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WMYD
WMYD (channel 20) is an independent television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV (channel 7). The two stations share studios at Broadcast House on 10 Mile Road in Southfield; WMYD's transmitter is located on Eight Mile Road in Oak Park.
Founded in 1968 as WXON on channel 62 and relocated to channel 20 in 1972, the station was an independent focusing primarily on syndicated programs and classic reruns. It made an ill-fated foray into subscription television (STV) from 1979 to 1983, broadcasting a pay service under the ON TV brand that was dogged by a poor relationship with the station and signal piracy issues exacerbated by Detroit's proximity to Canada. After it folded, WXON continued as an independent station and emerged as the second-rated independent in its market, affiliating with The WB in 1995.
Granite Broadcasting purchased WXON in 1997 and renamed it WDWB. However, its high debt load motivated several attempts to sell the station, one of which fell apart after The WB merged with UPN to form The CW but did not include WDWB as an affiliate. The station then became WMYD, aligned with MyNetworkTV and airing its programming for 15 years. In 2014, Scripps purchased WMYD and added local newscasts from the WXYZ-TV newsroom. As Detroit's ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) station, WMYD is used in automotive-related tests of the transmission technology. It was Detroit's affiliate for The CW from 2023 to 2024.
At the end of January 1965, Aben Johnson, majority owner of a chemical manufacturing company and with several real estate holdings, filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a television station on channel 44 in Pontiac, in Oakland County. After an overhaul of the FCC's UHF table of allocations, Johnson amended his application to specify channel 62 in Detroit. A construction permit for the station was issued on October 7, 1965, and assigned the call sign WXON that December. Johnson also held construction permits for stations in Hammond, Indiana, and Akron, Ohio, which he called the Action Network and proposed to focus on programming for teen audiences. He considered a Detroit radio station as well before learning how saturated the market was.
After three years, WXON began broadcasting on September 15, 1968. While it had originally proposed to broadcast from Southfield, where a new UHF transmission facility was being built for WKBD-TV (channel 50) and three other stations, Johnson bowed out and built his own transmitter facility and studio at 14 Mile and Decker roads in Walled Lake. Syndicated reruns and movies were joined by Rae Dean and Friends, a series of children's puppets conducted by Frank Deal and previously seen on WJRT-TV in Flint. The small facility, with its lower costs of operation, also produced commercials seen on other local TV stations; a revival of Robin Seymour's Swingin' Time, a dance show that had been canceled by CKLW-TV in Windsor, Ontario; and a syndicated wrestling program, Big Time Wrestling. However, the station's signal coverage of Detroit itself proved poorer than expected.
In an unusual circumstance, a full transmitter facility for channel 20 at Southfield had been built, but the station slated to use it had failed to start. In 1964, United Broadcasting Company had purchased the construction permit for WJMY, which had briefly broadcast from Allen Park from 1962 to 1963 but was no longer on the air. United proposed to return it to the air with a focus on specialty ethnic programs from the new Southfield UHF mast, but planned dates came and went without any activity, including an announced May 1969 groundbreaking on studios.
However, United faced increasing legal scrutiny that primarily centered around issues at its radio and television stations in Washington, D.C., WOOK and WFAN-TV, and extended to several other properties. After a sale of WJMY to United Artists fell through, in December 1970, United filed to sell the construction permit for WJMY to WXON—which had reportedly lost $136,000 in its first two years of operation because of the deficient signal in the full market—with the purpose of moving WXON to channel 20. Land mobile radio users protested the proposal, asking for the fallow channel 20 to be turned over for their use, but the FCC approved the deal in June 1972, finding that United's inability to utilize the improved WJMY-TV facility was due to its own financial troubles. Johnson announced the station would relocate its studios from Walled Lake and floated the possibility of changing the call sign.
In November 1972, WXON went off channel 62 and remained off the air for a month to effectuate the change to channel 20. Broadcasting resumed on channel 20 on December 9. Several new shows were added with the channel change, including The 700 Club. In 1975, the city of license for the station was changed from Allen Park to Detroit, and the studios were moved to the transmitter site in Southfield.
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WMYD
WMYD (channel 20) is an independent television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV (channel 7). The two stations share studios at Broadcast House on 10 Mile Road in Southfield; WMYD's transmitter is located on Eight Mile Road in Oak Park.
Founded in 1968 as WXON on channel 62 and relocated to channel 20 in 1972, the station was an independent focusing primarily on syndicated programs and classic reruns. It made an ill-fated foray into subscription television (STV) from 1979 to 1983, broadcasting a pay service under the ON TV brand that was dogged by a poor relationship with the station and signal piracy issues exacerbated by Detroit's proximity to Canada. After it folded, WXON continued as an independent station and emerged as the second-rated independent in its market, affiliating with The WB in 1995.
Granite Broadcasting purchased WXON in 1997 and renamed it WDWB. However, its high debt load motivated several attempts to sell the station, one of which fell apart after The WB merged with UPN to form The CW but did not include WDWB as an affiliate. The station then became WMYD, aligned with MyNetworkTV and airing its programming for 15 years. In 2014, Scripps purchased WMYD and added local newscasts from the WXYZ-TV newsroom. As Detroit's ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) station, WMYD is used in automotive-related tests of the transmission technology. It was Detroit's affiliate for The CW from 2023 to 2024.
At the end of January 1965, Aben Johnson, majority owner of a chemical manufacturing company and with several real estate holdings, filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a television station on channel 44 in Pontiac, in Oakland County. After an overhaul of the FCC's UHF table of allocations, Johnson amended his application to specify channel 62 in Detroit. A construction permit for the station was issued on October 7, 1965, and assigned the call sign WXON that December. Johnson also held construction permits for stations in Hammond, Indiana, and Akron, Ohio, which he called the Action Network and proposed to focus on programming for teen audiences. He considered a Detroit radio station as well before learning how saturated the market was.
After three years, WXON began broadcasting on September 15, 1968. While it had originally proposed to broadcast from Southfield, where a new UHF transmission facility was being built for WKBD-TV (channel 50) and three other stations, Johnson bowed out and built his own transmitter facility and studio at 14 Mile and Decker roads in Walled Lake. Syndicated reruns and movies were joined by Rae Dean and Friends, a series of children's puppets conducted by Frank Deal and previously seen on WJRT-TV in Flint. The small facility, with its lower costs of operation, also produced commercials seen on other local TV stations; a revival of Robin Seymour's Swingin' Time, a dance show that had been canceled by CKLW-TV in Windsor, Ontario; and a syndicated wrestling program, Big Time Wrestling. However, the station's signal coverage of Detroit itself proved poorer than expected.
In an unusual circumstance, a full transmitter facility for channel 20 at Southfield had been built, but the station slated to use it had failed to start. In 1964, United Broadcasting Company had purchased the construction permit for WJMY, which had briefly broadcast from Allen Park from 1962 to 1963 but was no longer on the air. United proposed to return it to the air with a focus on specialty ethnic programs from the new Southfield UHF mast, but planned dates came and went without any activity, including an announced May 1969 groundbreaking on studios.
However, United faced increasing legal scrutiny that primarily centered around issues at its radio and television stations in Washington, D.C., WOOK and WFAN-TV, and extended to several other properties. After a sale of WJMY to United Artists fell through, in December 1970, United filed to sell the construction permit for WJMY to WXON—which had reportedly lost $136,000 in its first two years of operation because of the deficient signal in the full market—with the purpose of moving WXON to channel 20. Land mobile radio users protested the proposal, asking for the fallow channel 20 to be turned over for their use, but the FCC approved the deal in June 1972, finding that United's inability to utilize the improved WJMY-TV facility was due to its own financial troubles. Johnson announced the station would relocate its studios from Walled Lake and floated the possibility of changing the call sign.
In November 1972, WXON went off channel 62 and remained off the air for a month to effectuate the change to channel 20. Broadcasting resumed on channel 20 on December 9. Several new shows were added with the channel change, including The 700 Club. In 1975, the city of license for the station was changed from Allen Park to Detroit, and the studios were moved to the transmitter site in Southfield.