Media in Detroit


As the world's traditional automotive center, Detroit, Michigan, is an important source for business news. The Detroit media are active in the community through such efforts as the Detroit Free Press high school journalism program and the Old Newsboys' Goodfellow Fund of Detroit. Wayne State University offers a widely respected journalism program.

Newspapers and magazines

The daily newspapers serving Detroit are the Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News, both broadsheet publications that are published together under a joint operating agreement. The Detroit Free Press is owned by the Gannett Company. The Detroit News is owned by MediaNews Group. Other publications include weekly, monthly, and quarterly alternative media publications.

Daily

TBD Magazine
The HUB Detroit

Bi-Monthly

The Detroit television market is the 12th largest in the United States, and it has additional viewers in Ontario, Canada. Detroit is home to owned-and-operated stations of CBS, Fox, The CW, Ion Television, Azteca América, and Daystar and two station duopolies owned by ViacomCBS and E.W. Scripps Company.
See also Media in Windsor, Ontario for Canadian stations that are received in Detroit.

Local television stations

Network owned-and-operated stations are highlighted in bold.
ChannelCallsignAffiliationSubchannelsOwnerNotesRF Channel
2.1WJBKFox
2.1 Fox
2.2 Movies!
2.3 Buzzr
2.4 Heroes and Icons
2.5 Decades		Fox Television Stations7
4.1WDIV-TVNBC
4.1 NBC
4.2 This TV
4.3 MeTV
4.4 Cozi TV		Graham Media Group45
7.1WXYZ-TVABC
7.1 ABC
7.2 Bounce TV
7.3 Laff
7.4 Court TV		E.W. Scripps Company41
14.1WHNE-LDLight TV
14.1 Light TV
14.2 Get TV
14.3 Corner Store TV
14.4 HSN2
14.5 SonLife
14.6 classic movies
14.7 Retro TV
14.9 NewsNet
14.12 Heartland		Tait BroadcastingLow-power. Originally located in the Flint market, but moved to the Detroit suburb of Oak Park.20
18.1WDWO-CDAzteca América18.1 Azteca
18.2 Infomercials
18.3 Infomercials
18.4 TCT
18.5 3ABN		HC2 HoldingsHad a low-power translator in Ann Arbor, Michigan on UHF 27 with the callsign WFHD-LP. This translator is still licensed, but is silent.22
19.1WUDL-LDsee right
19.1 infomercials
19.2 SBN
19.3 Shop LC
19.4 Evine
19.5 QVC
19.6 QVC2
19.7 infomercials		King Forward, Inc.Low-power.19
20.1WMYDMyNetworkTV
20.1 MyNetwork TV
20.2 Antenna TV
20.3 Escape		E.W. Scripps Company31
23.1WUDT-LDDaystar23.1 DaystarDaystarLow power.23
28.1WLPC-CDThe Impact Network28.1 ImpactGlenn R. Plummer & Karin A. PlummerVery low power.28
31.1WPXD-TVIon Television
31.1 Ion
31.2 Qubo
31.3 Ion Life
31.4 iShop
31.5 HSN
31.6 QVC		Ion Media Networks, Inc.50
33.1WHPS-CD Independent33.1 Independent
33.2 WHPR-FM simulcast
33.3 WVIE-FM simulcast
33.4 The Dream Network		R. J.'s Late Night Entertainment CorporationLow power33
38.1WADLIndependent38.1 Independent
38.2 Grit
38.3 Get TV
38.4 The Word Network		Adell Broadcasting Corporation39
50.1WKBD-TVThe CW50.1 The CW
50.2 Comet
50.3 Charge!
50.4 TBD		CBS Television Stations34
56.1WTVSPBS
56.1 PBS
56.2 PBS Kids
56.3 Create
56.4 PBS World		Detroit Educational Television Foundation43
62.1WWJ-TVCBS
62.1 CBS
62.2 Start TV		CBS Television Stations44

Canadian viewership

Most of Metro Detroit receives stations from Windsor, most notably, CBC Television owned-and-operated station CBET-DT. As a result of the many Canadian viewers within broadcast range of the Detroit television signals, the stations within Detroit consider them as part of their primary audience. News-wise, WDIV-TV and WJBK include the Canadian communities in Essex, Chatham-Kent, and Lambton Counties within their weather portions, with WJBK even granting the Ontario viewers equal prominence to the other Michigan communities in their county-by-county forecasts. In the past few years, the Detroit stations have also been stepping up their coverage of border-related and Windsor-related news as well.

Out-of-market stations

, southern Washtenaw County, and most Downriver communities in Wayne County also receive television stations from the Toledo market. WGTE recognizes Metro Detroit as part of its primary viewing area and prior to the magazine's discontinuation of local listings in 2005, the Detroit editions of TV Guide; along with TV inserts in the Sunday editions of The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press; listed the aforementioned Toledo stations as well. WGTE, however, is the only station from that market that is carried on cable systems in Wayne County. In the past, WTOL, WTVG and WNWO were carried on United Cable Television's systems in the Downriver communities of Gibraltar, Lincoln Park, Riverview, Trenton and Woodhaven, though WTOL and WTVG were dropped in the late 1980s, while successor company Tele-Communications Inc. continued to carry WNWO in these communities until 1997 when it was dropped due to requests from WDIV.
Eastern Monroe County and Downriver communities located closer to the Detroit River and Lake Erie may receive some stations from Cleveland over-the-air during tropospheric propagation events as Cleveland stations otherwise only reach as far away as parts of Essex County, let alone Downriver, largely due to adjacent channel interference from Detroit and Windsor stations, while Toledo stations only provided city-grade analog signals as far north as Wyandotte and "Grade B" coverage up to the northern reaches of the city of Detroit.
Even though it was largely never listed in most Detroit TV Guide editions but was for a time in the News and Free Press inserts, much of Oakland County, Livingston County, Macomb County and St. Clair County were all within reception range of Flint station WCMZ-TV prior to its April 23, 2018 shutdown. The northernmost areas of Oakland and Livingston Counties along with Lapeer County and Sanilac County are also within range of another Flint station, WJRT-TV, which was in the News and Free Press inserts for a time as well. Lapeer and Sanilac Counties are also served by WSMH, also from Flint; Saginaw station WEYI-TV; and Bay City-licensed WNEM-TV.
Western Washtenaw County and western Livingston County are also within reception range of stations from the Lansing market, notably WLNS-TV, WILX-TV and WKAR-TV, and they were also once carried for a time in the News and Free Press inserts. East of those locations as far east as the Downriver communities in Wayne County, these stations can also be seen during favorable weather conditions, albeit with weaker signals.

Local cable channels

Detroit has the 11th-largest radio market in the United States; this ranking does not take into account Canadian audiences.

AM

Canadian stations

FrequencyCallsignBrandingFormatOwner
580CKWWAM580 CKWWOldiesBell Media Radio
630CFCOCountry 92.9 & AM 630CountryBlackburn Radio
800CKLWAM800News/TalkBell Media Radio
1550CBEFIci Radio-Canada PremièreNews/TalkCanadian Broadcasting Corporation

FM

Canadian stations

FrequencyCallsignBrandingFormatOwner
88.7CIMX89XAlternativeBell Media Radio
89.9CBECBC Radio 2Public RadioCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
93.9CIDR93.9 The RiverAdult Album AlternativeBell Media Radio
95.9CJWFCountry 95.9/92.7CountryBlackburn Radio
96.7CHYRMix 96.7Hot adult contemporaryBlackburn Radio
97.5CBEWCBC Radio OnePublic RadioCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
99.1CJAMCJAM 99.1Campus RadioUniversity of Windsor
100.7CKUE-195.1/100.7 Cool FMAdult HitsBlackburn Radio
102.3CINA102.3FM CINA RadioMultilingualNeeti P. Ray
103.9CJBC-1Ici MusiquePublic MusicCanadian Broadcasting Corporation
105.5CBEF-2Ici Radio-Canada PremièreNews/TalkCanadian Broadcasting Corporation

Weather

Note: When counties are marked with an asterisk, it means that the station can be received in that county, but is not part of the primary service area.
FrequencyCallsignTransmitter LocationCounties Served
162.45 MHzWNG582Sandusky, MichiganHuron, MI, Lapeer, MI, St. Clair, MI, Sanilac, MI, Tuscola, MI*
162.45 MHzWNG647Adrian, MichiganHillsdale, MI, Jackson, MI, Lenawee, MI, Monroe, MI, Washtenaw, MI, Fulton, OH*, Henry, OH*, Lucas, OH*, Wayne, MI*, Williams, OH*
162.55 MHzKEC63Southfield, MichiganLenawee, MI, Livingston, MI, Macomb, MI, Monroe, MI, Oakland, MI, St. Clair, MI, Washtenaw, MI, Wayne, MI, Genesee, MI*, Lapeer, MI*

Internet

Metro Detroit has multiple locally focused and locally owned websites and properties in a variety of digital media formats.
CallsignBrandingFormatOwner
Daily DetroitWhat to know and where to go in Metro DetroitAtlas Media Group
TDCThe DetroitCastDetroit-centric streamed and podcast showRadio For One Studios
Detroit Sports RagDetroit sports commentaryDetroit Sports Rag
DetroitUnspun/TheHUBCovering the transformation of the city
IT in the DDetroit-centric and geek-centric podcast and local tech news websiteIT in the D
PDPodcast DetroitGeneral and tech interest audio programming networkPodcast Detroit
SRDSports Radio DetroitSports Talk and Digital PrintSports Radio Detroit, LLC

Traffic reporting

Traffic reporting has been a primary focus in the Detroit area since CKLW, the 50,000-watt powerhouse radio station located in Windsor, Ontario, Canada but broadcasting to the Detroit, Michigan market helped with producing the concept of traffic reporting They launched their helicopter news and traffic reporting service in the late '70s with Jo-Jo Shutty on board. She became the first female helicopter news and traffic Reporter in North America and later married well-known Canadian/American news anchor Byron MacGregor, the voice of hit recording, "The Americans". These traffic reporting services are now primarily handled by a small variety of broadcasting companies and distributed through various media: radio, television, the Internet, and more recently through cell phones, in-vehicle navigations devices, and satellite radio.
The larger companies having a direct presence in the Detroit market include Westwood One, Traffic.com, and iHeartMedia. They have established affiliate relations with most of the radio and television stations in the Detroit market to produce daily on-air traffic reports.
Westwood One owns and operates three different traffic reporting companies: Metro Networks, Shadow Broadcast Services, and SmartRoute Systems.
Traffic.com focuses primarily on the technology aspect of traffic reporting by producing traffic information for the Internet, radio, and television.
iHeartMedia is the largest owner of radio stations in the United States and produces on-air traffic reports for its own radio stations, and traffic information for in-vehicle navigational devices. They produce their traffic reports under the trademark ‘Total Traffic.’
Most of these broadcasting companies also have working relationships with the local Department of Transportation, local and state police, and government agencies to gather and distribute traffic information through the various media listed above.

AM stations

FrequencyCallsignBrandingFormatOwner
760WJRNews/Talk 760 WJRNews/Talk/SportsCumulus Media
800CKLWCKLW — The Information StationNews/TalkBell Media Radio
950WWJNewsRadio 950, WWJAll-news radioEntercom

FM stations

FrequencyCallsignBrandingFormatOwner
93.9CIDR93-9 The RiverAdult album alternativeBell Media
94.7WCSX94.7 WCSXClassic rockGreater Media
95.5WKQIChannel 9-5-5Pop/CHRiHeartMedia
98.7WDZH98-7 The BreezeSoft adult contemporaryEntercom
100.3WNIC100.3 WNICHot adult contemporaryiHeartMedia
101.1WRIF101 WRIF: The RIFFActive rockGreater Media
101.9WDET101.9 WDETNPR/News/TalkWayne State University
104.3WOMC104.3 WOMCClassic hitsEntercom
106.7WLLZ106.7 Detroit's WheelsClassic rockiHeartMedia

TV stations