WXYZ-TV
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| WXYZ-TV | |
|---|---|
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| Detroit, Michigan | |
| Branding | Channel 7 (general) 7 Action News (news) |
| Slogan | On Air,Online,On Your Side 7 Stands For News Detroit's First High Definition Newscast |
| Channels | 7 (VHF) analog, 41 (UHF) digital |
| Affiliations |  ABC |
| Owner | The E. W. Scripps Company (Channel 7 of Detroit, Inc.) |
| Founded | October 9, 1948 |
| Call letters meaning | From former WXYZ-AM radio slogan The last word in Radio, can also be easy to remember as last 4 letters of alphabet |
| Transmitter Power | 316 kW/305 m(analog) 770 kW/286 m (digital) |
| Website | www.wxyz.com |
WXYZ-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station in Detroit, Michigan, USA. It is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company and is Scripps' largest TV station. WXYZ-TV is among the highest-rated ABC stations in the United States. The station's operations and transmitter are located at Broadcast House on West 10 Mile Road in Southfield, Michigan. Its antenna transmits from its 1,073 foot (327 m) tower at 316 kW/305 m and its digital channel 41 also transmits from the same tower at 770 kW/286 m.
Its signal transmits to the Metro Detroit area and the southeast lower Michigan counties. It also covers neighboring Windsor, Ontario and Toledo.
WXYZ-TV is on all Detroit area cable systems including Comcast, WOW! and Bright House, plus satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network. The station also serves several other parts of Canada as an ABC affiliate on the StarChoice satellite provider and serves several Canadian cable TV markets, including Windsor, London, Sault Ste. Marie, and the capital city of Ottawa.
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[edit] History
WXYZ-TV began broadcasting October 9, 1948, from studios in the Maccabees Building in downtown Detroit, on Woodward Avenue across from the Detroit Institute of Arts. It was the second television station in Michigan, and ABC's third owned and operated (O&O) television station to begin operation. WXYZ-TV was created out of former ABC-owned radio station WXYZ-AM (now WXYT-AM) which produced the popular radio programs The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet. WXYZ-AM radio personality Dick Osgood was host of WXYZ-TV's inaugural broadcast.
In the 1950s WXYZ-TV began producing a series of popular and innovative programs which featured many personalities from WXYZ-AM. The station’s success generated revenues large enough that it became instrumental in financially helping the then struggling ABC network and other ABC ventures during the 1950s, including ABC Records. In 1959 all of WXYZ's radio and television operations moved into new broadcast facilities at Broadcast House in Southfield, Michigan. The facility was built on the site of a former farm and included three TV production studios and its own free standing broadcast tower with a single-person maintenance elevator.
WXYZ-TV’s Channel 7 Action News with lead news anchor Bill Bonds became the highest-rated newscast in Detroit for the first time in 1973. By 1978, WXYZ-TV was the second most-dominant television station in the United States in local viewer ratings. In 1979, ABC named Jeanne Findlater as WXYZ’s general manager. She would be the first woman to hold that title at a large market television station.
In May 1985, ABC announced it would have to sell WXYZ-TV in order to merge with Capital Cities Communications. The divestiture was necessary to comply with the FCC’s ownership limits of the time. ABC sold the station to the Cincinnati based media conglomerate E.W. Scripps Company in 1986. At the time, another prospective bidder for the station was Bill Cosby's Cozzin Communications. ABC did retain some of their assets at WXYZ including the satellite uplink for its satellite news-gathering service ABC News One. ABC had already sold WXYZ-AM two years earlier in 1984 to the radio station's general manager, Chuck Fritz. Under Scripps ownership, WXYZ-TV retained the ABC network affiliation and use of the "Circle 7" logo.
Scripps used the station's popularity as leverage for Detroit's cable providers to air the Scripps-owned HGTV cable network. Scripps used the FCC's "retransmission consent" rule to force local cable systems to carry HGTV. Under this rule, a television station that is carried on a cable system under "must carry" rules can request cable systems to compensate the station for carrying it.
The station was selected as the site of the first Town Meeting With President Bill Clinton in February 1993, which was hosted by Bill Bonds. President Clinton would address questions from audience members at WXYZ's studios as well as audiences at other television stations via satellite.
A shift in affiliation in 1994 at Detroit's CBS affiliate, WJBK-TV, to the Fox network prompted CBS to attempt to lure WXYZ to drop its ABC affiliation in favor of CBS. Eventually Scripps signed a deal with ABC that would keep WXYZ as an ABC affiliate for the next ten years. As a condition of that agreement, television stations in other cities including Cincinnati, Phoenix, Tampa and Baltimore would lose their ABC affiliation to competing Scripps-owned stations in those cities. CBS would end-up purchasing independent Detroit station WGPR-TV (now WWJ-TV).
In 2002, WXYZ-TV reached an agreement with Viacom, then-owner of WWJ-TV and UPN affiliate WKBD, in which WKBD canceled the newscast it produced for WWJ-TV, shut down its news department, and contracted with WXYZ to produce WKBD's 10 p.m. newscast. A handful of Viacom's Detroit employees would be transferred to WXYZ. Viacom would also transfer the operations of its CBS News satellite news gathering service CBS Newspath to offices at WXYZ’s Broadcast House, since WXYZ would also be allowed to use the resources of CBS News. The newscast was canceled in late 2004 due to poor viewership, and neither WKBD nor WWJ-TV now air any local newscasts in Detroit.
In 2006 WXYZ became the first television station in Michigan and the first E.W. Scripps owned station to broadcast all of its newscasts in widescreen high-definition.
On Monday January 15, 2006 WXYZ announced that Carolyn Clifford would anchor its 12pm, 5pm, and 7pm newscasts. She will co-anchor the 12pm and the 5pm with veteran anchor Robbie Timmons. She will solo the 7pm. The station recently announced that Alicia Smith would replace Clifford on Action News This Morning.
[edit] Programming history
In the 1950s WXYZ-TV created a series of widely popular locally produced children’s programs. The most famous program, Lunch with Soupy, launched the career of comedian Soupy Sales (real name, Milton Supman). The program went on the air in 1953 and was such a success that ABC soon moved production to New York City and aired the show nationally. Other successful children’s shows to follow would include Wyxie's Wonderland hosted by Detroit comic Marv Welch, 1954 Bob Henry, (real name Bob Brickwedde) hosted the "Nash Theater Hour" on Thursday nights, and hosted western movies on Saturday's as "Sheriff Bob". Ricky the Clown hosted by professional clown and magician Irv Romig and The Johnny Ginger Show hosted by the local comic Johnny Ginger. The Auntie Dee Show hosted by Dee Parker was a popular children’s talent show. In 1974, WXYZ-TV would launch and produce another successful children’s show, the nationally syndicated Hot Fudge.
Former WXYZ-TV general manager John Pival is credited for launching several other popular innovative programs in the 1950s and 1960s, including the World Adventure Series with host George Pierrot. The program would show films about "exotic" locations around the world. Pierrot was an author on world travel and a speaker at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The Lady of Charm and later House O’ Charm with host Edythe Fern Melrose was a predecessor to today’s Martha Stewart home-making programs. Prize Movie with popular host Rita Bell introduced feature films and held a viewer call-in contest to name the title of a song she played on the air. The cash prizes started at $7. Several music programs would also air including Club Polka and Club 1270. WXYZ disc jockey Ed McKenzie also brought his talents to TV with The Ed McKenzie Saturday Party with live musical performances from Chuck Berry and Louis Armstrong.
WXYZ-TV also had a series of popular morning shows, starting with the Pat and Johnny Show, hosted by two WXYZ radio personalities, Pat Tobin and Johnny Slagle. Later in 1966, The Morning Show would debut as a morning variety program with host Bob Hynes. The station also helped to launch the career of Dennis Wholey, who started his AM Detroit talk-show at WXYZ before going on to WTVS to host PBS Late Night. The most popular and successful WXYZ morning talk show was Kelly & Company. That show was hosted by a married couple who were both former WXYZ news personalities, John Kelly (news anchor) and Marilyn Turner (weathercaster). The show ran at 9 a.m. weekdays from 1978 to 1995. It was primarily a talk show with featured guests and a studio audience. In 1984 Turner and Kelly would also host the short-lived afternoon program, Good Afternoon Detroit. The program was a pilot for other ABC owned stations in New York, Chicago and elsewhere to launch their own “Good Afternoon…” shows.
In 1965, the Sunday morning public affairs show Spotlight on the News debuted with WXYZ's news director Bill Fyffe as its first host. The show was later hosted by political reporter Jim Harrington and continues to air today with WXYZ editorial and public affairs director Chuck Stokes as its host, writer and producer. "Spotlight" is now Detroit's longest running current events television program. It has featured local and national public officials including U.S. Presidents, and won numerous awards. Another public affairs show that aired Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. from 1967 to 1981 was Haney’s People' with host Don Haney.
WXYZ-TV has also been involved in several Detroit traditions over the years, having aired special coverage of Detroit's Thanksgiving Day Parade, The North American International Auto Show Charity Preview, the annual Woodward Dream Cruise and the City of Detroit's celebrations of its 250th anniversary in 1951 and 300th anniversary in 2001. WXYZ's special coverage has also included the victory parades of the city's professional sports teams, most recently the Detroit Red Wings' Stanley Cup victory in 2002 and the Detroit Pistons' NBA championship in 2004. WXYZ is also the official broadcaster of the Christmas parade in Rochester, Michigan.
[edit] Digital channels
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 7.1 / 41.1 | Main WXYZ Programming |
| 7.2 / 41.2 | WXYZ Weather |
| 7.3 / 41.3 | Tower Camera |
[edit] Action News
[edit] Weekdays
- 7 Action News This Morning - 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. (Will occasionally air at 4:30 a.m. pending weather conditions)
- 7 Action News at Noon - 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. (will occasionally air for only 30 minutes due to special sponsor paid programming from Henry Ford Hospital or You Detroit Magazine)
- 7 Action News at 5 PM - 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- 7 Action News at 6 PM - 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.
- 7 Action News at 7 PM - 7:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- 7 Action News at 11 PM - 11:00 p.m. to 11:35 p.m.
[edit] Management
[edit] Vice President and General Manager
- Grace Gilchrist
[edit] Sales Manager
- Mike Murri
[edit] Program Director
- Marla Drutz
[edit] Editorial and Public Affairs Director
- Chuck Stokes
[edit] News Director
- Andrea Parquet-Taylor
[edit] Trivia
- With 21 vehicles, WXYZ-TV has the largest fleet of ENG, SNG and DSNG trucks in the Detroit market and all of Michigan.
- The former farm house located on the WXYZ's Broadcast House property continues to serve as the station's lunch cafeteria.
- WXYZ Action News anchor Diana Lewis played the role of a TV reporter in the 1976 motion picture Rocky. She reprised the role in the sequel Rocky 5, again for several TV series including The Cosby Show and most recently on the daytime soap opera All My Children.
- WXYZ-TV's Broadcast House is also home to the Scripps Networks' regional offices and is the production site for some syndicated programs.
- Veteran WXYZ news photographer Dave Meinhard was awarded the American Red Cross' "The Everyday Hero Award" for rescuing a kayaker from drowning on the Clinton River on July 4, 2001. Ironically Meinhard was shooting the river because of a previous drowning that had just taken place.
- Another veteran WXYZ news photographer, John Fuller, is author of the how-to book, "Make Fantastic Home Videos".
- WXYZ's current staging set for Action News is actually in two former studios (Studios “B” and “C”) that have become one. The wall between two of the station's three studios was torn down to accommodate the entire set.
- Via CANCOM's satellite carriage of WXYZ, two US markets far from Detroit have adopted WXYZ as their ABC affiliate in lieu of an off-air station. The Williston, North Dakota area, 1,370 miles from Detroit, carried WXYZ near-universally (until a local ABC West repeater became available), and much of the El Dorado, Arkansas/Monroe, Louisiana (1,100 miles from Detroit) did the same for a period in the mid-1990s when that market lacked an ABC affiliate of its own.
- Based on the last letters of the alphabet, by coincidence WXYZ used to be the east coast reflection of today's ABC station KTRK in Houston, which used to be called KXYZ.
- In 1975, the soap opera The Edge of Night moved from CBS to ABC. However, as soon as the move was announced, then-CBS affiliate WJBK dropped the soap opera from its own schedule. As a result, WXYZ decided to carry the last two weeks of the CBS run, before ABC officially picked up the series on December 1, 1975. Locally, CBS's Edge of Night was seen on WXYZ at 4 p.m., pre-empting an ABC game show, You Don't Say!; this was a very rare instance where a network owned and operated station pre-empted their own network's show for one from another network. ABC would begin carrying The Edge of Night at that time slot on December 1. [1]
- On November 17, 2006, legendary college football coach Bo Schembechler collapsed at the station's production studio; he was rushed to Providence Hospital in Southfield, Michigan, where he was pronounced dead. Schembechler was about to tape a program previewing the game between Michigan and Ohio State the next day.[2]
[edit] Slogans
- 1984-1990: "Stand Up and Tell'em You're From Detroit" (based on Frank Gari's "Turn To..." series)
- 1984-1991: "Made in Detroit" (As a production endcap for station produced shows)
- 1984-Present: "7 Stands For News"
- 1996-2000: "The Spirit of Detroit"
- Present: "7 On Your Side"
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- WXYZ: Station History (2005). WXYZ.com.
- Kiska, Tim (2005). From Soupy to Nuts!.
- Osgood, Dick. W*Y*X*I*E* Wonderland: An Unauthorized 50-Year Diary of WXYZ Detroit. Bowling Green University Press.
- Kelly, John (1986). Good morning Detroit: The Kelly & Co. story. Contemporary Books.
- Powers, Ron. The Newscasters: The News Business As Show Business. St. Martins Press.
[edit] External links
- WXYZ.com
- Bill Bonds.net
- Photos of WXYZ's news set
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WXYZ-TV
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WXYZ-TV
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Program Information for WXYZ - Only at TitanTV.com
| WBKP 5* Calumet • WBUP 10* Ishpeming • WXYZ-TV 7 Detroit • WJRT-TV 12 Flint • WZZM-TV 13 Grand Rapids • WGTU 29** Traverse City • WGTQ 8** Sault Ste. Marie • WOTV 41 Battle Creek • WLAJ 53 Lansing |
| *WBUP's signal is rebroadcasted on WBKP • **WGTU's signal is rebroadcasted on WGTQ. |
| Also link to: CBS, The CW, Fox, MyNetworkTV, NBC, PBS and Other stations in Michigan and CBC, CTV, Global, SRC and Other stations in Ontario |
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Corporate Leadership: Kenneth W. Lowe (President & CEO) | Richard A. Boehne | Mark G. Contreras |A.B. Cruz III | Frank Gardner | Joseph G. NeCastro | Tim Peterman | William B. Peterson | Jennifer L. Weber | Mark Hale | Lori A. Hickok | M. Denise Kuprionis | Timothy E. Stautberg | E. John Wolfzorn | Judith G. Clabes | Sharon Hite |
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Newspapers owned by Scripps Howard News |
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Other Assets held by Scripps Interactive Media |
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Annual Revenue: $2.2 billion USD (2004) | Employees: 10,000 | Stock Symbol: NYSE: SSP | Website: www.scripps.com |
