Detroit, Michigan United States |
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Branding | Local 4 (general) Local 4 News (newscasts) |
Slogan |
Your Breaking News Leader (news) Worth Tuning In 4 (general and daytime newscast) Worth Waking Up 4 (morning newscasts) Worth Staying Up For 4 (11 p.m. newscasts) |
Channels |
Digital: 45 (UHF) Virtual: 4 () |
Affiliations | |
Owner |
Graham Media Group (Graham Media Group, Michigan, Inc.) |
Founded | October 23, 1946 |
First air date | June 3, 1947 |
Call letters' meaning | We're Detroit's Channel IV (4, former analog channel number) |
Former callsigns |
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Former channel number(s) |
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Former affiliations |
MeTV (July 30, 2015-January 20, 2017) |
Transmitter power | 872 kW |
Height | 306 m |
Facility ID | 53114 |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°28′58.5″N 83°12′18.9″W / 42.482917°N 83.205250°WCoordinates: 42°28′58.5″N 83°12′18.9″W / 42.482917°N 83.205250°W |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
Website | www |
WDIV-TV virtual channel 4 (UHF digital channel 45) is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The station serves as the flagship broadcast property of the Graham Holdings Company subsidiary Graham Media Group. WDIV maintains studio facilities – which also house the headquarters of Graham Media Group – located on West Lafayette Boulevard in Detroit. As such, WDIV-TV is the only major television station in the market whose offices and studios are located in Detroit proper, while the market's other television stations are located in Southfield (WDIV's transmitter is, however, located on Greenfield Road in Southfield).
The station first signed on the air as WWDT on October 23, 1946 for one day of demonstrative programming; regular programming commenced on June 3, 1947. It was the first television station in Michigan and the tenth station to sign on in the United States overall. The station was originally owned by the Evening News Association, parent company of the Detroit News, along with WWJ radio (AM 950 and FM 97.1, now WXYT-FM). On May 15, 1947, the television station changed its call letters to WWJ-TV to match its radio sisters. Channel 4 has always been an NBC affiliate owing to WWJ radio's longtime affiliation with the NBC Red Network although it aired some programs from the DuMont Television Network prior to WJBK-TV (channel 2)'s sign-on in October 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 the state's first televised newscasts. The station's studios and transmitter were originally located in the Detroit News building in downtown Detroit. In 1954, the station moved to a new 1,004-foot (306 m) transmitter at the intersection of Greenfield and Lincoln roads in Southfield. The station began broadcasting its newscasts and other locally produced programs in color in 1960, when it purchased new studio camera equipment.