WJBK

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For broadcast stations that previously used the WJBK call sign, see WJBK (disambiguation)

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WJBK ("Fox 2") is the Fox-owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan. Its studios and 1003-foot (305.7 meter) tower are co-located in Southfield while its signal covers the Metro Detroit area. WJBK's signal can also be picked up as far away as Flint, Toledo, Adrian, Chelsea, and, with transitory severe interference, London, Ontario.

On cable, WJBK can be seen on Comcast Detroit channel 12, Bright House Livonia channel 2, and on WOW! channel 2 And channel 202. WJBK also serves as a Fox affiliate for several other Canadian cable markets, including Cogeco Windsor channel 7, and Rogers Ottawa channel 13. In addition, it is one of five local Detroit TV stations seen in Canada on the StarChoice satellite provider.

History

The station debuted on October 24, 1948, as a dual CBS-DuMont affiliate owned by Storer Broadcasting (under George B. Storer) along with WJBK-AM 1500 (now WLQV) and WJBK-FM 93.1 (now WDRQ). WJBK became an exclusive CBS affiliate in 1955 after the DuMont network went out of business. In a 1985 corporate deal, the station came under the ownership of KKR. It was then sold as part of a group deal to Gillett Communications in 1987, and then sold to SCI. WJBK was sold to New World Communications in 1993 as part of yet another group deal. In 1992, WJBK chose not to air CBS This Morning, in favor of showing local news. While WJBK had a history of showing most CBS programming, it began to pre-empt CBS programming a bit more than usual in 1993, around the time New World Communications bought the station. One example of this was when the CBS soap opera Guiding Light was moved from its network start time of 3:00pm ET to 10:00am, to allow for syndicated programming.

In 1994, New World agreed to affiliate its stations, including WJBK, to Fox when that network won the contract to carry the NFC football package, which was originally carried on the station as a CBS affiliate. As a result, WJBK dropped the CBS affiliation and along with the other New World stations took on the Fox affiliation. CBS moved to a weak independent station WGPR (which would be sold to CBS and renamed WWJ-TV). Like most other New World stations, WJBK also did not take Fox's children's programming, (Fox Kids/FoxBox/4KidsTV) which remained on the market's former Fox station (and charter UPN affiliate) WKBD (before briefly moving to WADL, and ultimately, to WMYD). As a result of the network change, WJBK's branding switched from 'TV 2' to 'Fox 2 Detroit.' The actual rebranding did not take place until Fall 1995.

Fox bought out New World Communications in 1997, and WJBK became a Fox owned and operated station. The network brought stronger syndicated shows on WJBK. However, the station continued its practice of not running children's programming from the network (which is no longer shown on weekdays, and is now only seen on Sunday mornings on WMYD).

In 2003, WJBK became the broadcast home of the Detroit Red Wings. The station broadcasts up to ten games a season.

For the 2007 MLB season, WJBK became the over-the-air TV broadcaster for the Detroit Tigers (WMYD was the broadcaster for the 2006 season). Tigers games are produced by WJBK's sister cable network, FSN Detroit.

Digital Channels

Digital channels
Channel Programming
2.1 Main WJBK Programming (High Definition)
2.2 Main WJBK Programming (Standard Definition)

Newscasts

File:Fox2helo.jpg
WJBK's helicopter - Sky Fox

After becoming a Fox affiliate station, WJBK maintained a newscast schedule that is very similar to a CBS, ABC, or NBC affiliated station. Upon the network switch, the station moved its late evening news broadcasts from 11 PM to 10 PM. The station is known in the area for its "Problem Solver" investigative unit that was started in 1998. Since the early 1990s, the station has repeated its 11 PM (now 10 PM) newscasts at 2 AM the following morning (four hours later).

WJBK's newscasts in the CBS-era were rebroadcasted on WADL under a partnership WJBK had with that station, and continued until 1998. The station also had an Eyewitness News format that was similar to sister station WHBQ-TV in Memphis, thus calling itself FOX2 Eyewitness News for sometime before shortening to the current FOX2 News.

WJBK operates an Aerospatiale AS350BA A-star news helicopter called Sky Fox.

In 2006, WJBK officially debuted their MyFox website, myfoxdetroit.com (similar sites have also been adopted by all the other News Corporation owned Fox affiliates).

On January 8, 2007, WJBK started to simulcast parts of its FOX 2 News Morning newscasts on WFQX, Northern Michigan's FOX affiliate based in Cadillac. On WFQX, the simulcast runs 6 to 8 AM weekday mornings and is known as Michigan's FOX News Morning. The simulcast is possible as a result of a cooperative arrangement offering local advertising opportunities to Northern Michigan businesses. From February 5, 2007 to October 31, 2007, after the completion of its own 10 PM newscast, WFQX simulcasted the second half of WJBK's weekday newscast from 10:30 to 11 PM. This ended on October 31, 2007, when new owners acquired WFQX and WWTV gained control of the station, leading to a new hour-long 10PM newscast produced by WWTV, limiting WJBK's newscasts on WFQX to mornings.

On September 24, 2007, WJBK launched its first ever 11pm newscast as a FOX affiliate, using the NewsEdge format originally used by WTVT. On the same day, WJBK redesigned their look to be more in line with other Fox O&O's, with a new set, new graphics, and new music that have also been used on other Fox-owned stations such as sister station KMSP-TV. The new logo, which debuted on the same day, is also similar in design to sister stations KMSP-TV and KDFW. This marks the biggest change to the station's image in ten years.

For many years, WJBK's newscasts have usually rated third in the Detroit market, behind WXYZ and WDIV (there are only three local news stations in the Detroit market).

Sportscasts

Currently WJBK televises some Tigers and Red Wings games, which are produced by sister station, FSN Detroit. In March of 2007, WJBK began showing Red Wings games in High Definition. the Red Wings games no longer air on WJBK TV going fully with FSN Detroit starting with the 2007-2008 season

On Sunday night, WJBK does a sports highlights/discussion show called "Sportsworks". Often there is a round table discussion between the Detroit media and Dan Miller or Woody Woodriffe.

Typical round table media members, include; Drew Sharp from the Detroit Free Press/WXYT, Sean Baligian from the Detroit News/WDFN, Art Regner from WDFN, Pat Caputo from the Oakland Press/WXYT, Bob Wojnowski from the Detroit News/WDFN and Tony Ortiz from WXYT.

Famous shows

The station aired assorted sci-fi and horror movies on Saturday afternoons, hosted by the humorous personality Sir Graves Ghastly, played by actor Lawson J. Deming. Deming, who played Sir Graves on WJBK from 1967 to 1983 and made personal appearances well into the 1990s, died April 24, 2007, just one day after his 94th birthday. [1]

With This Ring was a religious program produced at the studios of WJBK from approximately the early 1970s through the mid-1990s. Hosted by Roman Catholic priest Raymond Schlinkert, the 15-minute weekly show featured lectures and advice about marriage and family life. The program appeared in syndication on numerous U.S. commercial stations, usually shown immediately following the station's sign-on, or before sign-off, on Sundays.

Notable Personalities

Current On-Air Talent

Anchors

  • Kam Carman: Weekday Morning Anchor
  • Murray Feldman (5:30PM Anchor, "Money Savers", "Money Minute" and "Feldman Report" Feature) Reporter
  • Monica Gayle: Weekday Evening Anchor
  • Lila Lazarus: 11am Anchor/Health Reporter
  • Alan Lee: Weekday Morning Anchor
  • Sherry Margolis: 11AM and 5:30PM Anchor
  • Huel Perkins: Weekday Evening Anchor
  • Ron Savage: Weekend 6 and 10pm Anchor/Reporter/"Michigan's Most Wanted" Crime Reporter
  • Robin Schwartz: Weekend 6 and 10pm Anchor/Reporter
  • Deena Centofanti: Weekend Morning Anchor/Health Reporter
  • Charles Pugh: Weekend Morning Anchor/Reporter
  • Fanchon Stinger: Weekday Morning Anchor

Reporters

  • Al Allen: Early Morning General Assignment Reporter
  • Camille Amari: General Assignment Reporter
  • Taryn Asher: General Assignment Reporter
  • Jason Carr: General Assignment Reporter/"Cheap Eats" Feature Reporter
  • Brad Edwards: General Assignment Reporter
  • Andrea Isom: General Assignment Reporter
  • Bill Gallagher: General Assignment Reporter
  • Simon Shayket: General Assignment Reporter
  • Jackie Paige: Traffic Reporter
  • Lee Thomas: Entertainment Reporter
  • Jay Towers: Weekend Morning Feature Reporter

Problem Solvers Unit

  • Kerry Birmingham: "Problem Solvers" Investigative Reporter
  • Amy Lange: "Problem Solvers" Investigative Reporter
  • Rob Wolchek: "Problem Solvers" Investigative Reporter/ Hall of Shame
  • Scott Lewis: "Problem Solver" Chief Investigative Reporter

Meteorologists

  • Rich Lutherman: Chief Meteorologist
  • Ben Bailey: Morning Meteorologist
  • Justin Ryan: 11AM Weekday/Weekend Meteorologist

Sports

  • Dan Miller: Sports Director
  • Woody Woodriffe: Weekend Sports Anchor/Reporter
  • Ryan Ermanni: Sports Reporter
  • Jennifer Hammond: Sports Reporter

Former On-Air Talent

  • Kathy Adams - anchor (1983-1991)
  • Chuck Bergeson - news director/host of Ladies' Day (1952-1959)
  • Bill Bonds - commentator, interviewer
  • Otis Buchanan - reporter
  • Vic Caputo - anchorman/morning show host (1968-1980)
  • Carl Cederberg - station's first news anchor (1960-1974)
  • Ken Cline - news director/longtime booth announcer (1949-1978)
  • Michael Collins - reporter and weekend anchor (mid 1990s) - now fill-in anchor at WWJ-AM
  • Gary Cubberley former host of PM Magazine/morning anchor (1980s-1992; died August 15, 1992 of an apparent heart attack in his car en route to his shift)
  • Sandra Dickson - anchor/reporter (1974-1983 and 1988-1993)
  • Anne Doyle - first female sports reporter in Detroit (1978-1983)
  • Lourdes Duarte - Reporter (Now at WGN TV)
  • Chris Edwards - chief meteorologist (1989-2004)
  • Sonny Eliot - weather anchor (1978-1982, now at WWJ-AM)
  • Dayna Eubanks - anchor (1988-1992)
  • Wyatt Everhart - weekend meteorologist (2004-2007), now news anchor at WMDT-TV
  • Rich Fisher - anchor (1990-1997)
  • Ken Ford - reporter
  • John Fossen - sports anchor/reporter (1985-1988)
  • Chuck Gaidica - meteorologist (1982-1987, now at WDIV-TV)
  • Harry Gallagher - reporter/anchor (1979 until death in 1982)
  • Sir Graves Ghastly, played by Lawson J. Deming - horror movie host (1967-1983)
  • Joe Glover - anchor (1979-1983 and 1987-1993) - now teaches journalism at Florida
  • Nikki Grandberry - reporter
  • Gerald Harrington - anchor/reporter
  • Jerry Hodak - meteorologist (1965-1977), morning anchor (1992-1996); now at WXYZ-TV)
  • Jennifer Howe - anchor/reporter (1991-1996, now at WTSP-TV in Tampa)
  • Fred Heumann - sports anchor/reporter (1987-1994, now at WLNS-TV in Lansing, MI)
  • Bwana Don Hunt - kids' show host
  • Pallas Hupé - reporter/meteorologist (1999-2002, now at KOVR-TV in Sacramento)
  • Amy Jacobson - reporter (1994-1996, went to WMAQ-TV in Chicago, resigned following a scandal)
  • Monica Jackson - traffic reporter (1996-1998, then to WXYZ-TV, now at KVVU in Las Vegas)
  • Virg Jacques - sports anchor/reporter/noon news anchor (1982-1993, now at WTTG in Washington, DC)
  • Red Jamison - sports director (1975-1976)
  • John Kelly - reporter (1965-1972); later at WXYZ-TV
  • Bruce Kirk - anchor (1984-1990, currently in the process of moving to WINK-TV in Ft. Myers, FL)
  • Stu Klitenic - sportscaster - now at CNN Headline News
  • Tom Korzeniowski - reporter (1971-1978), semi-retired, working for WLS-TV Chicago.
  • Don Lark - anchor/reporter (1974-1976)
  • Ray Lane - sports anchor (1961-1982)
  • Catherine Leahan - reporter (1986-1996)
  • Jac LeGoff - anchor (1953-1959 and 1962-1974)
  • Josh Littman - business reporter (deceased)
  • Ted Lloyd - "Sagebrush Shorty" - kids' show host (1947-1949)
  • Kay Lowry - reporter (mid 1990s)
  • Mike Lyons (meteorologist, now at West Palm Beach's WPBF-TV)
  • Micah Materre (1989-1997, now at WGN-TV in Chicago)
  • Jack McCarthy - anchor/reporter (1966-19xx)and(198x-199x) Retired in Florida
  • Nancy McCauley - reporter (1975-2000), now with Ford
  • Fred McLeod - sports anchor/reporter (1981-1989, now at FSN Ohio)
  • Bob Murphy - daytime host (1955-1967)
  • Terry Murphy - anchor/reporter (1974-1976)
  • John Noel - reporter (1993-1998, now at WNBC-TV in New York)
  • Lucy Noland - anchor (1997-2004; now at KHOU-TV in Houston)
  • Kathy O'Brien - former PM Magazine host/morning show host (late '70s-early '80s)
  • Van Patrick - sports director (1960-1974)
  • Don Paul - meteorologist (1979-1984, now at WIVB-TV in Buffalo)
  • Beverly Payne (Draper) - anchor/reporter (1973-1982) First female African-American anchor in Detroit.
  • Dr. Everett R. Phelps - meteorologist (1951-1958)
  • David Rogers - meteorologist (1987-1991. now at WVIR-TV in Charlottesville, VA)
  • Jeff Rossen - reporter (1998-2001, now at WABC-TV in New York)
  • Ron Sanders - anchor/reporter/PM Magazine co-host (1973-1979, now at WBZ-TV in Boston)
  • George Sells - anchor (1983-1986, moved to WAFB-TV in Baton Rouge)
  • Jo-Jo Shutty-MacGregor - news reporter/weather anchor (1978-1981), now a radio & television reporter for the AAA Michigan Broadcast News Network
  • Brian Smith - morning/noon anchor (2001-2007; now at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia)
  • Ken Thomas - anchor/reporter (1974-1976)
  • Lee Thornton - anchor (1982)
  • Robbie Timmons - anchor/reporter (1975-1981, now at WXYZ-TV)
  • Marilyn Turner - weathercaster (1959-1972), later at WXYZ-TV
  • Mike Tsolinas - reporter/morning meteorologist (1984-1989, now at KTNV in Las Vegas)
  • Vince Wade - investigative reporter
  • Rhonda Walker - morning/noon anchor (1998-2003, now at WDIV-TV)
  • Joe Weaver - anchor/reporter/editorial director (1963-1994)
  • Mark Wilson - sports anchor/reporter (1992-1997)
  • David Wittman - anchor/reporter (early 1980s)
  • Eli Zaret - sports anchor (1988-1995)

Station Presentation

WJBK's logos have changed greatly over the years, reflecting different themes and styles, as well as different owners and network affiliations.

Station Slogans

  • TV 2 is Yours (early 1970s)
  • Two's the One (late 1970s/early 1980s)
  • Reach for the Stars on TV-2 (localized version of the CBS promotional slogan used for the 1981-82 season)
  • Great Moments on TV-2 (localized version of the CBS promotional slogan used for the 1982-83 season)
  • Us Viewing You (mid-late 1980s)
  • It takes two, TV-2 (late 1980s/early 1990s)

References

  • Inside Fox2: Did You Know That (2003, 2004). Fox2Detroit.com.
  • Kiska, Tim. From Soupy to Nuts: A History of Detroit Television. 2005. Momentum Books. ISBN# 18790-94703

External links


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