originally held the wwj tv call letters . for the television station in detroit using that callsign since 1995 see wwj tv . for local 4 news in the quad cities see whbf tv . for local 4 news in amarillo texas see kamr tv . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . december 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wdiv tv detroit michigan united states branding local 4 general local 4 news newscasts slogan your breaking news leader news worth tuning in 4 general and daytime newscast worth waking up 4 morning newscasts worth staying up for 4 11 p.m. newscasts channels digital 45 uhf virtual 4 psip affiliations .1 nbc .2 this tv .3 metv owner graham media group graham media group michigan inc. founded october 23 1946 first air date june 3 1947 ; 69 years ago 1947 06 03 1 call letters meaning we re detroit s channel iv 4 former analog channel number 2 former callsigns wwdt 1946 wwj tv 1947 1978 former channel number s analog 4 vhf 1947 2009 former affiliations both secondary dumont 1947 1948 paramount 1953 1955 transmitter power 872 kw height 306 m facility id 53114 transmitter coordinates 42 28 58.5 n 83 12 18.9 w 42.482917 n 83.205250 w 42.482917 ; 83.205250 coordinates 42 28 58.5 n 83 12 18.9 w 42.482917 n 83.205250 w 42.482917 ; 83.205250 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.clickondetroit.com wdiv tv virtual channel 4 uhf digital channel 45 is an nbc affiliated television station located in detroit michigan united states . the station serves as the flagship broadcast property of the graham holdings company subsidiary graham media group . wdiv maintains studio facilities which also house the headquarters of graham media group located on west lafayette boulevard in detroit . as such wdiv tv is the only major television station in the market whose offices and studios are located in detroit proper while the market s other television stations are located in southfield wdiv s transmitter is however located on greenfield road in southfield . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 trade to the washington post company 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 out of market coverage 4 programming 4.1 syndicated programming 4.2 programming preemptions 4.3 local programs and personalities 4.4 sports 5 news operation 5.1 notable current on air staff 5.2 notable former on air staff 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit early history edit the station first signed on the air as wwdt on october 23 1946 for one day of demonstrative programming ; 3 regular programming commenced on june 3 1947 . it was the first television station in michigan and the tenth station to sign on in the united states overall . the station was originally owned by the evening news association parent company of the detroit news along with wwj radio am 950 and fm 97.1 now wxyt fm . on may 15 1947 the television station changed its call letters to wwj tv to match its radio sisters . channel 4 has always been an nbc affiliate owing to wwj radio s longtime affiliation with the nbc red network although it aired some programs from the dumont television network prior to wjbk tv channel 2 s sign on in october 1948 . channel 4 had a number of broadcasting firsts in michigan including the first telecast of detroit tigers red wings and lions games as well as the state s first televised newscasts . the station s studios and transmitter were originally located in the detroit news building in downtown detroit . in 1954 the station moved to a new 1 004 foot 306 m transmitter at the intersection of greenfield and lincoln roads in southfield . the station began broadcasting its newscasts and other locally produced programs in color in 1960 when it purchased new studio camera equipment . over the years the evening news association acquired several other broadcasting outlets such as ktvy now kfor tv in oklahoma city kold tv in tucson arizona and wala tv in mobile alabama . eventually the evening news association created universal communications corporation as a holding company for its broadcasting interests with wwj am fm tv as the flagship stations . trade to the washington post company edit in 1969 the federal communications commission fcc began to impose restrictions on the common ownership of print and broadcast media in the same market . the combination of the detroit news and wwj am fm tv was given grandfathered protection from the new regulations . but by the mid to late 1970s the evening news association was under pressure to break up its detroit cluster voluntarily . fearing that an fcc forced divestiture was imminent the evening news association agreed to trade wwj tv to the washington post company in return for that company s flagship station wtop tv later wdvm tv and now wusa . 4 on july 22 1978 channel 4 changed its call letters to the present wdiv tv 5 for detroit s iv representing the roman numeral for 4 . additionally in a series of promotional announcements with news anchor dwayne x. riley the new call letters were said to represent the phrase where detroit is vital . the wwj tv call sign was later adopted for use by the former wgpr tv channel 62 after its 1995 purchase by cbs which had acquired wwj radio in 1989 ; the current wwj tv is a separate entity and not related to wdiv . ultimately the fcc never imposed any limitations on ownership of television station and newspapers in the same market and the exchange of stations between the evening news association and the washington post company which was renamed graham holdings company following the sale of the washington post in 2013 became somewhat unique in television broadcasting . in 1982 wdiv moved out of its facility which had been built in 1936 for wwj am and expanded in 1948 and today is known as the walker roehrig building adjacent to the headquarters of the detroit news and moved one block to its current broadcast facility at west lafayette boulevard . the building has also housed the headquarters of graham media group since 1997 ; the local branding now utilized by most of the group s stations began at wdiv alongside its acquiring of flagship status in 2000 . the station later became available outside the detroit market when it was selected for inclusion on many canadian cable providers in the late 1980s and early 1990s . wdiv s signal has been uplinked on c band satellite since at least 1988 . in 2004 the station bolstered local programming by securing broadcast rights to several detroit pistons basketball games fox sports detroit became the pistons sole broadcaster in 2008 as well as returning as the host television station for the north american international auto show . the station airs the auto show s charity preview america s thanksgiving parade both in high definition the ford fireworks and the charity event the hob nobble gobble which is held the night before the thanksgiving parade . on april 15 2005 former wdiv employee john owens was shot in the station s lobby by epifanio rivas jr. a man with a history of harassing wdiv employees . rivas was charged with attempted murder while owens remained in the hospital in critical but stable condition . on november 21 2006 wayne county circuit court judge james callahan sentenced rivas to 16 to 32 years in prison for the shooting ; he was also sentenced to two years for a felony firearm conviction . in december 2008 wdiv began streaming its newscasts online as part of a redesign of the station s website . on june 21 2010 the 52nd annual target fireworks were produced and aired entirely in high definition . on august 6 2010 wdiv tv and wxyz tv channel 7 became the first stations in detroit to offer mobile dtv feeds . on the evening of april 14 2011 a suitcase containing a suspected improvised explosive device was left in the wdiv studio lobby after the person who planted the device was denied entry by the station s security guard prompting the detroit police bomb squad to evacuate the studio as well as the doubletree hotel across the street . that night s 11 p.m. newscast was broadcast from the corner of lafayette and howard streets ; the evacuation resulted in master control operations being inaccessible preventing the broadcast or editing of news stories and the broadcast of commercials . the station s psip virtual channel temporarily reverted to 45.1 the station s physical digital channel with hd content downconverted to 720p . the device was detonated minutes later with police giving the all clear at 11 15 p.m. for the news crew to re enter the studio . 6 upon re entering the studio anchor devin scillian explained that wdiv has a policy of not immediately reporting bomb threats in case they turn out to be nothing . however because staff was barred access into the studio for the 11 p.m. newscast an explanation as to why they were on the street broadcasting from the station s mobile truck instead of the studio needed to be given . the news was first reported by the twitter and facebook accounts of wdiv s news staff ; wjbk wxyz tv and wmyd channel 20 reported on the situation while during the lockout before the wdiv mobile truck could return to the studios from its assignments . a sweater and some empty soda cans were later found in the briefcase in which was left by a homeless man that had followed a wdiv employee in for warmth and coffee the man was brought to detroit receiving hospital for observation the next day . the detroit police department and post newsweek s management said that charges would not be filed as it was just a big misunderstanding . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed 7 8 channel video aspect psip short name programming 9 4.1 1080i 16 9 wdiv hd main wdiv programming nbc 4.2 480i 4 3 wdiv sd this tv 4.3 metv wdiv s second digital subchannel formally carried programming from nbc weather plus which folded in november 2008 . wdiv tv also has a mobile dtv feed of subchannel 4.1 labelled local 4 broadcasting at 1.83 mbit s. 10 11 on july 30 2015 at 6 55 pm wdiv tv activated a third subchannel on their broadcast signal for metv which initially aired a test pattern with a me tv detroit logo . the new subchannel eventually soft launched at about 5 pm the following evening with an episode of emergency this was the second half of the show s two hour weekday block on me tv the first half had already concluded on the national feed . analog to digital conversion edit wdiv signed on its digital high definition signal on uhf 45 on march 1 1999 . 12 wdiv tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 4 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 remained on its pre transition uhf channel 45 . 13 14 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 4 . as part of the safer act 15 wdiv kept its analog signal on the air until june 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the national association