KKR then sold all of the Storer broadcast assets, including WJBK, to Gillett Communications in 1987, after an attempt to sell the stations to Lorimar-Telepictures in 1986 failed.

In May 1994, News Corporation, then-parent of the Fox network, purchased a 20% ownership stake (amounting to a $500 million investment) in WJBK's owner New World Communications.

[10] Fox outbid CBS for the NFL broadcast rights on the condition that it would improve the network's affiliate coverage in the larger television markets.

As a result, CBS was forced to deal with the market's lower-rated UHF outlets, none of which had the kind of signal penetration that WJBK had.

With just days to go before WJBK was due to switch to Fox, CBS faced the prospect of having to import WTOL, WNEM, and WLNS on area cable providers until it could find a replacement affiliate.

The last CBS network program to air on WJBK was a first-run episode of Walker, Texas Ranger at 10 p.m. Eastern Time on December 10, 1994; channel 2 officially became a Fox affiliate the next day, when the network's programming lineup moved to the station from WKBD; the first Fox network program to air on the station as a full-time affiliate was Fox NFL Sunday at noon that day, which led into that afternoon's NFL doubleheader: an early game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Los Angeles Rams and a mid-afternoon game between the San Francisco 49ers and the San Diego Chargers.

The program featured a mix of cartoons and westerns with Cummings performing magic tricks with other acts in front of a live audience.

[15] That program was followed by another WJBK children's favorite, Jungle-La with wildlife expert "B'wana" Don Hunt, that aired from 1960 to 1963.

[15] From 1967 to 1983, Sir Graves Ghastly, played by actor Lawson J. Deming, hosted WJBK's assorted sci-fi and horror movies on Saturday afternoons; the humorous character became a popular figure in Detroit television.

Deming had originally come to the station as a puppeteer and voice actor for the children's program Woodrow the Woodsman when that show moved from Cleveland's WKYC-TV to WJBK in 1966.

The weekly 15-minute show hosted by Roman Catholic priest Raymond Schlinkert featured lectures and advice about marriage and family life.

The show changed titles over the years eventually becoming known as PM Detroit – it also had various hosts included Ronnie Klemmer, Lorrie Kapp, Gary Cubberly and Mattie Majors.

[19] The station was also the Detroit home and active participant for comedian Jerry Lewis' annual MDA Labor Day Telethon for several years.

[20] The station would regularly reschedule CBS' daytime game shows and it would also move the soap opera Guiding Light from its usual network airtime of 3 pm.

Previously the Red Wings aired on the station various times between 1956 and 1980 through broadcast rights held by CBS and again from 1995 to 1999 through Fox's contract with the NHL; this included the team's Stanley Cup Finals victories in 1997 and 1998.

As a CBS affiliate, WJBK aired the network's coverage of Super Bowl XVI, which was hosted locally at the Pontiac Silverdome.

WJBK's sportscasters have also been team play-by-play announcers through the years with Van Patrick doing Tigers, Lions and Notre Dame Football games.

The aircraft has HD video capability and goes by the call sign "Red Bird" (although WJBK brands the helicopter as "SkyFox").

Other popular longtime Detroit television personalities including Joe Weaver, Jerry Hodak, Van Patrick and Marilyn Turner would also be a part of WJBK's ratings success.

The station's ratings would begin to wane in the mid-1970s after then-ABC O&O WXYZ-TV hired away WJBK's and WWJ-TV's top talent, including Kelly and Turner and eventually LeGoff and Hodak.

[24] WJBK's newscasts remained competitive in the 1970s with a new stable of talent including anchors Joe Glover, Robbie Timmons, Harry Gallagher, Murray Feldman and Terry Murphy.

[24] With new management, WJBK's news department saw a resurgence by 1990 with new staff that included Sherry Margolis, Huel Perkins and the rehiring of former anchor Joe Glover.

The station would also hire away news staff and talent away from top rated WXYZ including Rich Fisher, Dayna Eubanks, Catherine Lehan, Jerry Hodak and investigative reporter Vince Wade.

At the same time, Fox's news management brought on new talent including Dan Miller, Alan Lee and Monica Gayle from Seattle, as well as Rob Wolchek from Fresno, California.

Just prior to that, WJBK also debuted Detroit's first weekend morning newscast, which was first anchored by former PM Magazine host Gary Cubberly.

WJBK has also had the longest-running midday newscast in the Detroit market, which originated in 1966 in the noon timeslot, before moving to 11 a.m. shortly after the switch to Fox.

[30] The station's signal is multiplexed: WJBK began airing its digital high-definition feed, WJBK-DT, on its pre-transition UHF channel 58 starting on October 1, 1998.

The station shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on June 12, 2009, per the U.S. Digital Television transition federal mandate.

[citation needed] As part of the SAFER Act,[38] WJBK kept an analog signal on the air for two additional weeks until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

As of April 2009, Shaw Broadcast Services (formerly CANCOM) replaced WJBK's signal with Rochester, New York Fox affiliate WUHF.