WJBK Fox 2 Station History

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - Did you know that...

WJBK FOX 2 debuted in the Detroit market on October 24, 1948. At that time, it was a Dumont Network affiliate, owned by George B. Storer.

In 1949, WJBK was the first station in Michigan to produce live telecasts of Detroit Tigers and Detroit Lions games.

WJBK became a CBS Network affiliate in 1952, after the Dumont Network went out of business.

The station once was located in the Masonic Temple in Detroit. It moved to 7441 Second Avenue (now the home of Detroit Public Television Ch. 56) in 1956, then to its present location at 16550 West Nine Mile Road in 1970.

WJBK was the first station in Detroit to produce a remote telecast via satellite for a local news program (1977).

WJBK was sold to Gillett Communications in 1987, then to New World Communications in 1993.

WJBK switched network affiliation from CBS to FOX in 1994. It became a FOX Network owned and operated station in 1997.

Between 1997 and 1998, WJBK-DT was the first digital station in the state of Michigan.

In 1999, FOX 2 produced the first widescreen digital production in the state of Michigan from historic Greenfield Village.

FOX 2 News Morning – the ONLY locally-produced morning show in the Detroit market – and FOX 2 News At 10PM debuted in 1994. Both are ratings winners in their time periods and FOX 2 News at 10PM won Emmys for Best Newscast in 1999 and in 2000.

FOX 2 launched its News That Works For You campaign and its Problem Solver investigative unit in 1998.

FOX 2 has been named STATION OF THE YEAR by the Michigan Association of Broadcasters consistently since February 2000.