station wxyz tv . for other uses see wxyz . not to be confused with w6xyz . wxyz tv detroit michigan united states branding channel 7 general 7 action news newscasts bounce tv on dt2 laff on dt3 slogan taking action for you channels digital 41 uhf virtual 7 psip affiliations .1 abc .2 bounce tv .3 laff owner e. w. scripps company scripps broadcasting holdings llc first air date october 9 1948 ; 68 years ago 1948 10 09 call letters meaning derived from former sister station wxyz radio now wxyt can also be easy to remember as being at the opposite end of the alphabet as abc the station s network affiliation and founding owner ; also from the station s former slogan the last name in broadcasting sister station s wmyd former channel number s analog 7 vhf 1948 2009 former affiliations dt2 rtv 2008 2011 dt3 live well network 2011 2015 transmitter power 1 000 kw increased from 770 kw 1 height 286 meters 938 ft facility id 10267 transmitter coordinates 42 28 14.7 n 83 14 59.4 w 42.470750 n 83.249833 w 42.470750 ; 83.249833 coordinates 42 28 14.7 n 83 14 59.4 w 42.470750 n 83.249833 w 42.470750 ; 83.249833 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wxyz.com wxyz tv channel 7 is an abc affiliated television station located in detroit michigan usa . owned by the e. w. scripps company wxyz tv is a sister station to mynetworktv affiliate wmyd channel 20 . wxyz tv maintains studio and transmitter facilities located at broadcast house in southfield michigan . contents 1 history 1.1 as an abc owned station 1.2 e. w. scripps company station 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 coverage 4 programming 4.1 programming history 5 in popular culture 6 news operation 6.1 history 6.2 notable former on air staff 7 see also 8 references 9 external links history edit as an abc owned station edit wxyz tv action news remote van . the station first signed on the air on october 9 1948 as the second television station in michigan after wwj tv channel 4 now wdiv tv . channel 7 was also the third of abc s five original owned and operated television stations to sign on after new york city and chicago and before san francisco and los angeles . wxyz tv was created out of abc owned radio station wxyz 1270 am which produced the popular radio programs the lone ranger and the green hornet . wxyz radio personality dick osgood was host of wxyz tv s inaugural broadcast . the television station originally broadcast from studios located in the maccabees building on woodward avenue in midtown detroit across from the detroit institute of arts . in the 1950s wxyz tv began producing a series of popular and innovative programs that featured many personalities from wxyz radio . the station s success generated revenues large enough that it became instrumental in financially helping the then struggling abc network and other abc ventures during the 1950s including abc paramount records . in 1959 all of wxyz s radio and television operations moved into new broadcast facilities at broadcast house in southfield where wxyz s television operations remain . the facility was built on the site of a former farm and included three television production studios and its own free standing broadcast tower with a single person maintenance elevator . wxyz began broadcasting network programs in color in 1956 and started broadcasting local programs and newscasts in color around 1964 . by 1978 wxyz tv was the second most dominant television station in the united states in terms of local viewership no doubt attributable to abc s prime time ratings dominance and the continued success of channel 7 action news with lead news anchor bill bonds . in 1979 abc named jeanne findlater as wxyz s general manager . she was the first woman to hold that title at a major market television station . wxyz tv was carried by the cancom system from 1983 as the abc station for canadian cable television providers too distant to receive a border station s signal over the air though later seattle station komo tv was added to cancom s offerings as a pacific time zone alternative . e. w. scripps company station edit wxyz tv s logo from 2007 to 2013 . in may 1985 capital cities communications which owned detroit radio stations wjr 760 am and whyt 96.3 fm now wdvd announced its acquisition of abc . 2 in order to comply with the federal communications commission s fcc ownership limits of the time the new capital cities abc would have to sell either wxyz tv or each of three radio stations that the two companies had owned wjr whyt or abc owned wrif 101.1 fm ; the former wxyz fm which was sold as part of the merger . 3 abc had sold wxyz am a year earlier in 1984 to the radio station s general manager chuck fritz who changed its call sign to wxyt . 4 upon gaining fcc approval of the merger in february 1986 the new company sold wxyz tv as well as capital cities tampa station wfts tv to the e. w. scripps company . 5 capital cities abc intended to keep channel 7 together with wjr and whyt through a waiver of the fcc s cross ownership rules as a contingency in case a similar request involving abc s new york city television flagship and capital cities philadelphia outlet was denied . 6 7 8 at the time cozzin communications a broadcast group owned by stand up comedian actor bill cosby emerged as another prospective bidder for the station . 9 abc retained some of wxyz s assets including the satellite uplink for its satellite news gathering service abc newsone . under scripps ownership wxyz tv retained the abc network affiliation and continued to use abc s originally proprietary circle 7 logo . scripps used the station s popularity as leverage for detroit s cable providers to carry the scripps owned hgtv cable network using the fcc s retransmission consent rule to force local cable systems to carry hgtv . under this rule a television station that is carried on a cable system under must carry rules can request cable systems to compensate the station for carrying it . the station was selected as the site of the first town meeting with president bill clinton in february 1993 which was hosted by bill bonds . president clinton would address questions from audience members at wxyz s studios as well as audiences at other television stations via satellite . a shift in affiliation at detroit s cbs affiliate wjbk tv channel 2 to the fox network in 1994 10 prompted cbs to attempt to lure wxyz to drop its abc affiliation in favor of switching to cbs . 11 as a contingency plan abc approached sjl broadcast management later known as montecito broadcast group now sjl broadcasting and once again controlled by the principals of lilly broadcasting about buying toledo ohio s wtvg channel 13 and flint s wjrt tv channel 12 to cover the detroit area in the event that wxyz became a cbs station . both stations city grade signals reached portions of the detroit area wtvg to the south and wjrt tv to the north . eventually scripps signed a ten year long term deal with abc that would keep wxyz as an affiliate of the network it remains an abc affiliate to this day . as a condition of that agreement television stations in other cities including tampa st. petersburg cincinnati phoenix and baltimore would lose their abc affiliations to competing scripps owned stations in those cities . cbs would purchase uhf independent station wgpr tv channel 62 now wwj tv after it failed to reach deals to affiliate with wdiv wkbd tv channel 50 which lost its fox affiliation to wjbk as a result of its then owner new world communications s affiliation deal with the network or the market s other independent stations wxon channel 20 now wmyd and wadl tv channel 38 . wxyz tv has been active in several community service projects . the station received the national community service award from the national academy of television arts and sciences for outstanding community service in 1989 . wxyz is a partner in several charitable endeavors including the society of saint vincent de paul 12 operation can do and detroit s annual children s immunization fair . on october 4 2006 wxyz became the first television station in michigan and the first scripps owned station to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 13 7.1 720p 16 9 wxyz hd main wxyz tv programming abc 7.2 480i 4 3 wxyz bn bounce tv 7.3 16 9 wxyz lf laff wxyz tv s third digital subchannel originally carried a video feed of the station s tower camera at broadcast house . most recently it formerly carried doppler7weather a local weather channel looping weather radar temperatures and live local radar along with an l bar similar to that used by the local accuweather channel and the defunct nbc weather plus though it was operated independently from either network that showed current conditions and five day local forecasts . on may 21 2010 this channel was removed to prepare and utilize its channel bandwidth exclusively for mobile television labelled as wxyz mh 7.3 and simulcasting 7.2 live well network at 1.83 mbps . wxyz along with wdiv tv became the first detroit stations to offer mobile dtv feeds on august 6 2010 . 14 15 16 on july 12 2012 the e. w. scripps company signed an affiliation agreement with bounce tv to make wxyz tv the detroit area affiliate of the network becoming the first scripps owned station to affiliate with bounce tv . 17 bounce tv itself launched on september 25 2012 after a week of audio only testing . analog to digital conversion edit wxyz tv became the first television station in detroit to transmit an over the air digital signal broadcasting on uhf channel 41 on september 29 1998 . 18 the station shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 7 on june 12 2009 the official date on 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 41 . 19 20 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 7 . wjbk began using the channel 7 allocation for its digital signal after the transition . coverage edit in addition to carriage across southeast michigan wxyz is carried on most cable providers in southwestern ontario and northwestern ohio . coverage on cable systems outside the detroit windsor market may be subject to syndication exclusivity rules and network blackouts in the united states and simsubbing in canada . the station can be received from as far away as flint michigan with a good quality antenna . it s also carried on cable in grand marais michigan . citation needed the station also serves several other parts of canada as an abc affiliate on satellite provider shaw direct as well as on cable providers in several canadian markets including windsor london sault ste. marie sudbury and thunder bay ontario saint john new brunswick and all of manitoba except for areas served by shaw s steinbach or winnipeg system which carry wdaz tv out of grand forks north dakota instead and the national capital region . wxyz tv was previously offered as the abc affiliate on cable through cable atlantic now rogers cable in newfoundland