Shamrock Communications and All Pro Broadcasting. WLDB airs an adult contemporary ...
(93.3 FM),
WLUM-FM WLUM-FM (102.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The station airs an Alternative rock music format branded as "FM 102/1". Its studios are located in Menomonee Falls and the transmitter site is in Milwaukee's North Side a ...
(102.1 FM) and
WZTI WZTI (1290 AM) is a radio station in Greenfield, Wisconsin serving Milwaukee that currently airs an oldies format. The station is owned by the Milwaukee Radio Alliance, a partnership between Times-Shamrock Communications and All-Pro Broadcast ...
(1290 AM). WDJT maintains a traffic car where a photojournalist with a 4G connection back to the studios with a dashboard camera (branded by the station as iCAM) traverses the area's freeway system where possible each morning and on some evenings to report current traffic conditions or nearby breaking news, in lieu of a news helicopter. The station began to utilize two Unmanned aerial vehicle#Civilian, drones collectively known as "SkyDrone 58" in 2016. WDJT's newscasts have fared somewhat better than those of other former independents and Fox stations that joined a Big Three network through the 1994–96 affiliation switches. This is remarkable considering the station barely registered in the ratings prior to joining CBS and did not even have a news department for over a year after aligning with the network. Indeed, the only other such stations who've had success in starting up a news department have either been owned by E. W. Scripps Company (KNXV-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, WFTS-TV in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, and KSHB-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City) or, in the case of Gray Television-owned WOIO in Cleveland, going to a controversial Tabloid journalism, tabloid format in order to garner ratings. (WOIO has since switched to a traditional format.) While it has spent the last two decades in fourth place, in recent years its news ratings at 10p.m. have come close to (and at times surpassed) WITI, WTMJ and WISN-TV on some nights (especially during past carriage disputes between Time Warner Cable, Hearst Television and Journal Media Group, Journal Communications, that resulted in weeks long removal of WISN and WTMJ). Reporter/anchor Mike Strehlow has been with the station since the news department was launched, with former anchor Paul Piaskoski staying with the station 19 years until his mid-2015 departure. Unlike the situation in Atlanta with WANF, which has gone through multiple shifts in personnel on both sides of the camera, most staff turnover at WDJT has been of the traditional move of talent to higher markets, which is to be expected given Milwaukee's status as a mid-major market and its close proximity to Chicago. When the station's news department began in March 1996, WDJT carried newscasts at 5p.m. Monday through Saturdays, 5:30 p.m. on Sundays, 6p.m. weeknights and at 10p.m. seven nights a week. Unlike most CBS affiliates, WDJT does not have a weeknight 6p.m. newscast; the station carried a newscast in that timeslot from the news department's launch until it aired ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' in the slot from its September 2003 launch, and continued to do so when ''Wheel of Fortune'' and ''Jeopardy!'' moved to WDJT in September 2005, when the station chose to air both shows during that hour. Although this is unusual scheduling in the Central Time Zone due to the reduction of one hour from early prime time, it is the common default scheduling for stations in the Eastern Time Zone, Eastern and Pacific Time Zone, Pacific time zones (Green Bay Fox affiliate WLUK-TV also carries both shows in the 6p.m. hour). WDJT is also currently the market's only Big Four affiliate without a newscast on weekend mornings, since WITI reinstated the weekend edition of its ''WakeUp News'' broadcast in April 2011 after a two-year suspension (local weather inserts are taped after the Friday and Saturday 10p.m. news for broadcast during the Saturday edition of ''CBS This Morning'' and ''CBS News Sunday Morning'', except during ongoing severe weather events). The station opted to fill the noon half-hour with a lower-profile syndicated show from the debut of its news operation until it launched a noon newscast on September 12, 2011. The station used the ''Ten at Ten'' format for its late newscast until November 2014, emphasizing the top stories and weather in the first 10 minutes of the program. WDJT has won regional Emmy Award, Emmy awards, along with honors from the Associated Press for best newscast presentation. In 2009, the station began to carry the syndicated Mr. Food cooking segments on its morning newscast (the segments had not been seen in the Milwaukee market since WITI had dropped it in 2006). During the 2007 World Series, WDJT produced a 9p.m. newscast for WMLW-CA, in an attempt to attract non-baseball viewers who would normally watch WITI's newscast in that timeslot, which was subjected to delays because of the games. The 9p.m. newscast on WMLW became a full-time program on January 1, 2008. On January 18, 2015, the 9p.m. newscast was expanded to a full hour nightly. The station formerly produced an 11-minute late evening newscast for ABC-affiliated South Bend sister station WBND-LP called ''News at 11:00'', featuring video shot locally in South Bend and then edited and written by anchor Michele McCormack and executive producer Adam Wilhelm in Milwaukee (WBND launched its own in-house news department in April 2011, though the imaging and format for its newscasts is very similar to WDJT's). On July 25, 2011 (after a two-day test by WYTU's news segments the week before), the station's news department moved to a newly built extension of the Weigel facility, including a new set and fully equipped weather center optimized for HD broadcasts. The station became the fourth (and last) television station in Milwaukee to begin broadcasting its newscasts in high definition on January 8, 2012 at 10p.m. after a one-day news hiatus for technical work (WDJT originally planned to upgrade in mid-September 2011, but that target was not met as the station installed its new master control and graphics software by December 9, then acquiring the HD field equipment; the WMLW and WYTU programs switched to HD in August 2012); some field video and national satellite stories continue to be presented in standard definition. In the spring of 2013, WDJT-TV also launched a network of four skycams through a sponsorship agreement with Aurora Health Care's St. Luke's Hospital (located respectively at the station's West Allis studios, on the Lincoln Park transmitter tower, atop St. Luke's, and at local furniture superstore Steinhafels on Waukesha's northeast side). Though it was the last in the market with a camera network, its system is the first to record live video in native widescreen without the need to stretch or crop the picture to fit the 16:9 frame. On September 23, 2013, WDJT expanded its weekday morning newscast a half-hour early to 4:30 a.m., extending the program to 2½ hours, resulting in Weigel's syndicated financial news program ''First Business'' being moved to WMLW for its last year on the air. As of September 2014, WDJT's weekend 5p.m. hour newscasts now air on WMLW if they are preempted due to CBS Sports coverage, or are simulcast even if no sports event is scheduled by CBS Sports. At the start of April 2015, WDJT began to further expand their newscasts with the cancellation of ''The Queen Latifah Show'' at 3p.m. months earlier. As of March 30, an hour-long 4p.m. newshour began to air on the station on weekdays with a focus on in-studio interviews with local newsmakers, with ''Dr. Phil'' moving to 3p.m. WDJT also expanded their newscasts to weekend mornings for the first time, starting with an hour-long newscast on Sunday mornings preceding ''CBS News Sunday Morning'' beginning April 5, which shares that program's template of long-form light reporting and features in local form, though is pre-recorded for air; the traditional 7a.m. programming, including ''Eye to Eye'' and local time-lease religious program ''Time of Grace'', moved to other timeslots through the weekend. ''CBS 58 Sunday Morning'' is hosted by Mike Strehlow. A one-hour weekday extension of WDJT's morning newscast was added to the WMLW schedule on February 3, 2020, giving WITI its first local competition in the 7a.m. hour. The same week saw WDJT's 10p.m. newscast extended to a full hour on weekends. On April 26, 2021, the morning news extension on WMLW was expanded to two hours.


Notable former on-air staff

* Dawn Mitchell – sports anchor/reporter (now at KMSP-TV in Minneapolis) * Tammie Souza – chief meteorologist (last at WCAU in Philadelphia)


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's digital signal is Multiplex (TV), multiplexed: WDJT has, in the past, used a fourth and fifth digital subchannel for multicasting games during the early rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament in mid-March. From 2008 to 2010, when CBS restricted stations to only one multicast, the station aired the additional game over WDJT-DT3 (in 2008 as MeTV, and 2009 and 2010 as This TV Milwaukee), and removed 58.4 from service. This multicasting of games was discontinued in 2011 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, 2011, due to CBS and the Turner Broadcasting System's TBS (American TV channel), TBS, TNT (American TV channel), TNT and TruTV sharing the broadcast rights to the tournament under a new broadcast contract that began that year. Digital subchannels 58.4 and 58.5 returned to use in May 2009 and were added permanently into channel maps on digital converter boxes and television sets for the possibility of future use. Dish Network began carrying the station's high definition feed on October 28, 2010; the provider had not carried it until then as Weigel's retransmission consent pricing was higher than Dish would agree to (though what terms Dish came to Weigel are unknown). In June 2012, WDJT began to flag its standard-definition television, standard definition presentation on 58.1 with the Active Format Description#Complete list of AFD codes, AFD#8 code, so SD viewers see the station's 16:9 picture in full on a 4:3 screen without letterboxing (filming), letterboxing, thus causing some vertical stretching with that picture. The station has carried a second audio program channel since the Lincoln Park transmitter went into service in 1999, both in the station's analog and digital forms, and provides all CBS programming available with DVS, along with ''NFL on CBS'' coverage featuring Spanish language in the United States, Spanish-language audio, regardless of FCC regulations over the years. In June 2016, WDJT added a near full-time stream of the main signal for viewers in the Milwaukee market (outside of sports blackout (broadcasting), blackouts) as a part of CBS All Access (which became Paramount+ in 2021), the network's paid Over-the-top content, over-the-top service.


Analog-to-digital conversion

WDJT-TV shut down its analog signal, over Ultra high frequency, UHF channel 58, at 11:59 p.m. on June 12, 2009, the official date in 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 broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 46.CDBS Print
/ref> Through the use of Program and System Information Protocol, PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 58, which was among the high band UHF channels (52–69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition. On-air, the station identifies as WDJT-DT (for digital television) in station identifications despite holding the "-TV" suffix in its FCC correspondence. After its analog signal was shut down, WDJT began to relay its programming schedule over sister station WYTU-LP (channel 63) at 9a.m. that day;
Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language Terrestrial television, terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Television and Streaming#NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a divi ...
programming ran exclusively over WYTU-LP's digital signal on channel 17 and on WMLW digital subchannel 49.4 from then on. This was to provide some kind of "lifeline" service under special dispensation by the CBS network to those who had not yet made the conversion. On New Year's Eve, December 31, 2009, the simulcast on channel 63 was discontinued at the end of the dispensation, and WYTU-LP was converted to an analog translator of WBME's main schedule.CBS 58 simulcast for over the air Channel 63 to end
''Racine Journal Times'', December 30, 2009.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wdjt-Tv Weigel Broadcasting CBS network affiliates Decades (TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1988 Television stations in Milwaukee, DJT-TV 1988 establishments in Wisconsin MeTV affiliates Telemundo network affiliates Start TV affiliates