WJBK

For broadcast stations that previously used the WJBK call sign, see WJBK (disambiguation).

WJBK

Detroit, Michigan–Windsor, Ontario
Branding	Fox 2 Detroit / Fox 2 (general) Fox 2 News (newscasts)
Slogan	News that Works for You (newscasts) So Fox 2 (general)
Channels	Digital: 7 (VHF) Virtual: 2 (PSIP)
Subchannels	2.1 Fox
Owner	Fox Television Stations, Inc. (New World Communications of Detroit, Inc.)
First air date	October 24, 1948
Call letters' meaning	W Jesus Be Kind
Sister station(s)	Fox Sports Detroit The Fan WDTW
Former callsigns	WJBK-TV (1948-1998)
Former channel number(s)	2 (VHF) (analog) (1948-2009) 58 (UHF) (digital) (1999-2009)
Former affiliations	Primary: DuMont (1948-1956) CBS (1948-1994)
Transmitter power	20 kW
Height	314 m (digital)
Facility ID	73123
Transmitter coordinates	42°27′38.3″N 83°12′49.2″W
Website	MyFoxDetroit.com

WJBK studios in Southfield, MI

WJBK (branded Fox 2) is the Fox–owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting on digital channel 7 (Virtual channel 2). Its studios and 1003-foot (305.7 m) tower are located in Southfield while its signal covers the Metro Detroit area.

WJBK also serves as a Fox station for several other Canadian cable markets, including Cogeco Windsor, and Rogers Cable in the Canadian capital of Ottawa. In addition, it was one of five local Detroit TV stations seen in Canada on the Shaw Direct satellite provider. As of April 30, 2009, Shaw Broadcast Services (formerly CANCOM), is no longer transmitting the signal, replacing its signal with fellow Fox network affiliate Rochester, New York's WUHF.

History

As a CBS affiliate

The station debuted on October 24, 1948, as a dual CBS–DuMont affiliate owned by Storer Broadcasting (under George B. Storer) along with WJBK-AM 1500 (now WLQV) and WJBK-FM 93.1 (now WDRQ). WJBK became an exclusive CBS affiliate in 1956 after the DuMont network went out of business. In a 1985 corporate deal, the station came under the ownership of KKR. It was then sold as part of a group deal to Gillett Communications in 1987, which later reorganized into SCI Television.

WJBK was sold to a firm also related to Gillett Communications, New World Communications in 1993 as part of yet another group deal after SCI went bankrupt. In 1992, WJBK chose not to air CBS This Morning, in favor of showing local news. While WJBK had a history of showing most CBS programming, it began to pre-empt CBS programming a bit more than usual in 1993, around the time New World Communications bought the station. One example of this was when the CBS soap opera Guiding Light was moved from its network start time of 3:00pm ET to 10:00am, to allow for syndicated programming.

WJBK-TV's Circle 2 logo when it was a CBS affiliate. Used from 1978 to 1983.

As a Fox station

In 1994, New World agreed to affiliate its stations, including WJBK to Fox when that network won the contract to carry the NFC football package (including the Detroit Lions), which was originally carried on the station as a CBS affiliate. As a result, WJBK dropped CBS after 44 years and Fox moved its programming from WKBD to WJBK on December 11, 1994 (ironically, that week's Lions game was played the day before). Within a year, WJBK became the first television in the United States to televise daily obituaries, which aired on its 5pm newscast. The decision to air obituaries on television came about when the Detroit News and Free Press went on strike early in 1995. This strike, which lasted until Valentine's Day 1997, also forced the launches of weekend newscasts of WDIV and WXYZ-TV, which continue to compete against WJBK's weekend newscast to this day.

CBS moved to a weak independent station WGPR (which would be sold to CBS and renamed WWJ-TV). Like most other New World stations, WJBK also did not take Fox's children's programming, (Fox Kids/FoxBox/4KidsTV) which remained on the market's former Fox station (and charter UPN affiliate) WKBD-TV (before briefly moving to WADL, and ultimately, to WMYD). As a result of the network change, WJBK's branding switched from 'TV 2' to 'Fox 2 Detroit.' The actual rebranding didn't take place until Fall 1995.

Fox bought out New World Communications in 1997, and WJBK became a Fox owned and operated station. The network brought stronger syndicated shows on WJBK. However, the station continued its practice of not running children's programming from the network, which was subsequently discontinued in January 2009 for a network-transmitted infomercial block also not aired by WJBK.

In 2006, WJBK officially debuted its MyFox website, myfoxdetroit.com (similar sites have also been adopted by all the other News Corporation owned Fox affiliates).

WJBK is one of the eight network-owned stations in Metro Detroit, the other two are CBS-owned WWJ-TV and CW-affiliate WKBD-TV, both are owned by CBS Corporation. There's also low-power stations WDWO-CA, owned by Tri-State Christian Television and W66BV, owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The last three stations are Windsor-based CBET and French station CBEFT (although operates as a satellite of Ottawa's CBOFT -- which in turn rebroadcasts Toronto's CBLFT), both are owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation -- parent company of CBC Television and lastly, Ann Arbor-based WPXD, owned by ION Media Networks.

Digital television

As part of the analog television shutdown and digital conversion was completed, WJBK shut down its analog transmitter on June 12, 2009, and WXYZ-TV shut down its analog signal. The station's digital broadcasts remained on channel 7. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will continue to display WJBK's virtual channel as 2.1. The shutdown of its analog signal marks the end of 60 years of broadcasting on channel 2 by WJBK. Before the analog shutdown, WJBK was broadcasting on UHF channel 58. This channel was one of the channels (52-69) being reclaimed by the FCC for public safety and advanced wireless services.[1] Its final broadcasting channel assignment, announced May 7, 2007, is VHF channel 7 - formerly occupied by the analog broadcasts of WXYZ-TV.

WJBK also has plans for a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 2.1.

Programming

Sports programming

WJBK televised some Detroit Tigers games in the 2007 season and Detroit Red Wings games during the 2003-2007 seasons, which were produced by sister station Fox Sports Detroit. In March 2007, WJBK began showing Red Wings games in High Definition. From 1953 to 1971, WJBK served as the flagship station of the Tigers' television network, with games broadcasted throughout Michigan, northern Indiana, and northwest Ohio. Currently, the only Tigers games aired on WJBK are Major League Baseball on Fox telecasts and the home opener for the Tigers (produced by Fox Sports Detroit).

Most regular season Detroit Lions games air on WJBK, since Fox holds the rights to broadcast games in which the road team is in the NFC (see also NFL on Fox), except those played at night. Even so, ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV is considered the "official station" of the Lions and produces its preseason games and airs the weekly Ford Lions Report. With Detroit being the team's primary market, regular season home games on both stations are subject to the NFL's local television blackout policy, most recently during the 0-16 2008 Detroit Lions season, in which 5 home games were blacked out due to poor performance and low ticket sales figures.

The station also carried Detroit Pistons games, upon the team's relocation from Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1957, until the end of the 1971-72 season, when they moved to WKBD-TV the following season.

Famous local programs

The station aired assorted sci-fi and horror movies on Saturday afternoons, hosted by the humorous personality Sir Graves Ghastly, played by actor Lawson J. Deming. Deming, who played Sir Graves on WJBK from 1967 to 1983, had originally come to the station as the puppeteer and voice actor for the children's program Woodrow the Woodsman when that show moved from Cleveland to Detroit in 1966. He made personal appearances well into the 1990s and died April 24, 2007, just one day after his 94th birthday.

With This Ring was a religious program produced at the studios of WJBK from approximately the early 1970s through the mid-1990s. Hosted by Roman Catholic priest Raymond Schlinkert, the 15-minute weekly show featured lectures and advice about marriage and family life. The program appeared in syndication on numerous U.S. commercial stations, usually shown immediately following the station's sign-on or before sign-off on Sundays.

News/Station operation

WJBK News remote van

WJBK broadcasts a total of 52½ hours of local news a week (8½ hours on weekdays, five hours on Saturdays and 3½ hours on Sundays), more than any other station in Detroit, and more than any individual television station in Michigan; however as is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts, WJBK's Saturday and Sunday 6 p.m. newscasts are subject to delay due to sports coverage. After becoming a Fox affiliate station, WJBK maintained a newscast schedule that is very similar to a CBS, ABC, or NBC affiliated station. Upon the network switch, the station moved its late evening news broadcasts from 11 p.m. to 10 p.m. The station is known in the area for its "Problem Solver" investigative unit that was started in 1998. Since the early 1990s, the station has repeated its 10 p.m. newscasts four hours later at 2 a.m. the following morning.

WJBK operates an Aérospatiale AS350BA A-star news helicopter called Sky Fox, to cover breaking news and track severe weather. WJBK's newscasts in the CBS-era were rebroadcast on WADL under a partnership WJBK had with that station, and continued until 1998. The station also had an Eyewitness News format that was similar to sister station WHBQ-TV in Memphis, thus calling itself Fox 2 Eyewitness News for sometime before shortening to the current Fox 2 News.

On January 8, 2007, WJBK started simulcasting parts of its weekday morning news on Northern Michigan's Fox affiliate, WFQX-TV, based in Cadillac. On that station, the simulcast ran from 6 to 8 a.m. and was known as Michigan's Fox News Morning. This arrangement was possible as a result of a cooperative arrangement offering local advertising opportunities to Northern Michigan businesses. From February 5, 2007 to October 31 after the completion of its own 10 p.m. newscast, WFQX simulcasted the second half of WJBK's weeknight 10 o'clock news. It ended when new owners acquired WFQX and CBS affiliate WWTV gained control of the station. This led to a new 10 P.M. newscast produced by WWTV that limited WJBK's newscasts to air on WFQX in the mornings. On January 14, the WJBK morning news simulcast was dropped as WFQX, on January 7, began airing a two hour long extension of WWTV's morning news at 7 a.m.

On September 24, 2007, WJBK launched its first ever 11 p.m. newscast as a Fox affiliate, using the NewsEdge format originally used by WTVT. On the same day, WJBK redesigned its look to be more in line with other Fox-owned stations, with a new set, logo, graphics and news music that have also been used on other Fox-owned stations such as KMSP-TV in Minneapolis-St. Paul and KDFW in Dallas-Ft. Worth. This marks the biggest change to the station's image in ten years.

On April 22, 2008, WJBK became the third and final station in the Detroit market, and the first Fox-owned station, to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition, after rival area stations WXYZ and WDIV. As of November 30, 2009, it now uses the new Fox O&O HD graphics currently used on its other Fox-owned sister stations. On September 14, 2009, WJBK's morning newscast expanded to five and a half hours, running from 4:30-10 a.m. On September 19, 2011, WJBK expanded its weekday morning newscast to 7½ hours, running from 4:30 a.m.-12 p.m.; the addition, which resulted in the 11 a.m. midday newscast being absorbed into the morning newscast, made WJBK the second U.S. television station to carry a morning newscast of more than seven hours in length (San Francisco MyNetworkTV affiliate KRON previously ran a seven-hour morning newscast on weekdays from 4-11 a.m., now from 4-10 a.m.), and gave it the longest-duration newscast of any local station in the United States.

SportsWorks

On Sunday nights, WJBK airs a sports highlights and discussion show SportsWorks. Often there is a round table discussion between the Detroit media and Dan Miller or Woody Woodriffe. The SportsWorks brand is also used for other sports related segments during newscasts.

Typical round table media members, include; Drew Sharp from the Detroit Free Press, Sean Baligian from the Detroit News, Pat Caputo from the Oakland Press/WXYT-FM, Bob Wojnowski from the Detroit News and Tony Ortiz from WXYT-FM.

Ratings

For many years, WJBK's newscasts have usually rated a competitive third in the Detroit market, behind WXYZ and WDIV. An exception was during the period of 1974-1978 when George Noory, now host of the syndicated radio show Coast to Coast AM, was the executive producer; during this period, WJBK-TV was number one in the market.

However, since the switch in network affiliation from CBS to Fox, WJBK's evening newscasts have been consistently in third place while the station's local morning news show and 10 p.m. newscast have usually won their time slots. There are only three local in-house news stations in the Detroit market (MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYD currently airs an outsourced newscast which originates from one of its sister stations located outside the Detroit media market). Since 2002, WWJ-TV has not produced any evening or late local news programming, while sister station and CBS O&O WKBD-TV hasn't air any evening or late local local news since 2005. (Both stations air First Forecast Mornings from 5am-7am and 7am-9am respectively).

Newscast titles

• Your Esso Reporter (1948–1953)
• Detroit Newsreel (1953–1958)
• TV-2 Eyewitness News (1966–1977)
• TV-2 News (1977–1978)
• (TV-2/Channel 2) Eyewitness News (1978–1995, WJBK used this newscast after the switch from CBS to FOX.)
• Fox 2 Eyewitness News (1995–1997)
• Fox 2 News (1997–present)

Newscast music

• WJBK 1984 News Theme - Unknown (Unknown)
• Us Viewing You - Unknown (Unknown)
• WJBK 1988 News Theme - Unknown (1988–1990)
• Major Theme - Edd Kalehoff Productions (Unknown)
• WJBK-Evening News - Edd Kalehoff Productions (1990–1995)
• Dayna - Edd Kalehoff Productions (1990–1995)
• Eyewitness Primetime - Edd Kalehoff Productions (1995–1997)
• FOX '95 - Stephen Arnold Music (1997-Unknown)
• Absolute News - Non-Stop Music (1997–2007)
• FOX Affiliate News Theme - OSI Music (2007–Present)
• SkyFOX Field Trip Theme - Non-Stop Music (1998–2010)

Station slogans

• Your Picture Window on the World (1948–1956)
• WJBK TV-2 in Color (1965–1971)
• Your Eyewitness News Station in Color (1966–1971)
• Catch the Brightest Stars on TV-2 (1975–1976; local version of the CBS Fall Campaign)
• TV-2 is Yours/Your TV-2 (1977–1978)
• 2's the One (1980–1982)
• Reach for Stars on TV-2 (1981–1982; local version of the CBS Fall Campaign)
• Great Moments, Here on TV-2 (1982–1983; local version of the CBS Fall Campaign)
• We've Got the Touch, You and Channel 2 (1983–1986; local version of the CBS Fall campaign)
• Us Viewing You (1986–1988)
• It Takes Two, TV-2 (1989–1994; WMAR-TV in Baltimore also used the slogan in 1998)
• Where the Facts Tell the Story (1994–1996; news slogan)
• Think News, Think Fox 2 News (1996–1998; news slogan)
• News That Works for You (1998–present)

News team (as of January 8th, 2012)

Anchors

• Amy Andrews - weekday mornings (4:30-6 a.m.) also general assignment and feature reporter
• Kam Carman - weekday mornings (4:30)(9-11 a.m.) also fill-in weather anchor
• Jason Carr - weekday mornings (9-11 a.m.); also general assignment and feature reporter (married to Taryn Asher)
• Deena Centofanti - Friday morning (9-11 a.m.), Saturday mornings; also "HealthWorks" reporter
• Murray Feldman - weeknights at 5:30 p.m.; also business editor, and "Job Shop" and "Money Works" feature reporter
• Monica Gayle - weeknights at 5, 6 and 10 p.m.
• Anqunette Jamison - weekday mornings (6-9 a.m.); and 11 a.m.
• Alan Lee - weekday mornings (5-9 a.m.)
• Sherry Margolis - weekday mornings at 11 a.m. and weeknights at 5:30 p.m.
• Huel Perkins - weeknights at 5, 6, 10 and 11 p.m.
• Roop Raj - Saturday mornings; also reporter
• Ron Savage - weekends at 6 and 10 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
• Robin Schwartz - weekends at 6 and 10 p.m.; also weeknight reporter
• Jay Towers - Sunday mornings; also feature reporter
• Taryn Asher - Sunday mornings; also general assignment reporter

• Maurielle Lue - weekend anchor/ general assignment reporter

Weather Authority

• Rich Luterman (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 5, 6, 10 and 11 p.m.
• Ben Bailey (AMS and NWA Seals of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings (6:30 a.m.-12 p.m.)
• Alan Longstreet - meteorologist; Weekends at 6 and 10 p.m.
• Jessica Starr - meteorologist; Weekend mornings
• Kam Carman - weekdays (4:30-6:30)
• Jackie Paige - weather anchor; fill-in

Sports team

• Dan Miller - sports director; Sunday-Thursdays at 6 and 10, and Monday-Thursdays at 5 and 11 p.m.; also SportsWorks host
• Woody Woodriffe - sports anchor; Fridays at 5 and 11, and Friday-Saturdays at 6 and 10 p.m.; also Sunday-Thursday sports reporter
• Ryan Ermanni - sports reporter; also fill-in sports anchor
• Jennifer Hammond - sports reporter; also fill-in sports anchor

Reporters

• Al Allen - weekday morning reporter
• Taryn Asher - general assignment reporter
• Ronnie Dahl - general assignment reporter
• Bill Gallagher - general assignment reporter
• Andrea Isom - general assignment reporter
• Charlie Langton - general assignment reporter; also legal analyst
• Simon Shaykhet - general assignment reporter
• Lee Thomas - entertainment reporter; also "Fox 2 News Morning Extra" anchor
• Jackie Paige - feature reporter; also fill-in anchor weather anchor and traffic anchor
• Amy Lange - "Problem Solvers" investigative reporter
• Rob Wolchek - "Problem Solvers" investigative reporter/"Hall of Shame" feature reporter

Notable former on-air staff

• Bill Bonds - commentator, interviewer
• Sir Graves Ghastly, played by Lawson J. Deming - horror movie host (1967–1983) (deceased)
• Amy Jacobson - reporter (1994–1996, went to WMAQ-TV in Chicago, resigned following a scandal)
• Ray Lane - sports anchor (1961–1982)
• Fred McLeod - sports anchor/reporter (1981–1989, now at Fox Sports Ohio)
• Lucy Noland - anchor (1997–2004; now at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, CA)
• Van Patrick - sports director (1960–1974)
• Charles Pugh - anchor/reporter (1999–2009) Left to run for public office. Now Detroit City Council president.
• Jeff Rossen - reporter (1998–2001, went to WABC-TV in New York, now at NBC News)
• Mark Wilson - sports anchor/reporter (1992–1997)
• Jerry Hodak (retired from WXYZ-TV in 2010, forecasted weather longer than anyone in Detroit television)

Out-of-market cable coverage

WJBK is carried on most cable systems in Southeast Michigan, Southwestern Ontario and Northwestern Ohio.

In Canada, as a CBS affiliate, WJBK was carried on cable in Newfoundland and Labrador including in St. John's from 1985 to when WJBK switched its affiliation to Fox through Cable Atlantic (now Rogers Cable) (the CBS affiliation with Cable Atlantic was switched over to WTOL in Toledo, Ohio from 1995 to 1997), and was previously the CBS affiliate carried on cable in Nova Scotia including in Halifax. In both provinces, carriage of CBS is now provided from WBZ-TV in Boston. WJBK was also the CBS affiliate carried on cable in all areas of Manitoba, including Winnipeg and Brandon.

Coverage on cable systems outside the Detroit / Windsor market may be subject to syndex and network blackouts in the United States and simsubbing in Canada.

See also

• Media in Detroit

References

• Inside Fox2: Did You Know That (2003, 2004). Fox2Detroit.com.
• Kiska, Tim. From Soupy to Nuts: A History of Detroit Television. 2005. Momentum Books.

ISBN#18790-94703

External links

• WJBK
• Michiguide.com's listing for WJBK
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WJBK
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WJBK-TV
• Anne Doyle - Pioneering Women in Sports Journalism