National Register of Historic Places

WGPR-TV Studio

Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan
Listed
January 27, 2021
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
100006101

About this property

WWJ-TV (channel 62), branded CBS Detroit, is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division, and is sister to WKBD-TV (channel 50), an affiliate of The CW. The two stations share studios on Eleven Mile Road in the Detroit suburb of Southfield; WWJ-TV's transmitter is located in Oak Park, Michigan. Founded as WGPR-TV in 1975 by William V. Banks and the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons as an extension of WGPR (107.5 FM), channel 62 in Detroit was the first Black-owned television station in the continental United States. Though its ambitious early programming plans catering to the Black community were not entirely successful due to economic and financial limitations, the station still produced several locally notable shows and housed a fully-staffed news department. WGPR-TV helped launch the careers of multiple local and national Black television hosts and executives, including Pat Harvey, Shaun Robinson, Sharon Dahlonega Bush, and Amyre Makupson. The original studios for WGPR-TV, still in use by the radio station, have been preserved as a museum and recognized as a historical landmark with inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. In 1994, when a major affiliation switch threatened to leave CBS without an affiliate in the Detroit market after multiple failures to secure a more successful station, the network bought WGPR-TV and dropped all existing programming in favor of CBS and syndicated programs, changing the call sign to WWJ-TV the following year. The station has made multiple unsuccessful attempts at producing local newscasts since becoming CBS-owned, and was regarded as little more than a "relay transmitter" for network programming despite technical upgrades and a 2000 merger into then-UPN affiliate WKBD. From assuming the affiliation in 1994 until 2001, from 2002 to 2009 and again from 2012 until 2023, WWJ-TV was the only station directly owned by any of the "Big Three" networks not to have any significant local news presence. A full news department, known as CBS News Detroit, began operation in January 2023 as an extension of CBS News's streaming service.

Location

3146 East Jefferson Ave.
Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan
42.34024, -83.01688

Categories

ETHNIC HERITAGE-BLACKCOMMUNICATIONSSOCIAL HISTORY
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Native Heritage
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Settlement
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Nearby Historic Sites

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Walker, Franklin H., House
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Nearby Battles

Pontiac's War - Battle of Bloody Run 1763
1763Colonial
0.2 mi
Pontiac's War — Battle of Bloody Run
1763Colonial
1 mi
Siege of Fort Detroit — British Naval Action
1763Colonial
1.1 mi
Pontiac's War – Battle of Bloody Run Detroit 1763
1763Colonial
1.4 mi

Questions about this property

When was WGPR-TV Studio listed on the National Register?

WGPR-TV Studio was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 27, 2021.

What type of historic resource is WGPR-TV Studio?

WGPR-TV Studio is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for WGPR-TV Studio?

The period of significance for WGPR-TV Studio is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near WGPR-TV Studio?

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