WKBD
Encyclopedia : W : WK : WKB : WKBD
WKBD-TV, "UPN Detroit" is an owned-and-operated station of the UPN television network, broadcasting on analog channel 50 in Detroit, Michigan. The station is owned and operated by CBS Corporation and is one-half of a duopoly with sister station WWJ-TV (channel 62). Its studios and transmitters are located at Eleven Mile and Inkster Roads in neighboring Southfield. WKBD broadcasts its signal from an antenna shared with PBS member station WTVS, which is 968 feet in height.
On cable, WKBD can be seen on channel 5 on Comcast Detroit and Bright House Livonia, on channel 60 on Cogeco Windsor, and on channel 10 on Comcast Southeast Michigan, and on channel 5 on Wide Open West Plymouth.
History
WKBD first went on the air on January 10, 1965, under the ownership of Kaiser Broadcasting, the broadcasting arm of Kaiser Aluminum. It started as an all-sports station, predating ESPN by almost 14 years. It eventually became a typical UHF independent station running cartoons, sitcoms and old movies. For many years it had an afternoon movie hosted by Detroit legend Bill Kennedy. WKBD also produced a controversial weekly talk show, The Lou Gordon Program, which was seen during the late 1960s and most of the 1970s on all Kaiser stations (and a few non-Kaiser ones), until Gordon's death in 1977. However, sports remained a central part of WKBD's schedule, and it was the over-the-air home of the Detroit Red Wings and Pistons for many years, as well as the Tigers for a decade.Field Communications, which owned WFLD-TV in Chicago, bought a minority interest in Kaiser in 1972. Field bought the remainder of Kaiser's shares in 1978.
Over the years, WKBD was the leading independent in Detroit, running a typical schedule of cartoons, off network sitcoms and old movies. Channel 50 was carried on cable systems throughout Michigan. At one point in the early 1980s, WKBD was the only independent station running a full time schedule of entertainment.
In 1982, Field put all its stations up for sale. However, Field had a difficult time selling WKBD for the amount of money it wanted. As a result Field was forced to hold onto channel 50, which at the time was one of the country's top-rated independents. In late 1983, Cox Enterprises offered to buy the station. On January 30, 1984, Cox acquired the station. 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 (which once used the WWJ-TV call letters now used by WKBD's sister station on channel 62) refused to clear it.
The station retained its title as the leading independent station in the Detroit market until 1986, when it became a charter affiliate of the Fox network, later adoptding the name Fox 50. Channel 50 was later sold to the Paramount Stations Group in June 1993.
Even though WKBD was one of Fox's strongest affiliates, it lost the Fox affiliation to WJBK-TV (channel 2), Detroit's longtime CBS affiliate, on December 11, 1994. This was a result of WJBK's owner, New World Communications, making a group deal with Fox to switch the affiliation of nearly all of its stations to Fox.
WKBD briefly went independent again until January 1995, when it became Detroit's UPN owned and operated station. Its programming from its days as a Fox affiliate was unchanged except for prime time programming. 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-TV (channel 38). WKBD continued to maintain a morning cartoon block that became the "UPN Kids Disney Block."
In 2000, Paramount's parent Viacom acquired CBS, a move that united channel 50 with WWJ-TV (which CBS acquired in 1995 in the wake of losing its contract with WJBK). After the merger, WWJ-TV moved from its facilities in downtown Detroit to WKBD's Southfield studios.
UPN ended cartoons in the fall of 2003. Today, WKBD has a format primarily of first-run syndicated talk, courtroom, and reality shows, some off-network sitcoms, UPN first-run programming, and some drama shows.
In 2001, WKBD was reunited with KBHK-TV (now KBCW) in San Francisco as sister stations (KBCW having been owned by Kaiser/Field in its early years), due to Fox trading the San Francisco station for two of Viacom's stations.
On January 24, 2006, the UPN and WB networks announced they would merge. The newly combined network would be called The CW, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger will take effect in September 2006, and WKBD-TV will become the CW's Detroit station. The station will be branded as CW50.
Former logos
Newscasts
For much of its existence, WKBD produced a single newscast, at 10 p.m. (for a brief time, it also had a noon newscast). In December 2002, due to alleged mismanagement, the newscast was cancelled after nearly 15 years on the air. Afterwards, the station's 10 p.m. newscast was produced by WXYZ-TV, Detroit's ABC affiliate. The station hired some of the former WKBD staff, but many simply lost their jobs. As of 2005, the station is no longer broadcasting news. However, WKBD now airs the quirky and popular morning show The Daily Buzz on a one-hour delayed basis.Tara Wall, a spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee, is a former reporter for WKBD.
Sportscasts
On occasion (and regularly during preseason games), WKBD produced broadcasts of Detroit Lions football games, as well as Detroit Pistons basketball games, until the late 1980s when the Pistons decided to produce and distribute the games itself, with WKBD responsible for advertising. Both were simulcasted to other stations across Michigan, on a select list of affiliate stations.In a similar fashion, Detroit Red Wings hockey games and Detroit Tigers baseball games were also produced by WKBD, however, as of 2005, Fox Sports Net Detroit holds the broadcast and production rights to the Red Wings (with some games shown on WJBK), the Tigers, and most of the Pistons games, while the over-the-air broadcast rights are held by the team under the production name of "Palace Sports and Entertainment," the company that owns the Pistons. Starting with the 2004-2005 basketball season, the Pistons awarded the over the air broadcast rights to the Pistons to WDWB, with some games broadcast by WDIV. In addition, the broadcast rights for several Michigan State University Spartans and University of Michigan Wolverines basketball games, now broadcast on WKBD, are held by ESPN Plus. (The cable rights for the remaining Spartans and Wolverines games are held by the Comcast Local network.)
Syndex, and Statewide Coverage on Cable
Outside of the Detroit area, however, most programming on WKBD is subject to Syndex territorial restrictions placed on cable systems by the local TV rights holders. During the affected programming, cable systems either switch to another channel, or place a text notice on the screen that says something like: "This channel is being blacked out due to FCC regulations." [link]
(Example: In the Lansing-Jackson market, UPN and some syndicated programs rights are owned by WHTV and WSYM and must be blacked out on local cable systems.)
A notable exception to the rule is the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan television market. Although most syndicated programs seen on WKBD are contracted locally to WSMH, most of WKBD's schedule is cleared in the Flint-Tri-Cities TV market because the market does not have a UPN affiliate (however, at 5 p.m. daily, blackouts do occur on the Tri-Cities Charter cable system, when WKBD shows My Wife and Kids). But with WBSF having been picked as the Flint-Tri-Cities affiliate for The CW, the situation may change, which could mean by September 2006 WKBD could either be dropped or replaced by WBSF, if Barrington Broadcasting (WBSF's owners) decides to pursue that route, another factor is WNEM-TV carrying My Network TV on one of its digital subchannels. It is carried on Comcast cable channel 9 in the Flint area, and Charter cable 6 in the Tri-Cities.
In 1995, when Fox switched in Detroit from WKBD to WJBK, many Michigan cable systems outside the Detroit area replaced WKBD with WGKI from Cadillac, in order to keep Fox available in the Upper Peninsula. However, in areas where Fox was already available locally, mainly in the southern and central Michigan markets (especially the Tri-Cities), much of WGKI's programming was blacked out. In 1996, some systems that dropped WKBD for WGKI brought WKBD back.
External links
- [TV Ark Database: WKBD-50 UPN Detroit]
- [WKBD Website]
- [Query the FCC's TV station database for WKBD]
- [Michiguide's Broadcast Television Database for WKBD]
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American stations WJBK 2 (Fox) - WDIV 4 (NBC) - WXYZ 7 (ABC) - WDWO 18 / W27CJ 27 (TCT) - WMYD 20 (The WB - to be MNTV 09/06) - WUDT 23 (UNI) - WLPC 26 (CST) - WFUM 28 (PBS) - WPXD 31 / W48AV 48 (i) - W33BY 33 (IND) - WADL 38 (IND/Jewelry TV/WORD) - WKBD 50 (UPN - to be The CW 09/06) - WTVS 56 (PBS) - WWJ 62 (CBS) - W66BV 66 (TBN) - W67AJ 67 (CBS) |
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Canadian stations
CBET 9 (CBC) - CHWI 16 / 60 (A-Channel) - CIII 22 / 29 (Global) - CICO 32 / 59 (TVO) - CBLN 34 / 64 (CBC) - CFTV 34 (IND) - CKCO 42 (CTV) - CBLFT 48 / 68 (SRC) - CBEFT 54 (SRC) |
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Local cable television channels
The Michigan Channel (U of M) - WOLV (U of M Student TV) - FSN Detroit |
Note: Networks in parenthesis indicate affiliations starting September 2006.
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WXSP-CA 151 / WOOD-DT 7.2 / WOTV-DT 20.2 (, MNTV) -
WHTV 18 (, MNTV) -
WMQF 19 (, MNTV) - WFQX 33 / WFUP 45 (, ND) - WKBD 50 (, The CW) | |
| 1Also has a network of low-powered repeaters. | |
| See also: , , , , , and stations in Michigan and , , , and stations in Ontario | |
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