A key reason cited in Slate’s “Decline of CBS News” article:
Then in May 1994, Fox Broadcasting Co. chief Rupert Murdoch fractured CBS distribution with an investment deal that persuaded eight television stations to flip their network affiliation from CBS to Fox. In big markets such as Detroit, Atlanta, and Milwaukee, CBS’s replacement affiliates were low-rated UHF stations.
I remember this clearly. Yes, in Detroit, the top of the dial is the home of quality fare like “Married by America.” I clearly remember one night in the late 90s when I bought a brand-new VCR and connected it late on a Saturday night, and the first thing it, and I, witnessed was MadTV tackling the topic of vivisection with its trademark grace and style. That VCR is long-gone and I still can’t get that out of my head.
Desperate to maintain a Detroit presence, The Tiffany Net acquired the third-ish largest UHF station [WGPR, which aired Detroit's legendary dance program "The Scene," not to mention "The Dwight Hurlbut Show," taped at NutriFoods] and tried to turn Channel 62 into a powerhouse — perhaps most notably grabbing Seinfeld reruns and commissioning Jerry to intone “Bi-i-ig 62″ in station IDs.
CBS signed famous local anchors like Rich Fisher, utilized resources from its sister station Channel 50, which had a 10pm newscast back when, perhaps even before, it was the original Detroit Fox station — but eventually threw in the towel and gave up entirely. They even eliminated Ch. 50’s news, at first outsourcing to Channel 7 and finally replacing it with sitcom reruns.
Nowadays, they don’t even use the channel number in their identities — it’s all “CBS Detroit” this and “UPN Detroit” that. Granted, in the modern world of cable systems with their various channel lineups, UHF and VHF channel numbers are less important than ever, but still.
Oh, and if you guessed that WGPR stood for “Where God’s Presence Radiates,” you’d be right.
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