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WJBK ('''''"FOX2"''''') is the Fox - Owned And Operated Television Station in Detroit , Michigan . Its studios and 1003-foot (305.7 m) tower are co-located in Southfield, Michigan 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. 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. 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 programming, which remained on the market's former Fox station (and charter UPN affiliate) WKBD (before moving to WADL ). 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 NEWSCASTS 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 (simliar sites have also been adopted by all the other News Corperation 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 new cooperative arrangement offering local advertising opportunities to Northern Michigan businesses. As of February 5 , 2007 , after the completion of its own 10 PM newscast, WFQX now simulcasts the second half of WJBK's weekday newscast from 10:30 to 11 PM. On September 24 , 2007 , WJBK will launch its first 11pm newscast ever since it affiliated with Fox, using the NewsEdge format originally used by WTVT . On the same day, WJBK will redesign 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 debuts on the same day, will also be similar in design to sister stations KMSP-TV and KDFW . For many years, WJBK's newscasts have usually rated third in the Detroit market, behind WXYZ-TV and WWJ-TV/WDIV. 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 . 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. {Link without Title} ''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
Reporters
Problem Solvers Unit
Meteorologists
Sports
FORMER ON-AIR TALENT
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