WDIV-TV

WDIV-TV (channel 4), branded Local 4, is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. WDIV-TV maintains studio facilities on West Lafayette Boulevard in Detroit, making it the only major television station in the market with offices and studios within the Detroit city limits. Detroit's other television stations are all based in the suburb of Southfield; WDIV's transmitter is, however, located on Greenfield Road in Southfield.

History

Early history

The station first signed on the air as WWDT on October 23, 1946, for one day of demonstrative programming; regular programming commenced on March 4, 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, later 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, but also 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 were originally located at 600 West Lafayette, across the street from the Detroit News building in downtown Detroit (and next door to its modern studio location). In 1954, the station moved its transmitter from the Penobscot Building in Downtown Detroit to the intersection of Greenfield and Lincoln roads in Southfield. Network programming was broadcast in color starting in 1954. The station began broadcasting its newscasts and other locally produced programs in color in 1960, when it purchased new studio camera equipment.

Over the years, the Evening News Association acquired several other broadcasting outlets, such as KTVY (now KFOR-TV) in Oklahoma City, KOLD-TV in Tucson, Arizona, and WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama. Eventually, the Evening News Association created Universal Communications Corporation as a holding company for its broadcasting interests, with WWJ-AM-FM-TV as the flagship stations.

Trade to The Washington Post Company

In 1969, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) began to impose restrictions on the common ownership of print and broadcast media in the same market. The combination of the Detroit News and WWJ-AM-FM-TV was given grandfathered protection from the new regulations, but by the mid-to-late 1970s, the Evening News Association was under pressure to break up its Detroit cluster voluntarily. Fearing that an FCC-forced divestiture was imminent, the Evening News Association agreed to trade WWJ-TV to the Washington Post Company in return for that company's flagship station, WTOP-TV (later WDVM-TV and then WUSA). On July 22, 1978, due to an FCC regulation in place at the time that forbade TV and radio stations in the same market but with different ownership groups from sharing the same call signs, channel 4 changed its call letters to WDIV-TV, for "Detroit's IV" (representing the Roman numeral for 4). Additionally, in a series of promotional announcements with news anchor Dwayne X. Riley, the new call letters were said to represent the phrase, "Where Detroit Is Vital". The WWJ-TV call sign was later adopted for use by the former WGPR-TV (channel 62) after its 1995 purchase by CBS, which had acquired WWJ radio in 1989 (CBS sold off its radio unit in 2017); the existing WWJ-TV is a separate entity not related to WDIV.

Ultimately, the FCC never imposed any limitations on ownership of television stations and newspapers in the same market and the exchange of stations between the Evening News Association (eventually subsumed by the Gannett Company in 1985 and later known as Tegna following the split of the Gannett Company in 2015) and The Washington Post Company (which was renamed Graham Holdings Company following the sale of The Washington Post in 2013) became somewhat unusual in television broadcasting.

In 1982, WDIV moved out of its facility (which had been built in 1936 for WWJ radio and expanded in 1948, and is named the Walker-Roehrig Building) adjacent to the headquarters of the Detroit News and moved one block to its modern broadcast facility at West Lafayette Boulevard. The building has also housed the headquarters of Graham Media Group since 1997; the "Local" branding used by most of the group's stations began at WDIV alongside its acquiring of flagship status in 2000. The station later became available outside the Detroit market when it was selected for inclusion on many Canadian cable providers in the late 1980s and early 1990s. WDIV's signal has been uplinked on C-band satellite since at least 1988. In 2004, the station bolstered local programming by securing broadcast rights to several Detroit Pistons basketball games (Fox Sports Detroit—now called FanDuel Sports Network Detroit—became the Pistons' sole broadcaster in 2008) as well as returning as the host television station for the North American International Auto Show. The station airs the auto show's charity preview, America's Thanksgiving Parade (both in high definition), the Ford Fireworks on the Detroit International Riverfront, and the charity event "The Hob-Nobble Gobble" which is held the Friday before the week of Thanksgiving.

On April 15, 2005, former WDIV employee John Owens was shot in the station's lobby by Epifanio Rivas Jr., a man with a history of harassing WDIV employees. Rivas was charged with attempted murder, while Owens remained in the hospital in critical but stable condition. On November 21, 2006, Wayne County Circuit Court Judge James Callahan sentenced Rivas to 16 to 32 years in prison for the shooting; he was also sentenced to two years for a felony firearm conviction. In December 2008, WDIV began streaming its newscasts online as part of a redesign of the station's website. On June 21, 2010, The 52nd Annual Target Fireworks were produced and aired entirely in high definition. On August 6, 2010, WDIV-TV and WXYZ-TV (channel 7) became the first stations in Detroit to offer Mobile DTV feeds.

On the evening of April 14, 2011, a suitcase containing a suspected improvised explosive device was left in the WDIV studio lobby after the person who planted the device was denied entry by the station's security guard, prompting the Detroit Police Bomb Squad to evacuate the studio as well as the Doubletree Hotel across the street. That night's 11 p.m. newscast was broadcast from the corner of Lafayette and Howard streets; the evacuation resulted in master control operations being inaccessible, preventing the broadcast or editing of news stories, and the broadcast of commercials. The station's virtual channel temporarily reverted to 45.1 (the station's physical digital channel), with HD content downconverted to 720p. The device was detonated minutes later, with police giving the all-clear at 11:15 p.m. for the news crew to re-enter the studio.

Upon re-entering the studio, anchor Devin Scillian explained that WDIV has a policy of not immediately reporting bomb threats unless there is a true threat of an explosion or loss of life. However, because staff was barred access into the studio for the 11 p.m. newscast, an explanation as to why they were on the street, broadcasting from the station's mobile truck instead of the studio, needed to be given. The news was first reported by the Twitter and Facebook accounts of WDIV's news staff; WJBK, WXYZ-TV and WMYD (channel 20) reported on the situation while during the lockout, before the WDIV mobile truck could return to the studios from its assignments. A sweater and some empty soda cans were later found in the briefcase which was left by a homeless man that had followed a WDIV employee in for warmth and coffee; the man was brought to Detroit Receiving Hospital for observation the next day. The Detroit Police Department and Post-Newsweek's management said that no charges would be filed, calling it "just a big misunderstanding".

Programming

WDIV-TV is one of the few television stations in the United States to have aired Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! from the beginning of their respective syndication runs in 1983 and 1984. Because of this, the programs did not air on CBC owned-and-operated station CBET-DT in Windsor during the years the Canadian network carried the game shows; they were removed from the CBC schedule in 2012.

Programming preemptions

In the 1970s and 1980s, WDIV preempted one to two hours of NBC's daytime programming every day. The station also refused to air Late Night with David Letterman and its successor, Late Night with Conan O'Brien at 12:35 a.m. for many years, and initially did not clear the Letterman-era program at all. Instead, until 1999, the station opted to rebroadcast The Jenny Jones Show in that timeslot, along with off-network syndicated programs such as Barney Miller. while for many years, NBC's 12:30 p.m. programming was preempted in favor of a newscast. During the 1983–84 season, the newscast was expanded to an hour, preempting NBC's noon programming (most notably Super Password). That season, WDIV also preempted the 1983 revival of Dream House in favor of the much more popular syndicated game show Tic-Tac-Dough.

In August 2014, WDIV unveiled a new studio, designed in-house and constructed by the Livonia, Michigan–based company EWI Worldwide.

On November 11, 2016, Carmen Harlan retired after 38 years at the station to spend more time with her grandchildren.

On September 12, 2022, WDIV expanded its noon newscast to a full hour full-time.

Notable former on-air staff

Asa Aarons – consumer reporter (1990–1993)
Asha Blake – weekend anchor/health reporter (1993–1996)
Jim Brandstatter – sports producer and reporter (1970s)
Doug Bruckner – reporter
Mort Crim – news anchor/radio reporter (1978–1997)
Vince DeMentri – reporter (1993–1994)
Carol Duvall – television personality and noon anchor (1960s–1970s)
Sonny Eliot – weathercaster (1947–1980)
Shon Gables – morning anchor (2000–2003)
Chris Hansen – investigative reporter/anchor (1988–1993)
Fred Hickman – sports anchor (1984–1985)
Doug Hill – meteorologist (1980–1982)
Davey Marlin-Jones – film critic (1978–1987)
Fred McLeod – weekend sports anchor/host of Sports Final Edition on Sunday nights (1989–2006)
Rob Parker – sports anchor, also co-host of Sports Final Edition
Devin Scillian – weeknight anchor (1995–2024)
Anne Thompson – reporter (1986–1997)
Reynolds Wolf – meteorologist (1999–2002)
Van Earl Wright – sports anchor (1993–1996)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

{| class="wikitable"

|+Subchannels of WDIV-TV

! scope = "col" | Channel

! scope = "col" | Res.

! scope = "col" | Short name

! scope = "col" | Programming

! scope = "row" | 4.1

| 1080i || WDIV-HD || NBC

! scope = "row" | 4.2

| rowspan=3|480i || H&I || Heroes & Icons

! scope = "row" | 4.3

| MeTV || MeTV

! scope = "row" | 4.4

| COZI || Cozi TV

|- style="background-color:#DFEBF6; border-top: 2px solid #003399;"

! scope = "row" | 20.2

| 480i || WMYD-AT || Antenna TV (WMYD)

WDIV's second digital subchannel formerly carried programming from NBC Weather Plus, which folded in November 2008. WDIV-TV also has a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 4.1, labelled "Local 4", broadcasting at 1.83 Mbit/s.

WDIV-DT2 was one of the few affiliates of This TV to have been affiliated with the network through most of its entire history, even as it was dropped in several other markets before Allen Media Group purchased the network in 2021. The network shut down on May 31, 2024, without prior on-air notice or announcement from Allen Media Group. The feed was replaced by a simulcast of the WDIV's fourth subchannel, Cozi TV. In September 2025, Heroes & Icons, which was previously on the fourth subchannel of WJBK, replaced the Cozi TV simulcast.

On July 30, 2015, WDIV-TV became the market's affiliate for Weigel Broadcasting's MeTV network through their third subchannel. WDIV-DT3 is used as an overflow feed for network and syndicated programming if the latter is preempted by breaking news or severe weather coverage on 4.1.

On January 3, 2020, WDIV-TV activated a fourth subchannel, which broadcasts Cozi TV, a network owned by NBC's parent company NBCUniversal. This makes WDIV-TV the third station in the Detroit market to have been affiliated with Cozi TV, which was previously on WMYD and on WADL.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WDIV-TV signed on its digital signal on UHF channel 45 on March 1, 1999. The station ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition channel 45, using virtual channel 4.

As part of the SAFER Act, WDIV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

In March 2017, the station announced that it would move its digital signal to UHF channel 32.

Out-of-market coverage

WDIV's over-the-air signal can be picked up as far away as Flint, Lapeer, and Adrian in Michigan, as well as Toledo, Ohio, and even London, Ontario. WDIV is also one of only three American stations—all in Detroit—that mention Windsor and London as among their primary viewing areas, alongside WMYD and WJBK.

WDIV is carried on most cable providers in Southeast Michigan, Southwestern Ontario and Northwestern Ohio. It is also carried on several other Canadian cable providers including Rogers Cable in the capital city of Ottawa well away from the range of its signal. It is one of five Detroit area television stations seen in Canada on satellite provider Shaw Direct and was the original affiliate offered by CANCOM (now Shaw Broadcast Services) starting in September 1983. WDIV is also carried on some cable providers in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in communities such as Seney, Republic and Grand Marais.

CANCOM/Shaw's carriage of WDIV stretches outside of Canada with cable carriage in places as varied as far northern New York state (Alexandria Bay) (since removed in 2024), all of Bermuda, parts of Latin America and for a time in the early 1990s, some parts of Ireland (with a delay). In addition, WDIV is carried on some cable providers in Mexico, via Shaw Broadcast Services, such the Cablemás system in Ciudad Juárez, which offers WDIV instead of fellow NBC affiliate KTSM-TV in nearby El Paso, Texas. From 1985 to circa 1998, WDIV was the NBC affiliate carried by Cable Atlantic (now Rogers Cable) in Newfoundland and Labrador including in St. John's before the provider switched to the network's Boston affiliate WHDH (which was affiliated with NBC from 1995 to 2017; it is now independent).

Coverage on cable providers outside the Detroit–Windsor market may be subject to syndication exclusivity and network blackouts in the United States and simsubbing in Canada.