page_title: WWJ-TV
section_title: As a CBS owned-and-operated station (1994–present)
hierarchical_section_title: WWJ-TV / History / As a CBS owned-and-operated station (1994–present)
context_page_description: WWJ-TV, virtual channel 62, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station licensed to Detroit, Michigan, United States. The station is owned by the CBS Television Stations subsidiary of ViacomCBS, as part of a duopoly with CW owned-and-operated station WKBD-TV. The two stations share studios on 11 Mile Road in the Detroit suburb of Southfield; WWJ-TV's transmitter is located in Oak Park, Michigan.
  The station is carried on several Canadian cable providers, predominantly in Southwestern Ontario, and is one of five local Detroit television stations seen in Canada on satellite provider Shaw Direct.
  On cable, the station is available in standard definition on channel 15 on Comcast Xfinity's Detroit city and Wayne County systems and Cogeco's Windsor system, channel 9 on Xfinity's South Oakland County system, channel 14 on most cable systems in outlying areas, channel 62 on AT&T U-verse, and in high definition on Xfinity channel 233, Cogeco channel 713, and U-verse channel 1062.
  WWJ was notable for its brief weather forecast at 11 p.m. tying in a pun referencing its succeeding show, which began with the meteorologist saying "Two and a Half Men starts in two and a half minutes."
context_section_description: 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. 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-TV in Cleveland with CBS. 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 (UPN). WDIV was not an option as that station was in the middle of a long-term affiliation contract with NBC, while WXON was also not interested in affiliating with CBS, 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. However, negotiations with the Masons moved slowly.
  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 VHF stations in nearby markets. 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. 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, Windsor and the immediate area and city grade coverage to Monroe County. 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.
  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.
  However, the plans hit a snag when leaders of Detroit's African-American community spoke out against the sale. 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
caption: Former logo, used from 2013 until September 2016