In November 1956, it and 82 other UHF stations not in operation received letters from the FCC asking for additional information in support of their request for more time to build.

The first program featured a 35-minute interview with George W. Romney, the governor of Michigan, in which he mentioned being "brainwashed" by military officials on a trip to Vietnam and stated that he did not want to be a vice presidential candidate in 1968.

[44] Romney's claim of brainwashing—which made the front page of The New York Times in addition to national media coverage—was later attributed to presidential historian Theodore H. White with ending his hopes of running for president[45][b][47] and his political career.

His talk show had higher ratings in Detroit than the national programs of Mike Douglas or Johnny Carson, or local travel host George Pierrot.

After helping a third party secure a construction permit for WKBF-TV in Cleveland, Ohio, of which it acquired operational control,[57] Kaiser announced plans in September 1967 to launch a network of their own by 1970, programmed by the individual stations' most successful local efforts.

Losses accelerated throughout the company in 1968 after the sign-on of WKBF and KBHK-TV in San Francisco, and the Los Angeles station KBSC-TV only operated with a barebones schedule, but both KBHK and KBSC continued to broadcast with hopes of a television network still in mind.

WKBD was not immune to issues: much of the station's initial news-gathering equipment, purchased in 1964, was in black-and-white, and Kaiser had to upgrade facilities after underestimating the original transmitter's 30 kW output.

[69] Focusing The Ghoul's act towards lowbrow humor, explosions, kitschiness and slapstick,[70] Sweed's program found a cult following, prompting Kaiser to syndicate the show to WKBD in 1972,[71] then to KBHK and WKBG.

[72][73] While the show had mixed results in San Francisco and Boston (and failed in Chicago, when it replaced Jerry G. Bishop's Svengoolie at WFLD[74][75]) it proved very popular in Detroit.

[79] Sweed moved the show to WXON (channel 20) in September 1976 after prevailing in court[67] and continued to portray the character on various Cleveland and Detroit stations over the next four decades.

[84] Counterprogramming became a hallmark of channel 50, in particular when the station programmed a tribute to M*A*S*H, which it held the rerun rights for, on the night of the final first-run episode airing over CBS and WJBK on February 28, 1983.

[96]) Late Night failed to catch on in the ratings on WKBD, which dropped the show in mid-January 1984;[97] WDIV picked it back up by August.

[98] In 1981, the station's coverage of the Red Wings diminished from 25 to 15 games a year, with some telecasts migrating to the pay service ON TV, which aired over WXON in Detroit.

[107] The liquidation process took place on a per-station level, with Field's Chicago, Boston and San Francisco outlets sold to separate owners at the end of 1982.

[115] As Eliot previously worked in the market as a weatherman, this spurred speculation of a full-fledged newscast possibly replacing the station's simulcast of Headline News in the 10 p.m.

[116] At the start of 1985, WKBD announced the debut of a 10 p.m. newscast later in the year, helmed by existing update anchor Glenn Ray and Amyre Makupson.

[120] WKBD, along with Cox-owned KTVU in Oakland, California, and KDNL-TV in St. Louis, Missouri, became Fox charter affiliates on October 9, 1986, with the debut of The Late Show with Joan Rivers.

[124] In the May 1988 Nielsen ratings, WKBD tied with WGN-TV as the highest-rated independent in the country in early evenings, with Fox's Saturday night lineup competitive against Tigers baseball on WDIV and ABC fare on WXYZ-TV.

[126] The station was buoyed by success in 1988 with Red Wings and Pistons coverage, first-run syndication hits and Fox's weekend lineup stabilizing.

[128] A recurring call-in talk show with Michigan governor James J. Blanchard launched over WKBD in September 1988 and carried statewide via the station's large cable footprint.

[141] After the sale closed in October 1993, Paramount announced the formation of a new broadcast network in a joint venture with United Television,[142] but management said WKBD would continue to honor their existing Fox affiliation agreement.

On May 23, 1994, WJBK-TV owner New World Communications announced a groupwide affiliation deal with Fox, displacing CBS from that station after a span of 45 years.

[148] Unable to secure a higher-profile station, CBS purchased WGPR-TV from the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons,[149] later renaming it WWJ-TV.

[144][151] WKBD continued to carry Fox Kids in early afternoons until the fall of 1998, when the program block moved to WADL (channel 38).

UPN only programmed for two nights at launch, enabling the station to continue carrying Pistons and Red Wings games with minimal preemptions, which was not possible in WKBD's last year with Fox.

[153] The station also acquired the over-the-air rights to Detroit Tigers baseball from WDIV beginning with the 1995 season via a five-year, $25 million contract.

The first week after the switch saw channel 50 fall to fifth place in prime time ratings without Fox programming, and WJBK besting WKBD at 10 pm, a pattern that never changed.

Attempting to draw on WKBD's local sports coverage, the 10 p.m. news was reduced to 30 minutes, with the second half devoted to an ensemble sportscast hosted by Lane, Tim Swor, Mickey Redmond and Karen Newman.

[169] General manager Mike Dunlop was dismissed in August 2001, due to the continued ratings challenges: from sign-on to sign-off, both stations each drew half the audience of third-place WJBK.

[198] WKBD restored a 10 p.m. newscast on January 22, 2020, produced by KTVT in Fort Worth, Texas, and the CBSN Local streaming service as part of an expansion of news programming on CBS-owned CW and independent stations; these included reports from multimedia journalists based in Detroit.