WDIV Detroit 75th anniversary special

[Paul Murray]

NBC affiliate WDIV (originally WWJ-TV) became Detroit's first TV station 75 years ago, and aired this documentary special about itself last night.

Notably, it is not all nostalgia viewed through rose-colored glasses. The station lost credibility in the 1960's due to dictates from the station's conservative owners who also owned the Detroit News, e.g., no replaying Huntley-Brinkley coverage of Vietnam, downplaying the 1967 riots, and refusing to play Saturday Night Live. In the 1970s, their 6 pm newscast was being beaten by Little Rascals reruns, with ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV dominating. They went through six lead anchors in nine years trying to get out of the cellar.

While they had been grandfathered in to the FCC ruling that newspapers and tv stations could no longer share ownership, they swapped stations with the Washington Post (WTOP) in 1978, and the new management eventually staged a serious turnaround (with assists from a surging NBC and the Detroit Tigers).

Obviously this is primarily of interest to those who know Detroit, but anyone interested in TV of decades ago may appreciate at least some of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_T4p6EwAO1k

[Diner]

Thanks for this. 

I remember Mort Crim fondly from his days in Philadelphia, so seeing this story about the station where he spent most of his career is interesting to me.

[daniel anderson]

Both Mort Crim and George Kell made the station.   The station had lost credibility in the 1960's due to dictates from the station's conservative owners who also owned the Detroit News, e.g., no replaying Huntley-Brinkley coverage of Vietnam, downplaying the 1967 riots, and refusing to play Saturday Night Live. Crim and Kell got the station back on track. Crim was the best lead anchor the station ever had and Kell was the best Tigers TV play-by-play guy.