city milwaukee branding cbs 58 general cbs 58 news newscasts slogan only cbs 58 general it s time for the news newscasts channels digital 46 uhf virtual 58 psip affiliations .1 cbs .2 metv .3 heroes & icons .4 decades owner weigel broadcasting wdjt tv limited partnership first air date november 10 1988 ; 27 years ago 1988 11 10 call letters meaning debra jackson and john torres the station s original license holders sister station s wbme cd wmlw tv wytu ld former channel number s analog 58 uhf 1988 2009 former affiliations independent 1988 1994 transmitter power 1 000 kw height 322 m facility id 71427 transmitter coordinates 43 6 42.1 n 87 55 49.9 w 43.111694 n 87.930528 w 43.111694 ; 87.930528 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.cbs58.com wdjt tv virtual channel 58 uhf digital channel 46 is a cbs affiliated television station in milwaukee wisconsin united states . the station is owned by chicago based weigel broadcasting as part of a duopoly with independent station wmlw tv channel 49 and is also a sister station to metv owned and operated station wbme cd channel 41 which is also carried via wdjt s dt2 subchannel and telemundo affiliate wytu ld channel 63 . all four stations share studio facilities located on south 60th street in milwaukee near west allis ; wdjt s transmitter is located in milwaukee s lincoln park next to the transmitter belonging to abc affiliate wisn tv channel 12 . on cable wdjt tv is carried on time warner cable charter communications and at & t u verse channel 5 charter channel 9 in sheboygan with the station s hd signal on digital channel 1005 on time warner and u verse and on charter digital channel 605 . contents 1 history 1.1 launch and early struggles 1.2 joining cbs 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 metv 2.3 wdjt dt3 2.4 this tv november 2008 march 2015 2.5 heroes & icons march 2015 present 2.6 wdjt dt4 2.6.1 shorewest tv october 2009 june 2013 2.6.2 touchvision milwaukee july 2013 january 2015 2.6.3 decades january 2015 present 2.7 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit launch and early struggles edit wdjt s former logo used from march 1996 to september 2001 . the 58 continued in use until 2008 during the station s morning newscast . aforementioned morning news express logo . the station first signed on the air on november 10 1988 operating as an independent station . its call letters were selected in honor of its original owners debra jackson and john torres the former of whom died before the station took to the air . with the banks skittish about the station s prospects due to jackson s death torres decided to sell a controlling interest to weigel broadcasting in order to get more financing . weigel bought out torres shortly before the station signed on . originally branded as classic 58 its programming fare consisted of older sitcoms lower tier first run syndicated shows and a mix of public domain and lower demand studio films . the locally based show the bowling game also moved to the station in 1989 after a two year hiatus from wvtv channel 18 airing intermittently until 1991 . 1 it operated from a bare bones studio on the top floors of the marc plaza hotel now the hilton milwaukee city center using a transmitter atop the hotel that had once been used by wvtv and low power wmke cd channel 21 . as an independent wdjt found the going difficult against wvtv and wcgv tv channel 24 . although milwaukee was big enough on paper to support what were essentially three independent stations fox affiliate wcgv was essentially programmed as an independent as the network would not air a full week s worth of programming until 1993 there simply was not enough programming to go around . it was also hampered by a weak signal that effectively limited channel 58 s coverage area to milwaukee and its inner ring suburbs such as cudahy waukesha and west allis . the few syndicators who otherwise would have been willing to air their programming on channel 58 largely shied away due to its weak signal . additionally it was near the bottom of the uhf dial ; generally until the cable age most southeastern wisconsin households never tuned past channel 36 . the station also came to the air three years before must carry rules were put into place . in january and february 1992 wdjt carried full day coverage of the criminal trial of serial killer jeffrey dahmer fed and produced by witi channel 6 allowing the latter station to carry the cbs lineup without pre emption and an over the air venue for the trial . 2 until 1993 many area cable systems chose not to carry it due to a lack of compelling programming poor signal quality or inadequate viewership most notably marcus cable now part of charter communications the largest cable provider in milwaukee s outer suburbs . on the systems that did carry it it was relegated to a lower tier slot ; it aired on channel 29 on milwaukee s time warner cable system and on channel 48 in outlying areas . joining cbs edit in may 1994 new world communications announced that most of its stations including milwaukee s witi channel 6 would become fox affiliates . 3 cbs approached all four of milwaukee s other major stations wtmj tv channel 4 wisn tv channel 12 which was affiliated with cbs from 1961 to 1977 wvtv and wcgv . none of those stations were interested although wvtv s then owner gaylord broadcasting which had by that time had ceded operational control to wcgv switched two of its other stations ktvt in fort worth texas and kstw in tacoma washington to cbs . this left cbs to negotiate with the city s lower profile independents wjja channel 49 now wmlw tv and wdjt as well as religious station wvcy tv channel 30 . after negotiations with both wjja and wdjt fell through cbs made an abortive attempt to buy wvcy before station owner vic eliason in consultation with vcy america s board decided not to sell . with just days before witi was to join fox cbs was faced with having to pipe in affiliate wisc tv in madison or its two owned and operated stations in the region wfrv tv in green bay or wbbm tv in chicago for cable subscribers while it found a new affiliate in milwaukee . out of desperation cbs agreed to affiliate with wdjt despite its subpar signal and the lack of a news department . cbs faced similar situations in atlanta austin cleveland and detroit . in all these cases the longtime cbs affiliates all switched to fox . while cbs was able to land on higher profile stations in atlanta austin and cleveland it was unable to do so in detroit or milwaukee . this would be one of two 11th hour affiliation deals weigel landed with a big three network ; a year later its low powered outlet in south bend indiana ; w58bt now wbnd joined abc after longtime affiliate wsjv switched to fox . on december 11 1994 wdjt became the fifth station in milwaukee to carry cbs . the network had originally aligned with now defunct wcan tv channel 25 from 1953 to 1955 wvtv then known as wxix from 1955 to 1959 witi from 1959 to 1961 wisn tv from 1961 to 1977 and witi again from 1977 to 1994 . the first cbs program to air on channel 58 that day was cbs news sunday morning . some existing syndicated programming on wdjt s schedule which would otherwise air in cbs designated timeslots was either moved to post midnight slots on the station or turned over to sister station w65bt now wbme cd channel 41 to fulfill contracts . 4 not even weigel had expected to align wdjt with cbs . channel 58 was thus forced to make do with a hastily made logo of wdjt s italic times new roman 58 of the time in red and later yellow superimposed on the cbs eye and a bare bones image campaign using default cbs graphics . this lasted for a year and a half while channel 58 built a news department and looked for upgraded studio facilities . until the 2009 digital television transition wdjt was the only cbs affiliate in wisconsin that broadcast on the uhf band but retains the highest psip channel number out of the state s cbs affiliates post transition . wdjt s cbs affiliation sent the area s cable systems scrambling to add the station or give it a higher profile slot . it took until march 1995 for some portions of marcus cable s service area to pick up the station though outer portions of the market had access to wisc wfrv or wbbm as a second cbs signal depending on their location . however closer in many milwaukee area viewers without set top or housetop antennas missed several major events to which cbs held the rights including the pga tour the grammy awards the daytona 500 big ten conference basketball and the ncaa men s and women s basketball tournaments . the young and the restless which had aired on a one day delay at 9 a.m. weekdays since the early 1980s on witi began airing in the network mandated timeslot for the central time zone of 11 00 a.m. on wdjt . the station also cleared cbs this morning for the full two hours ; witi had preempted the first hour . wdjt also picked up the late show with david letterman which had aired on wcgv after witi passed on it . donahue moved to the station in september 1995 for its last season from witi as wdjt s first true high profile syndication acquisition . however outside of network hours the station s schedule resembled that of a minor network affiliate or a lower tier independent ; it consisted mostly of low profile sitcoms first run syndicated programs turned down by the other milwaukee stations and second run syndicated fare . in early 1996 wdjt moved to a new studio in a converted commercial building which was part of the former allis chalmers manufacturing complex on south 60th street right on the line between milwaukee and west allis . it also launched a news department along with their website . that year wdjt also began to carry freshman series judge judy which gave the station its first ratings traction outside of network hours though it moved to witi by september 2000 as that station decided to move away from an afternoon schedule dependent on tabloid talk shows . three years later in 1999 the station s current lincoln park transmitter was put into service giving the station an over the air signal comparable to milwaukee s other major commercial stations . weigel would use this tower to bring wdjt s two low powered sister stations on an even footing in the market with all the market s main stations transmitting from the same area . the station scored a major coup in early 2004 just before ken jennings started his record jeopardy winning streak when the perceived costs and demographics of syndication of that show along with sony pictures television king world companion show wheel of fortune lead to wtmj tv deciding not to renew rights to either series . channel 4 had aired the syndication version of wheel of fortune since its premiere in 1983 and had aired jeopardy since its 1984 premiere . wdjt snapped up the rights for both game shows beginning in september 2005 and decided to schedule them in their traditional block scheduling setup