WDJT-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WDJT-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = First. Fast. When Seconds Count.
station_branding = CBS 58 Milwaukee (general)
CBS 58 News (newscasts)
(10 p.m. newscast)| analog = 58 (UHF)
digital = 46 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = CBS
airdate = November 10, 1988
location = Milwaukee, Wisconsin
callsign_meaning = Debra Jackson and John Torres (original license holders)
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Weigel Broadcasting
licensee = WDJT-TV Limited Partnership
sister_stations = WBME-TV, WMLW-CA, WYTU-LP
former_affiliations = independent (1988-1994)
effective_radiated_power = 5000 kW (analog)
1000 kW (digital)
HAAT = 339 m (analog)
322 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 71427
coordinates = coord|43|6|42.1|N|87|55|49.9|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.cbs58.com/ www.cbs58.com]

WDJT-TV "CBS 58 Milwaukee" is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It's an affiliate of the CBS television network. Its transmitter is located in Milwaukee's Lincoln Park next to WISN (Channel 12)'s tower and its signal covers southeastern Wisconsin and parts of northeastern Illinois, including Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha.

WDJT is Wisconsin's only UHF CBS affiliate. The station also gathers news for CBS Radio in Milwaukee.Fact|date=October 2007

History

WDJT signed on the air on November 10, 1988 as an independent station. Its call letters were selected in honor of its original owners, Debra Jackson and John Torres. Jackson died before the station took to the air, and Torres decided to sell controlling interest to Weigel in order to get more financing. (Weigel became the station's sole owner shortly after its sign-on.) At that time, its programming fare consisted of second-hand reruns of sitcoms, first-run syndicated shows, and a movie library.Fact|date=October 2007

The station struggled at first, as there was barely enough room for a third independent in the city alongside WVTV-TV and WCGV. It was also hampered by a weak signal, which made cable carriers shy away from adding it to their lineups.Fact|date=October 2007

The Milwaukee television market was in for a major shakeup in 1994 when New World Communications announced that most of its stations, including Milwaukee's WITI, would become Fox affiliates. That prompted CBS to look for a new affiliate in Milwaukee. It approached all four of Milwaukee's major stations--WTMJ-TV, WISN-TV (who was affiliated with CBS from 1961 to 1977), WVTV (which ironically was a CBS O&O in the 1950s) and WCGV. None of those stations were interested, however. This left CBS to negotiate with the city's lower-profile independents, WJJA (now WBME) and WDJT, as well as religious WVCY-TV. After negotiations with both WJJA and WDJT fell through, CBS made an abortive attempt to buy WVCY before its ownership group decided not to sell.Fact|date=October 2007

With days to go before WITI was to join Fox, and faced with having to pipe in WISC-TV in Madison, WFRV-TV in Green Bay or WBBM-TV in Chicago for cable customers, the network finally affiliated with WDJT, even though it didn't even have a news department. This was similar to what happened to CBS in Detroit--as was the case in Milwaukee, CBS was forced to affiliate with a lower-profile station after being turned down by all of the high-profile stations in the market.Fact|date=October 2007

As WDJT had not expected to go to CBS, a hastily-made logo with the CBS Eye to the left of WDJT's italic Times New Roman '58' of the time in red (and later yellow) was the station's logo for the next year and a half, along with a neutral image campaign using default CBS graphics while Channel 58 built a news department and looked for upgraded studio facilities. The switch took place on the afternoon of December 11, 1994 (the same day as Detroit with their CBS, Fox, and Independent affiliates), and the first CBS program to air on Channel 58 was "60 Minutes".Fact|date=October 2007

WDJT's CBS affiliation caused major shuffles among area cable systems as they worked to quickly add it to their systems; it took until March 1995 for some Marcus Cable (the precursor to Charter Communications) cities to carry WDJT. As a result, many Milwaukee-area viewers without set-top or housetop antennas missed several major events, including the 1995 Grammy Awards, Daytona 500, Big Ten Basketball, and the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments.Fact|date=October 2007

Channel 58 launched its news operation from new studios on South 60th Street in West Allis in early 1996. Previously, the station's studio and transmitter were located on the top floors of what was then the Marc Plaza Hotel (now the Hilton Milwaukee City Center).

Three years later in 1999, the station's current Lincoln Park transmitter was put into service, giving the station an over-the-air signal comparable to the city's five other major commercial stations. Weigel would use this tower to launch two additional low-powered sister stations to WDJT (see below).

In 2007, WDJT gained [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=558576 national attention] after is live news truck broke through ice on Big Muskego Lake in Muskego, ironically while covering a story on ice safety. The estimated cost of repair was $250,000. A week after, the station would air a public service announcement on ice safety which premiered during CBS' Super Bowl XLI coverage, making light of the situation by referring to their news department as providing "the most in-depth coverage in Milwaukee."

2008 NFL season

The station has asked CBS Sports to allow them to carry as many New York Jets games as can be offered for the 2008 season, since that team acquired former Packer quarterback Brett Favre on August 7, 2008, and expects high viewer interest from Milwaukee viewers for Jets games. Since CBS holds the rights to the AFC contract, the majority of Jets games are carried on that network. Station general manager Jim Hall has asserted that the Jets are now the station's "adopted team" [ [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=781043 JS Online: Favre lands Jets on CBS ] ] .

High Definition Programming

On August 29, 2008, WDJT became the first Milwaukee television station to produce a local program in High Definition without the help of Milwaukee Public Television or another outside source. The one hour program was called 105 Years In The Making [http://www.cbs58.com/pages/harley/] , a program on the Harley-Davidson 105th Anniversary that was going on at the time.

Ownership

WDJT-TV is owned by Chicago, Illinois's Weigel Broadcasting. The company also owns full-power WBME (Channel 49) and two LPTV stations, Spanish-language Telemundo affiliate WYTU (Channel 63) and independent WMLW-CA (Channel 41), in the Milwaukee market.

Digital Television

The station's digital channel:
*Additionally, a fourth and fifth digital subchannel have been added in the past for multi-casting of games during the early rounds of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in mid-March. In 2008 however, only one additional game was aired using WDJT-DT, over MeTV Milwaukee.

MeTV Milwaukee

WDJT carries a digital subchannel called MeTV Milwaukee, which features a lineup of classic sitcoms and dramas resembling that of sister station WWME-CA (Channel 23) in Chicago. The subchannel is available over the air on Channel 58.3, over the air on Channel 49 and over Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications on Channel 201.

MeTV is in the process of moving to new sister station WBME-TV (Ch. 49), but will continue to simulcast over 58.3 until Weigel activates Channel 49's digital signal on the Weigel tower. [ [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=741831 JS Online: Shopping channel gets new owner, Me-TV format of nostalgic shows ] ] [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=716524 JS Online: Me-TV for a wider audience ] ] Weigel hopes to launch WBME-DT by October 1, and on that date WBME will become exclusive to Channel 49, while WDJT-DT3 becomes home to This TV, a new subchannel network being launched by Weigel and MGM Television. [ [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=777160 JS Online: Rebooting may help when mystery bugs bedevil Time Warner channels ] ]

Post-analog shutdown

After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009, http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf] WDJT will continue digital broadcasts on its current pre-transition channel number, 46. [http://fjallfoss.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101232249&formid=387&fac_num=71427 CDBS Print ] ] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display WDJT's virtual channel as 58.

Newscasts

Because of its relatively new status in the market, the station has the lowest rated newscast in Milwaukee. The station uses the "Ten at Ten" format for its late news, emphasizing the top stories and weather in the first 10 minutes of the program. WDJT has won regional Emmy awards, along with honors from the Associated Press for best newscast presentation. However, even with this critical acclaim, WDJT has yet to notch a ratings win, and syndicated programming on WVTV and WCGV is competitive with WDJT's newscasts, although in the May 2008 sweeps period both WITI and WDJT were separated by only a few thousand homes for the third place slot at 10pm.

WDJT, during the 2007 World Series produced a 9pm newscast for sister station WMLW-CA, in an attempt to attract non-Baseball viewers who would normally watch news on WITI-TV (but due to pre-emptions weren't able to during the World Series). [http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=678164 "Channel 58 to fill 9 p.m. news gap; Cuban's season over on 'Dancing'"] The station then introduced a 9pm newscast permanently on WMLW beginning on January 1, 2008. WDJT also produces both a 10-minute spanish newscast for co-owned Telemundo affiliate WYTU-LP and a 11-minute newscast for sister station WBND-LP in South Bend, Indiana called "Eleven at 11:00".

News/Station Presentation

Newscast Titles

*"CBS 58 News" (1996-present)
*"10 at 10" (10 p.m. newscast; 2007-present)

tation Slogans

*"First. Fast. When Seconds Count." (2002-present)

External links

* [http://www.cbs58.com/ WDJT Official Website]
* [http://www.metvmilwaukee.com/ MeTV Milwaukee Official Website]
* [http://www.milwaukee-horror-hosts.com/MilwTV.html History of Milwaukee television]
*TVQ|WDJT
*BIA|WDJT|TV|TV

References