known as wwj tv from 1947 to 1978 see wdiv 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 not to be confused with wjw tv . wwj tv detroit michigan united states branding cbs 62 general first forecast weathercasts slogan wwj tv detroit general weather without the wait weathercasts channels digital 44 uhf virtual 62 psip affiliations .1 cbs o & o .2 decades owner cbs corporation cbs broadcasting inc. first air date september 29 1975 ; 41 years ago 1975 09 29 call letters meaning derived from sister station wwj radio sister station s wdzh wkbd tv womc wwj wxyt wxyt fm wycd former callsigns wgpr tv 1975 1995 former channel number s analog 62 uhf 1975 2009 former affiliations independent 1975 1994 transmitter power 425 kw height 323 m 1 060 ft facility id 72123 transmitter coordinates 42 26 52.5 n 83 10 23 w 42.447917 n 83.17306 w 42.447917 ; 83.17306 coordinates 42 26 52.5 n 83 10 23 w 42.447917 n 83.17306 w 42.447917 ; 83.17306 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website detroit.cbslocal.com wwj tv channel 62 is a cbs 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 cw owned and operated station wkbd tv channel 50 . the two stations share studio facilities in the detroit suburb of southfield ; 1 2 wwj tv s transmitter is located in oak park michigan . 3 the station is carried on several canadian cable providers predominately in the province of ontario and is one of five local detroit television stations seen in canada on satellite provider shaw direct . wwj is notable for its brief weather forecast at 11 pm which begins with the meteorologist saying two and a half men starts in two and a half minutes . at one point viewers were invited to submit videos of themselves saying the phrase which were then played in a montage before each forecast . contents 1 history 1.1 as wgpr tv 1.2 purchase by cbs 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 coverage area 3.1 over the air coverage 3.2 cable and satellite carriage 4 sports programming 5 news and weather operations 5.1 notable current on air staff 5.2 notable former on air staff 6 legacy 7 see also 8 references 8.1 recommended reading 9 external links history edit as wgpr tv edit the station first signed on the air on september 29 1975 as wgpr tv the callsign standing for where god s presence radiates . the station was originally owned by wgpr incorporated formed by the detroit based international free and accepted modern masons . wgpr was the first wholly african american owned television station in the united states and was marketed towards detroit s urban audience . 4 at the time wgpr s emergence was hailed as an advance for african american enterprise with the color line having been broken by the station s establishment . station president william v. banks together with jim panagos and george white sales and programming managers respectively of co owned wgpr radio 107.5 fm were the management team at the station s outset . prior to wgpr tv s sign on the channel 62 frequency had been used by wxon now wmyd channel 20 which had originally broadcast on that channel when it signed on in 1968 before moving to channel 20 in 1972 . 5 wgpr station id 1980s . variations of this rainbow logo would be used until cbs purchased it in 1995 . operating as an independent station wgpr tv aired network programs from nbc and cbs that were pre empted by their local affiliates wwj tv channel 4 now wdiv tv and wjbk tv channel 2 respectively as well as older cartoons a number of religious shows brokered programs programs aimed at the black community r & b music shows and low rated off network dramas and barter syndicated programs . citation needed channel 62 s most popular and most well known show was a middle eastern variety show called arab voice of detroit which was broadcast late on saturday nights . another popular program was a nightly dance show titled the scene similar in content to the nationally syndicated soul train that aired from october 13 1975 to december 31 1987 . 6 7 a similar lower budget friday evening dance show called contempo was initially the scene s replacement in 1988 ; it was hosted by several different personalities from wgpr radio and featured local artists . however lackluster ratings caused the show s cancellation in early 1990 and eventually it was replaced by the new dance show which was hosted by r.j. watkins and aired until 1996 . the station was also home to horror show host ron the ghoul sweed during the late 1970s and was detroit s affiliate for the 1970s version of the nhl network . the socially laudatory aims of the station did not immediately translate into good business . during its tenure as an independent station wgpr tv was easily the lowest rated television station in detroit with only a niche viewership within its target audiences . on paper detroit should have been big enough to support three independent stations . however windsor based cbc owned and operated station cbet channel 9 owned the detroit rights to many american syndicated programs that would have otherwise likely aired on wgpr tv . most of the top tier syndicated programming was picked clean by wkbd tv wxon and cbet . it did not help that it was located near the top of the uhf dial ; prior to the advent of cable television most detroit area viewers never tuned past wtvs the local pbs station on channel 56 . this left wgpr tv to contend with several already marginal independent outlets available to viewers in southeastern michigan for lower budget programming . wgpr was also hampered by an inadequate signal broadcasting at only 800 000 watts . by comparison wkbd broadcast at 2.3 million watts and wxon broadcast at 1.5 million watts . its signal was so weak that it could only be seen over the air in detroit itself and some nearby suburbs such as southfield east detroit redford township warren royal oak livonia and mount clemens . the signal could not reach the outlying suburbs such as clarkston lake orion and richmond . for its first 20 years on the air it was the only detroit station not carried in the flint lansing edition of tv guide which in the detroit market was sold in sanilac lapeer western and northern livingston and northwestern oakland counties . citation needed by the 1990s wgpr s on air look had become very primitive . it was the only local station which still used art cards instead of cgi for its sponsor announcements and newscasts . further a character generator manufactured in the 1970s remained in use for some graphics for many years . purchase by cbs edit wgpr s situation changed in 1994 when new world communications signed an affiliation deal with fox under which twelve of its stations switched their affiliations to that network . one of those stations was detroit s longtime cbs affiliate wjbk tv . 8 cbs then approached each of detroit s four remaining major commercial stations nbc affiliate wdiv abc affiliate wxyz tv channel 7 soon to be former fox outlet wkbd and wxon for an affiliation deal . however wxyz s owner the e. w. scripps company forced abc which ironically had owned wxyz until 1986 to agree to a long term affiliation deal with wxyz and several of its other stations after threatening to affiliate wxyz and sister station wews in cleveland with cbs . 9 wkbd was eliminated when its owner the paramount stations group announced that its stations would become charter affiliates of the co owned united paramount network . neither wdiv nor wxon were interested in affiliating with cbs either thus leaving the network with only two realistic choices for a new detroit affiliate wgpr and another low profile uhf independent station mount clemens based wadl channel 38 . though wgpr was initially thought to have a minimal chance at landing an affiliation deal cbs broke off negotiations with wadl after its owner started making unreasonable demands . essentially by default cbs began discussions with wgpr . 10 cbs faced similar situations in atlanta austin cleveland and milwaukee . in all cases the longtime cbs affiliates atlanta s waga tv austin s ktbc tv cleveland s wjw tv and milwaukee s witi also switched to fox . while cbs was able to land on higher profile uhf stations in atlanta austin and cleveland the latter two simply swapping with the old fox affiliates it was unable to do so in detroit or milwaukee . as a backup cbs worked out deals with three nearby vhf stations . first the network persuaded wnem tv in bay city a longtime nbc affiliate to switch to cbs as part of a multi station deal with its parent company the meredith corporation . wnem s signal penetrated further into the northern portions of the detroit market than the longtime flint tri cities cbs affiliate weyi tv . 11 wnem provided a strong grade b signal to detroit s northern suburbs including st. clair county and parts of oakland and macomb counties ; as well as sarnia ontario . it also provided a strong city grade signal to the lower thumb . cbs also signed a long term deal with its longtime affiliate in toledo ohio wtol tv which provided at least grade b coverage to most of detroit and the immediate area . it also convinced wlns tv in lansing to build a translator in ann arbor . the main wlns signal reached portions of detroit s western suburbs such as livingston and oakland counties . these moves were made not only in the event cbs could not land an affiliate of its own in detroit but also because of channel 62 s aforementioned signal problems . negotiations with wgpr moved slowly . with only a few days remaining before wjbk was due to switch to fox cbs had still not lined up a replacement affiliate in detroit . fearing it would be left without an affiliate in the nation s tenth largest market and faced with the prospect of having to pipe in wnem wtol and wlns for detroit viewers cbs struck an eleventh hour deal to purchase wgpr outright for 24 million . the final price tag was more a reflection of cbs desperation than the actual value of the station . 12 wwj tv s logo shortly after its acquisition by cbs . however the plans hit a snag when leaders of detroit s african american community spoke out against the sale . 13 most of the community s ire was directed toward the masons who were criticized for agreeing to sell to a mainstream network broadcaster . while the deal s opponents had no objection to wgpr tv becoming a network affiliate they feared an important local voice would be lost if cbs gained outright ownership of the station . cbs and the masons and their local supporters contended that they were engaged in a fair business transaction . there was growing sentiment to block the sale of wgpr tv to cbs in favor of selling it to a locally based broadcaster . spectrum detroit inc. an investment group led by lansing based real estate investor and broadcaster joel ferguson made a counter offer to buy the station outright or at the least convince