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 wkbd tv detroit michigan united states branding cw 50 general first forecast wwj tv produced weathercasts slogan tv now channels digital 14 uhf virtual 50 psip affiliations .1 the cw owner cbs corporation detroit television station wkbd inc. first air date january 10 1965 ; 51 years ago 1965 01 10 call letters meaning w kaiser broadcasting detroit reference to original owner kaiser broadcasting sister station s tv wwj tv radio wdzh womc wwj wxyt wxyt fm wycd former channel number s analog 50 uhf 1965 2009 former affiliations primary independent 1965 1986 1994 1995 united network 1967 fox 1986 1994 upn 1995 2006 secondary fox 1994 1998 transmitter power 185 kw height 269 m facility id 51570 transmitter coordinates 42 29 0.9 n 83 18 43.5 w 42.483583 n 83.312083 w 42.483583 ; 83.312083 coordinates 42 29 0.9 n 83 18 43.5 w 42.483583 n 83.312083 w 42.483583 ; 83.312083 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website cwdetroit.cbslocal.com wkbd tv virtual channel 50 uhf digital channel 14 is a cw owned and operated television station located in detroit michigan united states . the station is owned by the cbs television stations subsidiary of cbs corporation as part of a duopoly with cbs station wwj tv channel 62 . the two stations share studio facilities and wkbd maintains transmitter facilities located on west 11 mile road in the detroit suburb of southfield . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 prior history of channel 50 1.2 wkbd tv 1.2.1 as an independent station 1.2.2 as a fox affiliate 1.2.3 as a upn station 1.2.4 the cw in detroit 2 digital television 2.1 digital channel 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 news operations 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 out of market cable coverage 6 see also 7 references 8 external links history edit prior history of channel 50 edit the uhf channel 50 allocation in detroit was originally assigned to wbid tv in 1955 . owned by max osnos woodward broadcasting osnos also owned 9 % of witi in milwaukee 2 wbid planned on broadcasting from the cadillac tower in downtown detroit . citation needed however wbid never made it to the air and neither did wtoh tv channel 79 in toledo ohio another proposed station owned by woodward broadcasting 2 both wbid and wtoh planned on taking at least some programming from the failing dumont television network citation needed . it would be another decade before detroiters would finally see programming on channel 50 . wkbd tv edit as an independent station edit wkbd first signed on the air on january 10 1965 under the ownership of kaiser broadcasting owned by industrialist henry j. kaiser . it started with an all sports format predating espn by some 14 years ; 3 4 wkbd began broadcasting at 5 p.m. on that date with its first program being a college basketball game between the michigan wolverines and the iowa state cyclones . 5 it eventually became a typical uhf independent station running cartoons sitcoms and older movies . wkbd has been broadcasting in color since it first went on the air in 1965 . some locally produced programs such as the lou gordon program were broadcast in black and white until the station upgraded to color studio cameras in the late 1960s . wkbd briefly gained a network affiliation in the spring of 1967 when it became the detroit affiliate of the short lived united network . for many years it aired an afternoon movie hosted by detroit legend bill kennedy . wkbd also produced a hard hitting weekly talk show the lou gordon program which aired from the late 1960s until 1977 and was seen on all kaiser stations and a few non kaiser outlets . however sports remained a central part of wkbd s schedule and it was the over the air home for red wings hockey and pistons basketball for 30 years as well as tigers baseball for a decade . lou and jackie gordon from the lou gordon program in 1972 the kaiser broadcasting corporation partnered with field communications in kaiser broadcasting co. which included wkbd tv four other kaiser stations and field s single station in chicago wfld . 6 7 in 1977 the bulk of kaiser broadcasting corporation including wkbd was sold to field . 8 in 1982 field put all its stations up for sale ; however the company had a difficult time selling wkbd tv for the amount of money it wanted despite its success . as a result field was forced to hold onto channel 50 for almost two years . in late 1983 cox enterprises offered to buy the station which the company finally did on january 30 1984 . shortly thereafter the station dropped the tv suffix from its call letters becoming simply wkbd once again . at the same time the station dropped the field communications font in its on air branding and replaced it with a new lined 50 it used until joining upn . the programming remained the same as before with one notable exception in the late 1980s wkbd began airing late night with david letterman when nbc affiliate wdiv channel 4 declined to clear it ; this mirrored a similar situation in the mid 1970s when wdiv then known as wwj tv declined to air saturday night live the first two seasons of the show originally aired in the detroit market on wkbd . coincidentally one of the show s original cast members gilda radner was born in detroit . the ghoul show aired in detroit on wkbd from 1971 to 1975 ; the show featured late night horror movie host ron sweed in the title role and was produced by wkbd s kaiser owned cleveland ohio sister station at the time wkbf tv . when kaiser dropped the program the show s production moved to detroit where it was produced by and aired on wxon channel 20 now wmyd . the show moved briefly to wgpr channel 62 now wwj tv and then back to wxon . although never produced at wkbd itself the program was very popular and was one of the few local programs that aired on wkbd that was not related to sports . as a fox affiliate edit on october 9 1986 channel 50 became a charter affiliate of the fox network yet it wasn t until 1990 that the station began identifying as wkbd 50 fox detroit which was soon dropped in favor of adopting fox 50 as its on air branding . however for much of its tenure with fox wkbd was still programmed essentially as a de facto independent station as the network did not run a full week s worth of programming until 1993 . owing to its large cable footprint the station served as the default fox affiliate for the traverse city cadillac sault sainte marie and marquette markets as well both markets are now served by fox through in market affiliates wfqx tv and wluc dt2 . channel 50 was later sold to the paramount stations group in june 1993 . 9 even though wkbd was one of fox s strongest affiliates fox announced that it would move its detroit affiliation to wjbk tv channel 2 detroit s longtime cbs affiliate by the end of 1994 . this was a result of wjbk s then owner new world communications striking a group deal with fox to switch the network affiliations of twelve of the company s stations to fox which then bought ten of the new world stations affected by the deal in 1996 ; new world had earlier sold two other stations it could not keep due to ownership conflicts to fox outright . 10 11 cbs then approached wkbd for an affiliation after being turned down by wxyz tv channel 7 and wdiv since it was the only non big three station in detroit that had a functioning news department . however viacom which had just bought paramount turned the offer down because it was about to switch all of its non big three stations to the upstart united paramount network of which it was managing partner . as a upn station edit wjbk became detroit s fox affiliate on december 11 1994 . as a result wkbd briefly went independent again until it joined upn on january 16 1995 . channel 50 s programming was unchanged from its days as a fox affiliate except for the prime time programming provided by upn . eventually the older sitcoms were replaced with more first run syndicated talk or reality shows . fox kids stayed on wkbd until 1998 when it moved to wadl channel 38 . wkbd continued to carry morning afternoon cartoon blocks supplied by upn first with upn kids and then disney s one too until the network stopped running children s programs in august 2003 . wkbd became a upn o & o when viacom purchased a 50 % interest in the network in 1996 ; 12 in effect becoming the second network o & o in detroit and the third overall factoring wxyz tv which abc had owned from 1948 until the station s sale to the e. w. scripps company in 1986 predating the completion of wjbk s sale to fox in 1997 . in 2000 viacom acquired cbs a move that united channel 50 with wwj tv channel 62 which cbs acquired in 1995 after losing its affiliation with wjbk . after the merger wwj tv moved from its facilities in downtown detroit to wkbd s southfield studios . wkbd is the senior partner since it is the longer established of the two stations unlike the other duopolies involving cbs and upn and later cbs and cw stations where the cbs station is the senior partner . the cw in detroit edit on january 24 2006 cbs corporation which wkbd and wwj tv became part of as a result of the december 2005 split of the original viacom which became cbs corporation from cbs 13 and the warner bros. television unit of time warner announced that the two companies would shut down upn and the wb and combine the networks respective programming to create a new network called the cw . 14 15 that day the new network signed a 10 year affiliation deal with 11 upn stations owned by cbs including wkbd . however it is likely that wkbd would have been chosen over wb affiliate wdwb now wmyd which affiliated with mynetworktv another upstart network that debuted two weeks after the cw s launch in any event as it was the higher rated station . 16 wkbd continued to carry upn programming until september 15 2006 when that network ceased operations ; the cw made its debut on september 18 2006 . today wkbd has a format primarily of first run syndicated talk courtroom and reality shows and some recent off network sitcoms in addition to cw network programming . on july 9 2009 the tv suffix was added back to the station s legal call sign . digital television edit digital channel edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 17 50.1 1080i 16 9 wkbd hd main wkbd tv programming the cw analog to digital conversion edit wkbd tv was granted a license for a digital transmitter facility in january 2001 . the station shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 50 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 14 . 18 19 20 through the use of psip digital television