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'''Secondary:''' Everywhere Every Way Every Day<br>'''Primary:''' the Power of 4:the big event station (used also as branding for "Local 4 News")
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''Local 4''
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4 ( VHF )
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45 ( UHF )
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NBC
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October 23 , 1946
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Detroit, Michigan
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'''W'''e're '''D'''etroit's '''IV'''(4)<br> '''W'''here '''D'''etroit '''I'''s '''V'''ital
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WWDT (1946-1947) <br> WWJ-TV (1947-1978)
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Post-Newsweek Stations
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DuMont (1946-1948)
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100 KW / 306 M Analog<br>973 kW / 281 m Digital
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wwwclickondetroitcom/
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'''''"Local 4"''''' is the
NBC Television station based in
Detroit ,
Michigan . It is one of two major television stations in the area whose offices and studios are located in the city of Detroit (the other station is
WTVS ). It is owned by
Post-Newsweek Stations and is the flagship station and home base of the group with the offices of the group located alongside WDIV's studios.
The station's signal, transmitted from a 1004-foot antenna located on Greenfield Road in
Southfield, Michigan , encompasses the
Metro Detroit area and can be picked up as far away as
Flint ,
Lapeer ,
Adrian and even
London, Ontario .
On cable, WDIV can be seen on
Comcast Detroit channel 14,
Bright House Livonia channel 4 and
Cogeco Windsor channel 5. It is also one of five local Detroit TV stations seen in
Canada on the
StarChoice satellite provider.
WDIV is branded "Local 4" under the Post Newsweek's station standardization "Local Mandate."
WDIV was the first television station in Michigan, signing on as WWDT on
October 23 ,
1946 , for one day of demonstration programming. Regular programming commenced on
March 4 ,
1947 . On May 15 of that year the station changed its call letters to WWJ-TV after
WWJ-AM . Both stations were owned by the ''
Detroit News ''. The station joined the
NBC network in 1948.
Channel 4 had a number of broadcasting firsts in Michigan, including the first telecast of
Detroit Tigers ,
Red Wings and
Lions games as well as televised newscasts and color television broadcasts.
In
1978 , the
FCC was considering new regulations which would have imposed limits on ownership of newspaper and television media in the same market. In anticipation of this, the Evening News Association, which owned the ''Detroit News'' and WWJ-AM-FM-TV and the ''
Washington Post '' who owned WTOP-AM-FM-TV in
Washington DC reached an agreement to swap televisions stations, perhaps intending to avoid the confusion which might result upon the announcement of new regulations. On
July 27 ,
1978 , WWJ-TV became WDIV-TV. The call letters are derived from "D" for Detroit and "IV" for Roman numeral 4. Additionally, in a series of prmotional announcements with news anchor Dwayne X. Riley, the new call letters were said to represent the phrase, "Where Detroit Is Vital."
The "WWJ-TV" callsign was subsequently adopted for use 20 years later by the former "WGPR," now
Channel 62 , the
CBS Owned-and-operated Station in Detroit. The current WWJ-TV is not related in any way to WDIV or to the old WWJ-TV.
Ultimately, the FCC never imposed any limitations on ownership of television and newspapers in the same market, so the exchange of stations between the Evening News Association and the Washington Post was somewhat unique in television broadcasting. The Evening News was pleased to finally have a voice in the Nation's Capital, while the Washington Post perhaps regretted the loss of its prestigious television signal in Washington. However, operation of WDIV would prove to be very lucrative. The station later became available outside the Detroit market when it was selected for inclusion on many Canadian cable systems in the late
1980s and early
1990s . The station itself has never uplinked its programming to satellite a la Superstation WTBS.
In the basketball.
In 2004, the station also returned to its status as "The Station of Big Events" by securing rights to several Detroit Pistons basketball games, as well as returning as the host TV station for the
North American International Auto Show . The station airs the NAIDAS charity preview, the annual "America's Thanksgiving Parade" and the "Freedom Festival Fireworks",and the famed charity event "The Hob-Nobble Gobble" which is held on the night before the thanksgiving parade.
On
April 15 ,
2005 , former WDIV employee John Owens was shot in the station's lobby by a man with a history of harassing WDIV employees. The man was charged with attempted murder while Owens remained in the hospital in critical but stable condition.
