Founded as WGPR-TV in 1975 by Dr. William V. Banks and the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons as an extension of WGPR (107.5 FM), channel 62 in Detroit was the first Black-owned television station in the continental United States.

Though its ambitious early programming plans catering to the Black community were not entirely successful due to economic and financial limitations, the station still produced several locally notable shows and housed a fully-staffed news department.

WGPR-TV helped launch the careers of multiple local and national Black television hosts and executives, including Pat Harvey, Shaun Robinson, Sharon Dahlonega Bush, and Amyre Makupson.

The station has made multiple unsuccessful attempts at producing local newscasts since becoming CBS-owned, and was regarded as little more than a "relay transmitter" for network programming despite technical upgrades and a 2000 merger into then-UPN affiliate WKBD.

[8][9] Purchased by the Masons in 1964,[10] WGPR-FM was one of three Black-owned radio stations in Metro Detroit, and one of four that directly programmed to the Black community; it was lower-rated and placing a heavy emphasis on gospel music and religious fare, particularly on Sundays.

[18] Big City News targeted Detroit's urban population and eschewed the suburban audience that was more interested in crime reporting that disproportionately covered Blacks:[23]: 41  Blocker explained that "there are many stories, both negative and positive, that are not being told, and that's what we're trying to get into".

[16] Advertising remained a primary obstacle as few White-owned businesses were willing or motivated to partner with Black-owned media, let alone channel 62, limiting the amount of local output that could be produced even further.

[23]: 42  One analysis of Black capitalism in Detroit during the mid-1970s saw as many as 90 percent of Black-run businesses failing in the first five years through a combination of managerial inexperience, under-capitalization, poor locations and bankers unwilling to offer loans.

Brookes's on-air presence encountered scrutiny after an August 20, 1979, Detroit Free Press front-page story revealed his history with spousal abuse, adultery and violence, along with substantial unpaid debts to Canton station WJAN-TV and a Cleveland advertising agency.

[43][59] Ron "The Ghoul" Sweed, a local horror host, moved his Z movie/comedy show to WGPR-TV on January 6, 1978, after prior runs on WXON and WKBD-TV,[60] but the program was quietly cancelled by June.

[69] No sale materialized, and, after a judge ruled in favor of the Masons and against Ivy Banks, Mathews moved to Detroit to run WGPR-TV and improve a station that, per New York media analyst Peter Appert, was not even attempting to claim a meaningful audience share in the market.

[69] By June 1987, Panagos confirmed that WGPR would add more general entertainment fare and movies to the schedule by the fall[74] while program director Joe Spencer later admitted the station was intending "to shirk the special interest label".

In August 1986, the station started carrying the International Television Network, which was an overnight four-hour block of primarily foreign-language subtitled programs, complementing the existing locally-based ethnic fare.

[76] However, the station was still criticized in 1989 for persistent technical deficiencies, equipment issues and an uneven programming structure that still relied heavily on religious fare, even with promising local efforts including those from R.J.

Shaun Robinson joined channel 62 after graduating from Cass Technical High School and Spelman College;[86] she initially appeared as a Big City News reporter but soon fronted Strictly Speaking,[87] where one media outlet dubbed her "our own Oprah".

[88] Robinson left WGPR-TV in March 1989 to become the evening co-anchor for Flint's WEYI-TV;[89] her replacement, Darieth (Cummings) Chisholm,[84] boasted of wanting "to take Oprah's place" at one speaking engagement.

Amyre Makupson, Sharon Crews, Pat Harvey, Shaun Robinson, and current ESPN executive David Roberts[122] all began their careers at channel 62 before finding greater fame elsewhere.

[45] Byron Allen, a Detroit native, owns or operates over 30 television stations as of 2023[update] via his Entertainment Studios holdings,[124] which were purchased between 2019[125] and 2021 but came mostly as the result of divestitures from much larger mergers and acquisitions.

[126][127] The Washington Post contributor Kristal Brent Zook has criticized the FCC for failing to come up with alternative strategies to help current and prospective minority owners burdened two-fold by both media consolidation and historical discrimination.

[133] The achievement turned somber when Karen Hudson-Samuels died on February 9, 2021, eight days after the studios were listed on the National Register; Samuels was remembered as a pioneering journalist and mentor who worked to preserve much of Detroit's Black history.

[136] Nat Morris has frequently made public appearances over the years embracing the legacy of The Scene, with one cast reunion in 2017 intentionally falling on his 70th birthday, quipping, "I didn't want to throw two parties.

[104] CBS signed a short-term lease for office space at Stroh's River Place, moving channel 62 there,[140] while many existing WGPR-TV staffers were kept and retrained for technical positions.

[148] In denying the objections, the commission recognized that the terms of the local marketing agreement showed George Mathews still holding control over channel 62's programming, finances, and staffing for a two-year period; regarded the affiliation switch as something to which the minority-controlled license holders had agreed; and saw the sale as "in the public interest".

[147] These changes occurred once the sale was consummated on September 20, 1995,[150] returning the WWJ calls to the television dial for the first time since the original WWJ-TV (channel 4) became WDIV-TV on July 22, 1978, after it was sold off.

[155] They can move Murder, She Wrote, revamp the entire primetime lineup and hire Leslie Moonves as entertainment chief, but there's one thing CBS can't change: Channel 62 in Detroit.

[159] During the late 1990s, the station's chief local programming effort was a weekly 30-minute newsmagazine, In Depth Detroit, hosted by former WDIV anchor and reporter Rich Mayk, which debuted in 1997.

WWJ-TV's inability to launch a news service of its own was attributed to start-up costs that, while initially estimated at $1 million,[139] were deemed too onerous;[166] Detroit Free Press columnist John Smyntek criticized the station for having effectively become "a CBS relay transmitter".

The move was made for two reasons: the station was losing its lucrative syndicated rights to Seinfeld, previously aired at 11 pm, to WJBK-TV, and there were ratings and advertisers that only a newscast could command.

[181] In January 2008, the station rebranded itself as "WWJ-TV", dropping the "CBS Detroit" moniker it had been using, and reintroduced local weather updates titled "First Forecast" during The Early Show and at 11 pm.

[189] Due to the nature of the sale, CBS retained the trademark rights to "WWJ",[190] which was leased back to Entercom (now Audacy, Inc.) for use on the radio station under a long-term licensing agreement.