WDIV Makes Television History! Travel Back In Time With Local 4 Firsts!
Here's A Look At Our Historic Milestones
Detroit's TV 4 was just the sixth television station on the air in the United States, and the first in Michigan.Here's a brief look at our impressive history:
- October 23, 1946 - Detroiters gather to watch the first public demonstration of television in Michigan. They saw it "First on 4." A day of programming is telecast from the Penobscot building to Convention Hall, just three miles away.
- March 4, 1947 - The first TV station in Michigan and sixth in the U.S. begins service. The original TV 4 owner is the Detroit News, and the call letters initially assigned are WWDT. TV 4 broadcasts only 12 hours a week, Monday through Friday, with all but two hours devoted to test patterns and music.
- May 15, 1947 - The station's call letters are changed from WWDT to WWJ-TV.
- May 31, 1947 - A historic debut. The first ever newscast televised in Detroit is read by Ken Manuel. At the time there are between 2,000 and 2,500 television receivers in operation in the Detroit area.
- June 3, 1947 - TV 4 starts regular daily commercial operation. The station broadcasts on the air from 2:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The first Detroit baseball game is telecast on this day between the Tigers and the New York Yankees, featuring sportcaster Ty Tyson.
- September 5, 1947 - First telecast of a Lions football game.
- September 27, 1947 - First college football telecast: U-M vs. MSU.
- October 19, 1947 - First Red Wings hockey telecast.
- November 1947 - First Thanksgiving Day Parade telecast.
- March 31, 1948 - TV 4 joins the National Broadcasting Company (NBC).
- November 5, 1950 - "The University of Michigan Hour" provides the first complete university extension courses by television. WWJ is among the first stations forming NBC's coast-to-coast network.
- November 18, 1952 - A new $2 million three-story TV studio is added to the WWJ radio building at 600 West Lafayette Blvd. At the time, it is the most modern production center between New York and Los Angeles.
- New Year's Day 1954 - The first-ever broadcast of a color television signal in Michigan.
- November 22, 1954 - Dedication of the 1,063 foot tower at Greenfield and 10-1/2 Mile Roads. Read more about the people and programs from TV 4's early years.See what was on the air in the late 1960's - click here.View TV 4's program schedule for 1973 - click here.
- May 1978 - Post-Newsweek Stations, Inc. takes ownership of the station and WWJ-TV 4 becomes WDIV. The "D" in the new call letters signifies Detroit, and "IV" is the roman numeral four.
- Summer/Fall 1978 - Mort Crim and Carmen Harlan join WDIV 4 and become the popular anchor team for the 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts throughout the 1980's and 90's. Roger Weber also joins the WDIV team beginning the longest tenure for a reporter currently at the station. What were Detroiters watching in 1978? Click here.
- 1979 - Alan Frank joins WDIV as Program Manager. He becomes Vice-President and General Manager nine years later. In December 1999, Frank is named President of Post-Newsweek Stations, Inc.
- 1980s - WDIV continues a strong commitment to producing high-quality original local programming with the addition of annual live broadcasts of Detroit's International Freedom Festival Fireworks and America's Thanksgiving Parade.
- December 6, 1982 - WDIV moves to its new $13.5 million building at 550 W. Lafayette Blvd. The new location is next door to the old studio and across the street from its former owner, The Detroit News.
- If all the cable in the building were laid end-to-end, it would stretch to Lansing! The building is decorated throughout with original artwork and statues created entirely by local artists along with commissioned pieces of Detroit's world-famous Pewabic tile. Get a glimpse of TV from 1983 - click here.
- 1985 - WDIV is the first TV station in Michigan to begin broadcasting in stereo, even before NBC.
- March 1986 - Bernie Smilovitz becomes WDIV's lead sports anchor. After a brief two-year stint in New York, he returns to WDIV in November, 1996.
- 1987 - Chuck Gaidica joins the WDIV WeatherWatch 4 team.
- 1988 - The leader in news technology, WDIV, introduces the first Doppler radar in town, Doppler 4000.
- July 1989 - WDIV becomes the first Detroit TV station to offer closed-captioning on its newscasts. In following years, WDIV adds "real-time" live captioning to the 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts.Do you remember these favorite shows? Click here.
- Late 1980s, 1990s - WDIV's signal goes international. It is now beamed off satellites and into homes carried on cable systems all across Canada, where it is still watched today by many loyal Canadian viewers. It can also be seen in many states outside of Michigan and even in the tropical Bahama Islands.
- April 1995 - Another first for the leader in news technology. WDIV launches the first Detroit TV station website on the internet, WDIV Online.
- August 1995 - Devin Scillian joins the WDIV news team and steps into a lead anchor position as Mort Crim retires in 1996.
- March 1, 1999 - A short high-definition video of a Corvette begins WDIV's HDTV broadcasting signal to metro Detroit. Current daily high-definition programming on WDIV-DT Channel 4.1 includes NBC's "Tonight Show with Jay Leno".Take a look at Local 4's current HDTV schedule.Wondering what exactly is HDTV? Click here.
- November 25, 1999 - Local 4's MeTV begins turning everyday Detroiters into instant celebrities. Initially launched on WDIV's telecast of America's Thanksgiving Parade, MeTV soon becomes a daily feature on Local First News, as well as its own weekly TV show.
- June 23, 2000 - WDIV Local 4 introduces ClickOnDetroit.com, the most complete source for local news, weather, and entertainment on the web. In December 2000, just six months after launch, ClickOnDetroit achieves a mile-stone with a record 3.9 million page views in one month making it one of the top ten broadcast websites in the country. It has since far surpassed that record averaging over 10 million page a month.
- March 2001 - WDIV's parent company Post-Newsweek, Stations Inc. establishes corporate headquarters in Detroit. The move from Hartford, Connecticut to stylish new offices in the WDIV building in downtown Detroit now makes Local 4 the flagship of the Post-Newsweek Stations group.
- January 2002 - WDIV's website, ClickOnDetroit, becomes the number one local website in metro Detroit, accessed by more individual users than all other websites covering local news.
- November 2002 - WDIV became the first station in Michigan, and one of the first in the country, to produce and air a local event in High-Definition. America's Thanksgiving Parade on Woodward Ave. was the first images of downtown Detroit to hit the airwaves in HD-TV. Read More
- May 2003 - Local 4's Big Picture Weather introduces True View 4 and Dual Doppler technology.
- June 2003 - ClickOnDetroit is relaunched with a new look and new easy to use navigation. Soon after the site reaches a benchmark of over 10 million page views in a month, and a record high of over 18 million page views in the month of Nov. 2004.
What did they see? Take a look!
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