Detroit TV-1980's and 1990's

**aoife** · January-10-15, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by mtburb

Wasn't WKBD the default Fox affiliate for Lansing during the network's infancy?

IIRC Fox was channel 42 or something like that. But honestly I wasn't paying attention. If it didn't carry Scooby Doo we were not watching it.

**Scottathew** · January-10-15, 04:37 PM

WKBD 50 used to be FOX. WJBK 2 used to be CBS. WWJ-TV 62 used to be independent.

Back in 1995 the "switch" happened and 50 went from FOX to UPN. 62 went from independent to CBS. 2 went from CBS to FOX.

**mtburb** · January-10-15, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by aoife

IIRC Fox was channel 42 or something like that. But honestly I wasn't paying attention. If it didn't carry Scooby Doo we were not watching it.

Actually, channel 47. It only joined Fox in 1990, until then, WKBD served as the default Fox affiliate.

**mtburb** · January-11-15, 09:01 AM

20 years ago today, WXON became a charter affiliate of the new WB Network. Channel 20 enjoyed being one of the only local stations that were unaffected by the previous month's affiliation swaps. After Granite Broadcasting acquired the station in 1997, it's call sign was changed to WDWB, which may stand for We're Detroit's Warner Bros.

20 would be one of several WB affiliates that became My Network affiliates in markets where their UPN stations [[such as WKBD) were already planning on becoming CW affiliates.

Today, 20's calls are WMYD and is owned by Scripps, resulting in a duopoly with WXYZ.

**G-DDT** · January-11-15, 09:42 PM

Here dog!
C'mere dog!
Me and dog want you to go to Teley-graph roo-ad
ri-i-ght no-ow!
Get a good deal.

**Ed Golick** · January-12-15, 08:50 AM

1940s thru the 1960s Detroit TV is covered here.
www.detroitkidshow.com

**mtburb** · January-16-15, 03:05 PM

20 years ago today, not long after WXON became network-affiliated, WKBD, after having been an independent station again for barely over a month after loosing the Fox affiliation to WJBK [[at the expense of CBS, who moved to WGPR), became a charter affiliate of the new UPN network. After a short time, channel 50 became the third Detroit station to become an owned-and-operated station of it's network.

Today, 50 is a CW O&O and has a duopoly with WWJ-TV [[the former WGPR), which is now a CBS O&O.

**Detroitnerd** · January-16-15, 03:13 PM

"Walt Lazar... Chevrolet is the super-super dealer."

was that dealership the one on

Main STREET
Royal OAK
North of 11 mile ...

**mtburb** · January-16-15, 06:00 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitnerd

"Walt Lazar... Chevrolet is the super-super dealer."

was that dealership the one on

Main STREET
Royal OAK
North of 11 mile ...

Nope.

Telegraph "south of I-94".

**Delray Kid** · January-16-15, 11:24 PM

Remembering a sitcom named Hamtramck in the late 80's. Made references about Detroit. Didn't last. Not sure what channel it was on or how many episodes actually aired.

**G-DDT** · July-07-15, 11:21 PM

Gildersleeve in da' house! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQqyDj7RX6Y
People can trounce on Faygo all they want, but Redpop still goes well with pepperoni pizza.

Then there's these- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc7dbwzPeKA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQr548olzOo

I'm aware that there've probably been many prior threads that have posted these, but they are still classics for me growing up.

**knwb** · July-08-15, 08:06 AM

never forget:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKqRQmabWA8

**G-DDT** · July-08-15, 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by knwb

never forget:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKqRQmabWA8

Yah, they were drinking buddies with the Brawney guy up in da' U.P., eh? Brings to mind a tile service that I think was on Evergreen [[?) called K & K [[?).

**piczka** · July-10-15, 11:09 PM

Anyone recall the "Kowalski Sausage Cinema"?

**313WX** · July-10-15, 11:21 PM

Some 1990s commercials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssRwOrTY2TI

**black gold man** · July-11-15, 01:15 PM

1980 super bowl commercial http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/201...-datsun-280zx/

**G-DDT** · August-19-15, 11:23 PM

When cable became really huge still vexes me.

At some point in 1980-1981, there was a stray UHF channel that would show promos for IT TV [[and maybe HBO), and because I was a junkie for any scene taken from movies I loved, I liked that they would show clips from Altman's Popeye. Yet, it was mixed in with clips from Kramer Vs. Kramer and the very slow, drawn-out hallway-filling-with-blood scene from The Shining [[which creeped me out then). You thought you'd be in for a treat, and then, about the time the films were to air, the signal would cut out, because we weren't subscribers [[but I didn't understand those things at the time).

Only two kids in my whole neighborhood had cable in the '80s [[and one, his dad had his own bar/pooltable/disco dance floor rumpus room in the basement and the other had a swimming pool in their backyard, both had Atari 5200s-that's how well off they were). When all of our close neighbor friends left Holy Cross [[on Greenfield) to attend another Lutheran Grade School out in Farmington Hills, we went along [[the church still covered the education and we all belonged to the same ostentatious kiddie carpooling situation-so, commuting the kids to school was a big enough issue to make this move, I guess) with it.

The kids at my school [[from Livonia and elsewhere) would go on about some stupid show where they dumped green slime and water on kids heads. I was in the same camp with the teachers just making an odd face like "what's that all about?". When one of the UHF stations started to show a sloppy children's game show called "Double Dare", I still thought "Is this what they were going on about?".

Then, in 1988, we finally got cable [[this was 4 years after we got out first VHS player-the photo business my mom worked at expanded to rent videos, as well; so, her boss would let her take home one free rental each night for us to watch-provided it wasn't a big draw selection at the time. That and the local celebs who would visit, is the reason my mom came home with a standup movie promo of Eddie Murphy for Beverly Hills Cop 2 signed by Gil Hill.). It was a bombardment of A & E, MTV, VH1, a new station called E! [[with an aspiring Greg Kinnear, who would show clips from movies like Beetlejuice, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and the Great Outdoors), and of course, Nickelodeon. It was from the latter, I finally found out the riddle of "You Can't Do That on Television".

The explosion of cable into our house that year [[along with graduating grade school and losing my virginity over the summer) along with a shady occurrence where my mom's boss had to stash all of the store's goods in our back den area [[videos too!-I was a popular kid that summer. It also helped in my Crash Course in learning Monty Python. Also, my parent's thought they could hide the adult tapes that came in different colored boxes behind a mountain of other ones, but I was a determined Sir Edmund Hilary and scaled it many times to get at the precious, naughty, precious cargo.) for a time, and the acquisition of a Nintendo Entertainment System [[graduation present) brought on a strange change in me. After being a 8-hour a day devoted couch potato videot all my life, this massive glut [[or "show-verdose", as I call it) of video overload triggered a change where I just felt "There has to be more to life than this".

I struggled long to put TV far from me [[didn't watch any of it during High School-didn't even notice when the Simpsons were getting better-Conan O' Brien/George Meyer-style!). I will always maintain the position to this very day that my life is so much better without the shiny beast [[same goes for my own self-imposed limited exposure to computers) taking over the main living area of every American household like it were some altar. I still find it odd looking back, how so many of us didn't have cable and it wasn't a big thing, but come right after Obama is inaugurated, this generation had to conform to a digital TV signal.

**G-DDT** · August-19-15, 11:33 PM

Getting away from TV wasn't easy. About a year and a half after we got cable, HBO lured us into a almost free package. So, shows like Tales from the Crypt and Kids in the Hall were airing about that time. Showtime was added later, and not many folks remember when they would show little slips in between [[like animation) or their 30-minute movies [[one dire Twilight Zone one with Kurtwood Smith was a predecessor to "Groundhog's Day").

**mallory** · August-21-15, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

And as someone asked above: What's the name of this town? Geektown was the answer, as another WGPR personality, RJ Watkins, had his own group for a second called RJ's Latest Arrival, and their song was called "We Are Here to Geek You Up."

You're thinking of RJ Rice, not RJ Watkins. RJ Rice was the founder of RJ's Latest Arrival [["Shackles" was the jam). RJ Watkins is now the President of WHPR in Highland Park. Great guy.