WMYD
Encyclopedia
WMYD is the MyNetworkTV
-affiliated television station
for Southeast Michigan
licensed to Detroit
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 21 (PSIP virtual channel
channel 20) from a transmitter on Eight Mile Road in Oak Park
along the Oakland
and Wayne
County line. The station can also be seen on Comcast
channel 3 and in high definition on digital channel 235. Owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation
, the station has studios on Franklin Road in Southfield
.
However, master control and some traffic responsibilities originate from central casting facilities at sister stations ABC
affiliate WPTA
and NBC
affiliate WISE-TV
on Butler Road in Fort Wayne, Indiana
. Syndicated
programming on WMYD includes: Family Guy
, The Office, Friends
, House of Payne and The 700 Club
. It also carries Fox
's Saturday morning infomercial
block, Weekend Marketplace
, that its owned-and-operated station
WJBK
chooses to pre-empt.
In Detroit area the station is seen on WOW! channel 20 and HD channel 206.
WMYD broadcasts on channel 21, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display its virtual channel
as 20 its former analog channel number. It carries MyNetworkTV programming in high definition when available. WMYD formerly carried the World Championship Sports Network
on a second digital subchannel from October 2007 until August 2008, later a standard definition simulcast of the main MyNetworkTV programming was send on subchannel 20.2. Later the subchannel was deleted altogether, though it was reactivated on September 12, 2011 as an affiliate of TheCoolTV
.
. From February 17 to March 4, 2009
, the analog signal consisted of a loop of DTV transition public service announcement
s while the digital channel was used for normal programming. This became Detroit's only major station not to terminate on the new June 12 date. Prior to the digital switchover, WMYD transmitted its signal from a 1,000 foot tower at the intersection of Eleven Mile and Inkster Roads in Southfield along with WTVS
and WKBD
. Today, only the latter broadcasts from that tower.
in Ann Arbor
was first assigned to channel 20 and started broadcasting in April 1953. Little is known about WPAG except that it was owned by the same people (Washtenaw Broadcasting) who operated WPAG radio (now WTKA
) and that it suspended operations in December 1957 in a futile attempt to get an allocation for channel 12. That station may have also been a DuMont
affiliate.
In 1967, WJMY-TV
in Allen Park
was awarded a construction permit for channel 20 but never made it to the air except for a brief test signal one night in 1968. This consisted merely of a card displaying its calls and city-of-license. Finally in November 1972, WXON took over WJMY's construction permit and shifted to channel 20 for good. WGPR-TV (now CBS
O&O WWJ-TV
) took over the channel 62 frequency in 1975. This station initially had its studios in Walled Lake
(in southwestern Oakland County
north of Novi
) but later moved to its present location in Southfield. Through the 1970s, WXON aired cartoons, lower-rated sitcoms, off-network dramas, old movies, religious shows and the annual Variety Club of Detroit telethon hosted by Soupy Sales
. It offered live action Japanese sci-fi kids shows (dubbed into English
) such as Ultraman
, Johnny Sokko
and Space Giants. WXON also brought the infamous late-night horror movie cult favorite The Ghoul Show
back to Detroit television after WKBD had cancelled it in 1975. In addition, the station broadcast the anime series, Robotech
, initially as a 1985 summer replacement series with two consecutive episodes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, each weekday.
and the broadcasts were encoded in a scrambled format requiring a rented set-top box for decoding. The service was not cheap at $22.50 a month (equivalent to $70.32 in 2011 adjusted for inflation ). Many people, especially those living across the river in Windsor, Ontario
, built their own decoder boxes and watched ON-TV for free. The network carried uncut movies, concerts, and local sports action. However, since many games began before 8 in the evening, fans missed the start of many contests. In one famous incident, the Detroit Red Wings
racked up a 5-0 lead in a game against the Calgary Flames
before ON-TV began its coverage.
In 1982, WXON began airing ON-TV on weekend afternoons and faced a challenge from In-Home Theatre which aired 24 hours a day on what is now WPXD
in Ann Arbor. Still lagging far behind WKBD-TV in the ratings, WXON dropped ON-TV on March 31, 1983 and resumed a full-service entertainment format full time. It added a number of movies to its lineup. It also acquired several barter cartoons as the children's programming business peaked in 1984-1985. As the 1980s progressed, the station began acquiring stronger off-network sitcoms. It got a significant boost after WKBD switched to Fox
as a charter affiliate on October 6, 1986. It was an established independent station
by 1991 and was unaffected by the network affiliation swaps at the end of 1994. Until that year, the station signed-off at 1 in the morning and signed back on at 5 o'clock the following morning. The station has generally gone 24/7 ever since although it has signed-off and signed back on periodically during the late-1990s.
at the network's inception. Granite Broadcasting bought WXON two years later in January 1997 and on October 14 of that year, the station's call letters were changed to WDWB-TV. In 2004. the station shocked the Detroit media by becoming the new over-the-air broadcast home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons
taking them from longtime home WKBD and was the broadcast home for 15 to 20 games of Detroit Tigers
baseball
produced by Fox Sports Detroit
. WDWB carried the full WB network schedule, but after joining the network it frequently preempted programming that it rescheduled or didn't air in favor of programming such as movies, Big Ten Conference
basketball, the Pistons, the Tigers, and since 1999 the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. Like the baseball and basketball games, the annual MDA telethon is broadcast live, but since the station has no studios to accommodate the local telethon segments, it is produced out of WTVS
' studios in the New Center
area of downtown Detroit.
WDWB was the last remaining commercial television station in the Detroit market to broadcast children's programming every Monday through Friday. WTVS, a public television station, continues to broadcast such programming. The weekday afternoon kids block, known as Kids' WB
, was replaced by reruns of programs such as Reba
in a block known as Daytime WB.
announced that they would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents, CBS
(the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
unit of Time Warner
. On February 22, News Corporation
announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV
. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division, Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent and to compete against The CW.
Like many stations about to lose The WB or UPN affiliation due to The CW, WDWB changed its on-air logo to remove the "WB". Its new logo was introduced during a Pistons-Minnesota Timberwolves
basketball game on February 1. The station had also announced that it would no longer promote any WB programing. The station changed its call letters to the current WMYD on May 7 in recognition of its future affiliation. On July 29, 2006, the new WMYD logo was introduced during a Tigers-Minnesota Twins
baseball game in preparation for its switch. The station was then re-branded as "My TV 20". During the time before the actual launch, WMYD covered up all WB branding during programming and did not carry network promos. It became a MyNetworkTV affiliate on September 5 and WKBD joined The CW on September 18.
Occasionally as time now permits, WMYD may carry network programming from Fox, NBC
or ABC
should either WJBK
, WDIV or WXYZ-TV
preempt for specials, breaking news stories or any other emergency. As of now, it has not done so. In April 2008, WMYD began airing Wolfman Mac's Nightmare Sinema (now known as Wolfman Mac's Chiller Drive-In), a ninety-minute comedic "horror host" series hosted by "Wolfman" Mac Kelly featuring vintage sci-fi and horror films, skits, and cartoons. It's the first original locally produced show of its kind to be seen in Detroit in over a decade. The program stopped airing on February 14, 2010 three months after Chiller Drive-In made a deal with the Retro Television Network
(RTV) to show reruns as well as new episodes.
to its second digital subchannel on October 15, 2007, but it was removed in August 2008 shortly after its re-branding to "Universal Sports
". That network has since found a new home in the Detroit area on WADL-DT2.
during overnight hours. On July 14, 2008, WMYD launched a weeknight prime time newscast produced by the Independent News Network
(INN) in order to compete with WJBK. Known as My 20 News at 10, it aired for thirty minutes from INN's facilities on Tremont Avenue in Davenport, Iowa
.
Although news anchors, meteorologists, and sports anchors were provided by the centralized news operation, WMYD maintained two locally-based reporters that contributed to the show. In a report in the Macon, Georgia
Telegraph
, it was announced the Independent News Network filed for Chapter 7
bankruptcy
and would end all news productions (including those for WMYD) by January 9, 2009. According to the newspaper, all broadcasts would then be reinstated under the production of Fusion Communications also based in Davenport.
In September 2009, Granite terminated the agreement with INN, and shifted production of WMYD's newscast (which became My TV20 News at 10) to WISE-TV
in Fort Wayne, Indiana
(which is part of Granite's Indiana's NewsCenter
operation). The switch came after Granite's Fort Wayne stations became a master control hub for the company's Midwestern stations. As with the previous INN production, the newscast is produced in advance using anchors based in Fort Wayne, along with reporters based in Detroit.
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for Southeast Michigan
Southeast Michigan
Southeast Michigan, also called Southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are concentrated in Metro...
licensed to Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 21 (PSIP virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
channel 20) from a transmitter on Eight Mile Road in Oak Park
Oak Park, Michigan
As of the census of 2000, there were 29,793 people, 11,104 households, and 7,595 families residing in the city. The population density was 5,863.8 persons per square mile . There were 11,370 housing units at an average density of 2,263.9 per square mile...
along the Oakland
Oakland County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the 2010 Census, there were 1,202,362 people, 471,115 households, and 315,175 families residing in the county. The population density as of the 2000 census was 1,369 people per square mile . There were 492,006 housing units at an average density of 564 per square mile...
and Wayne
Wayne County, Michigan
-History:Wayne County was one of the first counties formed when the Northwest Territory was organized. It was named for the American general "Mad Anthony" Wayne. It originally encompassed the entire area of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, as well as small sections that are now part of northern...
County line. The station can also be seen on Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
channel 3 and in high definition on digital channel 235. Owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation
Granite Broadcasting Corporation
Granite Broadcasting Corporation, founded by W. Don Cornwell and Stuart Beck in 1988 , is a broadcasting holding company which owns or operates 14 television stations in the United States, largely centered in the midwest with a cluster in New York state...
, the station has studios on Franklin Road in Southfield
Southfield, Michigan
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which 0.04% is water. The main branch of the River Rouge runs through Southfield. The city is bounded to the south by Eight Mile Road, its western border is Inkster Road, and to the east it is bounded by Greenfield Road...
.
However, master control and some traffic responsibilities originate from central casting facilities at sister stations ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate WPTA
WPTA
WPTA is the ABC-affiliated television station for Northeastern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road. The station can also be seen on Comcast and Frontier FiOS channel 7...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WISE-TV
WISE-TV
WISE-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Northeastern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 18 from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road in Northwest Fort Wayne. The station can also be seen on Frontier FiOS channel 4 and...
on Butler Road in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on WMYD includes: Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
, The Office, Friends
Friends
Friends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, House of Payne and The 700 Club
The 700 Club
The 700 Club is the flagship news talk show of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and Canada. In production since 1966, it is currently hosted by Pat Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, Kristi Watts, and Gordon P. Robertson, two of whom will host on any...
. It also carries Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
's Saturday morning infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
block, Weekend Marketplace
Weekend Marketplace
Weekend Marketplace is a two hour Saturday morning block of paid programming airing on Fox that began airing on January 3, 2009, replacing the 4Kids TV Saturday morning cartoon block that aired using time leased by 4Kids from Fox from 2002 until the last Saturday of 2008...
, that its owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
WJBK
WJBK
WJBK is the Fox–owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting on digital channel 7...
chooses to pre-empt.
In Detroit area the station is seen on WOW! channel 20 and HD channel 206.
Digital television
| Virtual channel |
Programming |
|---|---|
| 20.1 | Main WMYD programming / MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation... |
| 20.2 | TheCoolTV TheCoolTV THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the... |
WMYD broadcasts on channel 21, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display its virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
as 20 its former analog channel number. It carries MyNetworkTV programming in high definition when available. WMYD formerly carried the World Championship Sports Network
Universal Sports
Universal Sports is an American television network that airs various sports, primarily those contested in the Olympic Games, including swimming, gymnastics, cycling, track and field, figure skating, skiing, bobsledding and triathlon.-Programming:...
on a second digital subchannel from October 2007 until August 2008, later a standard definition simulcast of the main MyNetworkTV programming was send on subchannel 20.2. Later the subchannel was deleted altogether, though it was reactivated on September 12, 2011 as an affiliate of TheCoolTV
TheCoolTV
THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the...
.
Digital transition
Since the station qualified for the nightlight clause in the DTV Delay Act, it was required to keep its analog signal on for two weeks to inform viewers of the DTV transition in the United StatesDTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
. From February 17 to March 4, 2009
2009 in television
The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2009. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and new channel launches.-January:-February:-March:-April:-May:-June:-July:-August:...
, the analog signal consisted of a loop of DTV transition public service announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
s while the digital channel was used for normal programming. This became Detroit's only major station not to terminate on the new June 12 date. Prior to the digital switchover, WMYD transmitted its signal from a 1,000 foot tower at the intersection of Eleven Mile and Inkster Roads in Southfield along with WTVS
WTVS
WTVS, branded as Detroit Public TV, is the Public Broadcasting Service member Public television station in Detroit, Michigan. Broadcasting since 1955, its vision statement is "educate, entertain and inspire — in partnership with our community." The viewer supported station produces many local...
and WKBD
WKBD
WKBD-TV, virtual channel 50 , is an owned and operated station of the CW Television Network, based in Detroit, Michigan. The station is owned and operated by the CBS Corporation, and is one-half of a duopoly with sister station WWJ-TV . Its studios and transmitters are located at 11 mile and...
. Today, only the latter broadcasts from that tower.
As an independent station
The station first took to the air on September 15, 1968 as WXON-TV broadcasting an analog signal on UHF channel 62. It moved to channel 20 in 1972 after two short-lived stations abandoned the frequency in the 1950s and 1960s. WPAG-TVWPAG-TV
WPAG-TV was a television station in Ann Arbor, Michigan assigned to Channel 20 from 1953-1957.WPAG, Washtenaw County's first TV station, first signed on in April 1953; it was also one of the first UHF stations in Michigan, with Saginaw's WKNX-TV signing on the same month.WPAG-TV was owned by the...
in Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census places the population at 113,934, making it the sixth largest city in Michigan. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 344,791 as of 2010...
was first assigned to channel 20 and started broadcasting in April 1953. Little is known about WPAG except that it was owned by the same people (Washtenaw Broadcasting) who operated WPAG radio (now WTKA
WTKA
WTKA is a radio station located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, that broadcasts on 1050 AM. Day power is 10 kW, night power is 500 W. The station covers most of southeast Michigan....
) and that it suspended operations in December 1957 in a futile attempt to get an allocation for channel 12. That station may have also been a DuMont
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
affiliate.
In 1967, WJMY-TV
WJMY-TV
WJMY-TV is a defunct television station based in Allen Park, Michigan assigned to channel 20 for the Detroit market following WPAG-TV going off the air in December 1957....
in Allen Park
Allen Park, Michigan
Allen Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 28,210. The suburb of Detroit was recognized in Money Magazine's list of America's Best Small Cities. Allen Park is part of the collection of communities known as DownriverFord Motor...
was awarded a construction permit for channel 20 but never made it to the air except for a brief test signal one night in 1968. This consisted merely of a card displaying its calls and city-of-license. Finally in November 1972, WXON took over WJMY's construction permit and shifted to channel 20 for good. WGPR-TV (now CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
O&O WWJ-TV
WWJ-TV
WWJ-TV, virtual channel 62 , is the CBS-owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan. It is co-owned with Detroit's CW station, WKBD-TV , and the two stations share a studio in Southfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb....
) took over the channel 62 frequency in 1975. This station initially had its studios in Walled Lake
Walled Lake, Michigan
Walled Lake is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 6,999 at the 2010 census.-Origins of the name:The town's name is said to have been given by the first Euro-American settler, Walter Hewitt, in 1825...
(in southwestern Oakland County
Oakland County, Michigan
-Demographics:As of the 2010 Census, there were 1,202,362 people, 471,115 households, and 315,175 families residing in the county. The population density as of the 2000 census was 1,369 people per square mile . There were 492,006 housing units at an average density of 564 per square mile...
north of Novi
Novi, Michigan
Novi is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 55,224, an increase over the 2000 census count of 47,386. The city is located approximately northwest of the center of Detroit, and northeast of the center of Ann Arbor. The city is located...
) but later moved to its present location in Southfield. Through the 1970s, WXON aired cartoons, lower-rated sitcoms, off-network dramas, old movies, religious shows and the annual Variety Club of Detroit telethon hosted by Soupy Sales
Soupy Sales
Soupy Sales was an American comedian, actor, radio-TV personality and host, and jazz aficionado. He was best known for his local and network children's television show, Lunch with Soupy Sales; a series of comedy sketches frequently ending with Sales receiving a pie in the face, which became his...
. It offered live action Japanese sci-fi kids shows (dubbed into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
) such as Ultraman
Ultraman
is Japanese television series that first aired in 1966. Ultraman, the first and best-known of the "Ultra-Crusaders," made his debut in the tokusatsu SF/kaiju/superhero TV series, , a follow-up to the television series Ultra Q...
, Johnny Sokko
Giant Robo (tokusatsu)
, is a manga and tokusatsu series created by Mitsuteru Yokoyama. It is similar to his famous Tetsujin 28-go , though Giant Robo has more fantastic elements....
and Space Giants. WXON also brought the infamous late-night horror movie cult favorite The Ghoul Show
Ron Sweed
Ron Sweed, , is an American entertainer best known for his late-night television horror host character The Ghoul.-The Ghoul:...
back to Detroit television after WKBD had cancelled it in 1975. In addition, the station broadcast the anime series, Robotech
Robotech
Robotech is an 85-episode science fiction anime adaptation produced by Harmony Gold USA in association with Tatsunoko Production Co., Ltd. and first released in the United States in 1985...
, initially as a 1985 summer replacement series with two consecutive episodes, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, each weekday.
ON-TV
In 1979, WXON added subscription television after 8 pm. The programming was provided by a service called ON-TVON-TV
ON-TV, also known as National Subscription Television, was a subscription television service launched in 1977 by Oak Industries, Norman Lear's Chartwell Enterprises and Jerry Perenchio. Oak was a manufacturer of satellite and pay-TV decoders and equipment...
and the broadcasts were encoded in a scrambled format requiring a rented set-top box for decoding. The service was not cheap at $22.50 a month (equivalent to $70.32 in 2011 adjusted for inflation ). Many people, especially those living across the river in Windsor, Ontario
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
, built their own decoder boxes and watched ON-TV for free. The network carried uncut movies, concerts, and local sports action. However, since many games began before 8 in the evening, fans missed the start of many contests. In one famous incident, the Detroit Red Wings
Detroit Red Wings
The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League , and are one of the Original Six teams of the NHL, along with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Montreal Canadiens, New York...
racked up a 5-0 lead in a game against the Calgary Flames
Calgary Flames
The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They are members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The club is the third major-professional ice hockey team to represent the city of Calgary, following the...
before ON-TV began its coverage.
In 1982, WXON began airing ON-TV on weekend afternoons and faced a challenge from In-Home Theatre which aired 24 hours a day on what is now WPXD
WPXD
WPXD-TV is a television station licensed to Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the Ion Television network affiliate for the Southeastern Michigan market.-Digital programming:...
in Ann Arbor. Still lagging far behind WKBD-TV in the ratings, WXON dropped ON-TV on March 31, 1983 and resumed a full-service entertainment format full time. It added a number of movies to its lineup. It also acquired several barter cartoons as the children's programming business peaked in 1984-1985. As the 1980s progressed, the station began acquiring stronger off-network sitcoms. It got a significant boost after WKBD switched to Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
as a charter affiliate on October 6, 1986. It was an established independent station
Independent station
An independent station is in the category of television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any television network....
by 1991 and was unaffected by the network affiliation swaps at the end of 1994. Until that year, the station signed-off at 1 in the morning and signed back on at 5 o'clock the following morning. The station has generally gone 24/7 ever since although it has signed-off and signed back on periodically during the late-1990s.
The WB
On January 15, 1995, WXON joined The WBThe WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
at the network's inception. Granite Broadcasting bought WXON two years later in January 1997 and on October 14 of that year, the station's call letters were changed to WDWB-TV. In 2004. the station shocked the Detroit media by becoming the new over-the-air broadcast home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons
Detroit Pistons
The Detroit Pistons are a franchise of the National Basketball Association based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The team's home arena is The Palace of Auburn Hills. It was originally founded in Fort Wayne, Indiana as the Fort Wayne Pistons as a member of the National Basketball League in 1941, where...
taking them from longtime home WKBD and was the broadcast home for 15 to 20 games of Detroit Tigers
Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers are a Major League Baseball team located in Detroit, Michigan. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the club was founded in Detroit in as part of the Western League. The Tigers have won four World Series championships and have won the American League pennant...
baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
produced by Fox Sports Detroit
Fox Sports Detroit
Fox Sports Detroit , is a regional sports network that covers local sports teams in the state of Michigan, mostly those in the Metro Detroit area. It is an owned and operated affiliate of Fox Sports Net...
. WDWB carried the full WB network schedule, but after joining the network it frequently preempted programming that it rescheduled or didn't air in favor of programming such as movies, Big Ten Conference
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
basketball, the Pistons, the Tigers, and since 1999 the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon. Like the baseball and basketball games, the annual MDA telethon is broadcast live, but since the station has no studios to accommodate the local telethon segments, it is produced out of WTVS
WTVS
WTVS, branded as Detroit Public TV, is the Public Broadcasting Service member Public television station in Detroit, Michigan. Broadcasting since 1955, its vision statement is "educate, entertain and inspire — in partnership with our community." The viewer supported station produces many local...
' studios in the New Center
New Center, Detroit
The New Center is a significant commercial and residential historic district located in Detroit, Michigan, adjacent to Midtown, one mile north of the Cultural Center, and approximately three miles north of Downtown...
area of downtown Detroit.
WDWB was the last remaining commercial television station in the Detroit market to broadcast children's programming every Monday through Friday. WTVS, a public television station, continues to broadcast such programming. The weekday afternoon kids block, known as Kids' WB
Kids' WB
Kids' WB! was Warner Bros. American childrens programing division brand for The WB Television Network. In September 2006, the block moved to The CW Television Network. The CW is the result of The WB's merger with UPN in 2006...
, was replaced by reruns of programs such as Reba
Reba (TV series)
Reba is an American sitcom starring Reba McEntire, which ran from 2001 to 2007. For the show's first five seasons, it ran on The WB, with the show transitioning to The CW in its last year.-Synopsis:...
in a block known as Daytime WB.
Sales to AM Media and DS Audible
In September 2005, Granite announced that WDWB and its sister station KBWB (now KOFY-TV) in San Francisco to AM Media Holdings, Inc. (a unit of Acon Investments and several key Granite shareholders) for a price rated, on WDWB's end, to around $97 million. The low price (Granite had purchased the station for $175 million) was largely out of Granite wanting to cut down its debt load while keeping control of the stations. On February 15, 2006, Granite announced the restructuring of the sale considering the changing conditions of the station but the sale eventually fell apart. In May 2006, the stations were sold to DS Audible for a price of about $84 million on WDWB's end. On July 18, 2006, this sale also fell apart and Granite announced its intention to retain the station. In November, Granite Broadcasting announced that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy but would continue to operate its stations including WMYD.MyNetworkTV
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPNUPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
announced that they would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
(the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. On February 22, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division, Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent and to compete against The CW.
Like many stations about to lose The WB or UPN affiliation due to The CW, WDWB changed its on-air logo to remove the "WB". Its new logo was introduced during a Pistons-Minnesota Timberwolves
Minnesota Timberwolves
The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association . Founded in 1989, the team is currently owned by Glen Taylor...
basketball game on February 1. The station had also announced that it would no longer promote any WB programing. The station changed its call letters to the current WMYD on May 7 in recognition of its future affiliation. On July 29, 2006, the new WMYD logo was introduced during a Tigers-Minnesota Twins
Minnesota Twins
The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
baseball game in preparation for its switch. The station was then re-branded as "My TV 20". During the time before the actual launch, WMYD covered up all WB branding during programming and did not carry network promos. It became a MyNetworkTV affiliate on September 5 and WKBD joined The CW on September 18.
Occasionally as time now permits, WMYD may carry network programming from Fox, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
or ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
should either WJBK
WJBK
WJBK is the Fox–owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan broadcasting on digital channel 7...
, WDIV or WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV, channel 7, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Detroit, Michigan, USA. WXYZ-TV is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, and is the media company's largest-market TV station property...
preempt for specials, breaking news stories or any other emergency. As of now, it has not done so. In April 2008, WMYD began airing Wolfman Mac's Nightmare Sinema (now known as Wolfman Mac's Chiller Drive-In), a ninety-minute comedic "horror host" series hosted by "Wolfman" Mac Kelly featuring vintage sci-fi and horror films, skits, and cartoons. It's the first original locally produced show of its kind to be seen in Detroit in over a decade. The program stopped airing on February 14, 2010 three months after Chiller Drive-In made a deal with the Retro Television Network
Retro Television Network
The Retro Television Network is a system of television stations that airs classic television shows as well as more recently produced programs...
(RTV) to show reruns as well as new episodes.
Sports
During its days as a carrier of ON-TV, WXON carried games by Detroit's major league teams. However because ON-TV signed on at 8, WXON did not broadcast the starts of many games. In 2006, WMYD began carrying more sporting events on its lineup involving local teams including Detroit Tigers baseball (produced by Fox Sports Detroit) and Detroit Pistons basketball, although in 2007 the Tigers moved to WJBK and both the Pistons and Tigers moved exclusively to FSN beginning in 2008. WMYD added the World Championship Sports NetworkUniversal Sports
Universal Sports is an American television network that airs various sports, primarily those contested in the Olympic Games, including swimming, gymnastics, cycling, track and field, figure skating, skiing, bobsledding and triathlon.-Programming:...
to its second digital subchannel on October 15, 2007, but it was removed in August 2008 shortly after its re-branding to "Universal Sports
Universal Sports
Universal Sports is an American television network that airs various sports, primarily those contested in the Olympic Games, including swimming, gymnastics, cycling, track and field, figure skating, skiing, bobsledding and triathlon.-Programming:...
". That network has since found a new home in the Detroit area on WADL-DT2.
Newscasts
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, the station aired various live news updates. In the 1990s, it had a short-lived weekly show called NewsWrap which aired late-Sunday nights. It also carried the All News ChannelAll News Channel
All News Channel was a 24-hour news channel carried mainly on DirecTV . All News Channel had also been syndicated to network television afflliates in the United States.-Background:...
during overnight hours. On July 14, 2008, WMYD launched a weeknight prime time newscast produced by the Independent News Network
Independent News Network
For the consortium of non-profit investigative news organizations, see .The Independent News Network, also known as INN, is a television news service based in Davenport, Iowa. It syndicates "localized" news programs for television stations across the country with little budget for news...
(INN) in order to compete with WJBK. Known as My 20 News at 10, it aired for thirty minutes from INN's facilities on Tremont Avenue in Davenport, Iowa
Davenport, Iowa
Davenport is a city located along the Mississippi River in Scott County, Iowa, United States. Davenport is the county seat of and largest city in Scott County. Davenport was founded on May 14, 1836 by Antoine LeClaire and was named for his friend, George Davenport, a colonel during the Black Hawk...
.
Although news anchors, meteorologists, and sports anchors were provided by the centralized news operation, WMYD maintained two locally-based reporters that contributed to the show. In a report in the Macon, Georgia
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
Telegraph
The Telegraph (Macon)
The Telegraph, frequently referred to as the Macon Telegraph, is a McClatchy newspaper in Macon, Georgia, United States, and is the primary print news organ in Middle Georgia...
, it was announced the Independent News Network filed for Chapter 7
Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code
Chapter 7 of the Title 11 of the United States Code governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States...
bankruptcy
Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....
and would end all news productions (including those for WMYD) by January 9, 2009. According to the newspaper, all broadcasts would then be reinstated under the production of Fusion Communications also based in Davenport.
In September 2009, Granite terminated the agreement with INN, and shifted production of WMYD's newscast (which became My TV20 News at 10) to WISE-TV
WISE-TV
WISE-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for Northeastern Indiana licensed to Fort Wayne. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 18 from a transmitter at its studios on Butler Road in Northwest Fort Wayne. The station can also be seen on Frontier FiOS channel 4 and...
in Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Fort Wayne is a city in the US state of Indiana and the county seat of Allen County. The population was 253,691 at the 2010 Census making it the 74th largest city in the United States and the second largest in Indiana...
(which is part of Granite's Indiana's NewsCenter
Indiana's NewsCenter
Indiana's NewsCenter is the collective brand name of the television and news operations in Fort Wayne, Indiana owned and/or managed by Granite Broadcasting Corporation and Malara Broadcast Group under a local marketing agreement....
operation). The switch came after Granite's Fort Wayne stations became a master control hub for the company's Midwestern stations. As with the previous INN production, the newscast is produced in advance using anchors based in Fort Wayne, along with reporters based in Detroit.
News team
- Melissa Long - news anchor
- Curtis Smith (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Seal of Approval) - Chief Meteorologist - Dean Pantazi - Sports DirectorSports DirectorA sports director is an individual at a television or radio station who is in charge of the sports department. In local news, the sports director is typically the station's primary sportscaster, and often anchors the primetime newscasts on weekdays. They are in charge of sports programming and...
Based in Detroit
- + Dave Leval - multimedia journalist (also seen on WPTA/WISE-TV)
- + Jorge Avellan - multimedia journalist
- + Kila Peoples - multimedia journalist
- + Sharon McClendon - Community Affairs Director
- + Greg Russell - Movie Show Plus host and entertainment reporter