WKBD-TV

WKBD-TV

Detroit, Michigan United States
Channels	Digital: 34 (UHF) Virtual: 50
Branding	Detroit 50
Programming
Affiliations	50.1: Independent → The CW (eff. September 1, 2024)[1] for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	CBS News and Stations (Detroit Television Station WKBD Inc.)
Sister stations	WWJ-TV
History
First air date	January 10, 1965 (59 years ago) (1965-01-10)
Former call signs	WKBD (1965–1966, 1984–2009) WKBD-TV (1966–1984)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 50 (UHF, 1965–2009) Digital: 14 (UHF, 2000–2019)
Former affiliations	Independent (1965–1986, 1994–1995) Fox (1986–1994) UPN (1995–2006) The CW (2006–2023)
Call sign meaning	"Kaiser Broadcasting Detroit"
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	51570
ERP	285 kW
HAAT	290.6 m (953 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	42°29′1″N 83°18′44″W / 42.48361°N 83.31222°W / 42.48361; -83.31222
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.cbsnews.com/detroit/detroit-50/

WKBD-TV (channel 50), branded as Detroit 50, is an independent television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside WWJ-TV (channel 62), a CBS owned-and-operated station. The two stations share studios on Eleven Mile Road in the Detroit suburb of Southfield, where WKBD-TV's transmitter is also located.^[3]

WKBD began broadcasting on January 10, 1965. It was the first UHF station built by Kaiser Broadcasting as part of what eventually became a chain of seven stations in major U.S. markets. Channel 50 started as an all-sports station with telecasts of the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons as features, but it soon grew into an active independent station producing an array of local programs alongside sports and syndicated reruns. Between 1966 and 1977, Lou Gordon hosted a nationally syndicated program based in Detroit and syndicated to the other Kaiser stations; Gordon's 1967 interview with George W. Romney, in which he decried "brainwashing" on a trip to Vietnam, made national news and was credited with dashing his presidential aspirations and ending his political career. In addition, Gordon raised the station's profile among Detroit-area viewers. Among its local programming efforts, WKBD produced a local newscast from 1968 to 1970. Kaiser sold its entire broadcasting operation to Field Communications in 1977.

As part of the dissolution of Field Communications, Cox Enterprises acquired WKBD in 1984. The Red Wings moved their games that year to WXON (channel 20), while channel 50 kept the Pistons. Under Cox, WKBD started a 10 p.m. local newscast in 1985, affiliated with Fox in 1986, and moved into its present studio building in 1988. During this time, WKBD was one of the nation's strongest independents and grew further as the Fox network matured in the early 1990s. In 1993, Cox sold WKBD to Paramount Stations Group; when Fox moved its affiliation to WJBK-TV, previously the CBS affiliate, Paramount withheld channel 50 from picking up CBS so that it could join its own network, UPN, at launch in January 1995. The effect of the switch was to put WJBK in competition for the 10 p.m. news audience with WKBD, a fight channel 50 lost.

Paramount's parent company, Viacom, merged with CBS in 2000, bringing WKBD-TV and CBS-owned WWJ-TV under one roof. WKBD's news operation was briefly extended to serve the previously newsless WWJ-TV, but this failed to attract viewers, and it was shut down in 2002. After having the Red Wings, Pistons, and Detroit Tigers rights at the same time, all three professional teams abandoned WKBD between 2003 and 2005. When UPN and The WB merged to form The CW in 2006, WKBD-TV and twelve other CBS-owned UPN stations were among its first affiliates. CBS sold its stake in The CW in 2022 and withdrew its eight remaining affiliates from the network the next year, only to have WKBD return to the network effective September 2024. The station airs local newscasts as part of CBS News Detroit, the news operation and streaming service for WWJ-TV established in 2023.