WXYZ-TV

WXYZ-TV, Channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station in Detroit. It is owned by The E.W. Scripps Company and is the media company's largest TV station. WXYZ-TV is among the highest-rated ABC stations in the United States. The station's operations and transmitter are located at Broadcast House on West 10 Mile Road in Southfield. It transmits from its 1,073-foot (327 m) antenna tower at 770 kW/305 m (with a construction permit to increase to 1 MW)[2] on digital channel 41 (virtual channel 7 to match previous analog channel and station branding).

Its signal transmits to the Metro Detroit area and the southeast lower Michigan counties. It also covers neighboring Windsor, Ontario and Toledo. WXYZ has the strongest signal outside of Metro Detroit (compared to the other VHF Detroit television stations) near Flint and Lapeer. Its signal can be reached with a good antenna in these areas. WXYZ includes Lapeer County in its service area, even though the station can be viewed in Flint.

WXYZ-TV is on all Detroit area cable systems including Comcast, WOW! and Bright House, plus satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network. The station also serves several other parts of Canada as an ABC affiliate on the Shaw Direct satellite provider and serves several Canadian cable TV markets, including Windsor, London, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Saint John, New Brunswick, all of Manitoba except for areas served by Steinbach or Winnipeg Shaw, and the capital city of Ottawa.

From its sign-on in 1948 until 1986, WXYZ-TV was owned and operated by ABC and was one of their strongest O&Os.

History
WXYZ-TV began broadcasting October 9, 1948, from studios in the Maccabees Building in downtown Detroit, on Woodward Avenue across from the Detroit Institute of Arts. It was the second television station in Michigan, and ABC's third owned and operated (O&O) television station to begin operation. WXYZ-TV was created out of former ABC-owned radio station WXYZ-AM (now WXYT-AM) which produced the popular radio programs The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet. WXYZ-AM radio personality Dick Osgood was host of WXYZ-TV's inaugural broadcast.

In the 1950s WXYZ-TV began producing a series of popular and innovative programs which featured many personalities from WXYZ-AM. The station’s success generated revenues large enough that it became instrumental in financially helping the then struggling ABC network and other ABC ventures during the 1950s, including ABC-Paramount Records. In 1959 all of WXYZ's radio and television operations moved into new broadcast facilities at 'Broadcast House in Southfield, Michigan, where WXYZ's television operations remain. The facility was built on the site of a former farm and included three TV production studios and its own free standing broadcast tower with a single-person maintenance elevator.

By 1978, WXYZ-TV was the second most-dominant television station in the United States in local viewer ratings, no doubt attributed to ABC's prime-time ratings dominance and the continued success of Channel 7 Action News with lead news anchor Bill Bonds. In 1979, ABC named Jeanne Findlater as WXYZ’s general manager. She was the first woman to hold that title at a large market television station.

WXYZ-TV was carried by the Cancom system from 1983 as the ABC signal for Canadian cable television systems too distant to receive a border station over-the-air, though later, a Seattle station was added to Cancom's offerings as a Pacific time zone alternative.

In May 1985, ABC announced it would have to sell WXYZ-TV (which for decades was the only network O&O in Detroit) in order to merge with Capital Cities Communications. The divestiture was necessary to comply with the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) ownership limits of the time. ABC sold the station to the E.W. Scripps Company of Cincinnati, Ohio in 1986. At the time, another prospective bidder for the station was Bill Cosby's Cozzin Communications.[3] ABC did retain some of the assets at WXYZ including the satellite uplink for its satellite news-gathering service ABC News One. ABC had already sold WXYZ-AM two years earlier in 1984 to the radio station's general manager, Chuck Fritz. Under Scripps ownership, WXYZ-TV retained the ABC network affiliation and continued to use ABC's (originally) proprietary "Circle 7."

Scripps used the station's popularity as leverage for Detroit's cable providers to air the Scripps-owned HGTV cable network. Scripps used the FCC's "retransmission consent" rule to force local cable systems to carry HGTV. Under this rule, a television station that is carried on a cable system under "must carry" rules can request cable systems to compensate the station for carrying it.

The station was selected as the site of the first Town Meeting with President Bill Clinton in February 1993, which was hosted by Bill Bonds. President Clinton would address questions from audience members at WXYZ's studios as well as audiences at other television stations via satellite.

A shift in affiliation in 1994 at Detroit's CBS affiliate, WJBK-TV, to the Fox network prompted CBS to attempt to lure WXYZ to drop its ABC affiliation in favor of CBS. To avoid being consigned to the UHF dial in what was then among the nation's ten largest markets, CBS heavily wooed Detroit's longtime ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV. WXYZ's owner, the E.W. Scripps Company, then told ABC that unless it agreed to affiliate with Scripps-owned stations in four smaller markets, it would switch WXYZ to CBS. As a contingency, ABC approached SJL Broadcast Management (now, today's Montecito Broadcast Group) about buying Toledo's WTVG and Flint's WJRT-TV to cover the Detroit area, in the event that WXYZ became a CBS station. Both stations' city-grade signals reached portions of the Detroit area (WTVG to the south, and WJRT-TV to the north).

Eventually, Scripps signed a deal with ABC that would keep WXYZ as an ABC affiliate for the next ten years (and remains an ABC affiliate to this day). As a condition of that agreement, television stations in other cities including Cincinnati, Phoenix, Tampa and Baltimore would lose their ABC affiliation to competing Scripps-owned stations in those cities. CBS purchased independent Detroit station WGPR-TV (now WWJ-TV).

In 2002, WXYZ-TV reached an agreement with Viacom, then-owner of WWJ-TV and UPN affiliate WKBD, in which WKBD canceled the newscast it produced for WWJ-TV, shut down its news department, and contracted with WXYZ to produce WKBD's 10 p.m. newscast. A handful of Viacom's Detroit employees would be transferred to WXYZ. Viacom would also transfer the operations of its CBS News satellite news gathering service CBS Newspath to offices at WXYZ’s Broadcast House, since WXYZ would also be allowed to use the resources of CBS News. The newscast was canceled in late 2004 due to poor viewership, and neither WKBD nor WWJ-TV now air any local newscasts in Detroit.

On October 4, 2006, WXYZ became the first television station in Michigan and the first E.W. Scripps owned station to broadcast all of its newscasts in widescreen high-definition.

On September 21, 2007, Scripps announced that it reached an agreement with Equity Media Holdings to provide programming from the Retro Television Network on a new digital subchannel starting in 2008. Known locally as RTN7, the subchannel offers classic television programs daily from 6AM to 2AM, with infomercials during late-night hours, and sports on Saturday, if necessary.

Equity has since sold RTN to Luken Communications, LLC in June 2008 for financial reasons. Due to the broadcasting disruption of January 2009 between Equity and Luken, RTN7 has switched to the national feed, as opposed to being programmed by Equity and managed by WXYZ-TV, as in the past, starting on January 4, 2009. Equity, Luken, and WXYZ-TV have apparently managed to reach an agreement to allow WXYZ to resume local scheduelling and programming on "RTN 7", and the local feed has been back up as of January 28, 2009.

Programming history
In the 1950s WXYZ-TV created a series of widely popular locally produced children’s programs. The most famous program, Lunch with Soupy, launched the career of comedian Soupy Sales (real name, Milton Supman). The program went on the air in 1953 and was such a success that in 1960 ABC moved production to Los Angeles, and aired the show nationally. Soupy also hosted a very popular adult comedy show during that same period in the 1950s, late at night, at 11:00pm called Soupy's On, with a live band and guest stars and a lot of "pies-in-the-face"! Other successful children’s shows to follow would include Wyxie's Wonderland hosted by Detroit comic Marv Welch. In 1954 Bob Henry, (real name Bob Brickwedde) hosted the Nash Theater Hour on Thursday nights, and hosted western movies, featuring Deadeye and Black Bart on Saturday's as "Sheriff Bob". Ricky the Clown hosted by professional clown and magician Irv Romig and The Johnny Ginger Show hosted by the local comic Johnny Ginger. The Auntie Dee Show hosted by Dee Parker was a popular children’s talent show. In 1974, WXYZ-TV launched and produced another successful children’s show, the nationally syndicated Hot Fudge.

Former WXYZ-TV general manager John Pival is credited for launching several other popular innovative programs in the 1950s and 1960s, including the World Adventure Series with host George Pierrot. The program showed films about exotic locations around the world. Pierrot was an author on world travel and a speaker at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The Lady of Charm and later House O’ Charm with host Edythe Fern Melrose was a predecessor to today’s Martha Stewart home-making programs. Prize Movie with popular host Rita Bell introduced feature films and held a viewer call-in contest to name the title of a song she played on the air. The cash prizes started at $7. Several music programs also aired including Club Polka and Club 1270. WXYZ disc jockey Ed McKenzie also brought his talents to TV with The Ed McKenzie Saturday Party with live musical performances from Chuck Berry and Louis Armstrong.

WXYZ-TV also had a series of popular morning shows, starting with the Pat and Johnny Show, hosted by two WXYZ radio announcers, Pat Tobin and Johnny Slagle. Later in 1966, The Morning Show debuted as a morning variety program with host Bob Hynes. The station also helped to launch the career of Dennis Wholey, who started his AM Detroit talk-show at WXYZ before going on to WTVS to host PBS Late Night. The most popular and successful WXYZ morning talk show was Kelly & Company. That show was hosted by a married couple who were both former WXYZ news announcers, John Kelly (news anchor) and Marilyn Turner (weathercaster). The show ran at 9 a.m. weekdays from 1978 to 1995. It was primarily a talk show with featured guests and a studio audience. In 1984 Turner and Kelly would also host the short-lived afternoon program, Good Afternoon Detroit. The program was a pilot for other ABC owned stations in New York, Chicago and elsewhere to launch their own Good Afternoon... shows.

In 1965, the Sunday morning public affairs show Spotlight on the News debuted with WXYZ's news director Bill Fyffe as its first host. The show was later hosted by political reporter Jim Harrington and continues to air today with WXYZ editorial and public affairs director Chuck Stokes as its host, writer and producer. Spotlight is now Detroit's longest running current events television program. It has featured local and national public officials including U.S. Presidents, and won numerous awards. Another public affairs show that aired Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. from 1967 to 1981 was Haney’s People' with host Don Haney.

WXYZ-TV has also been involved in several Detroit traditions over the years, having aired special coverage of Detroit's Thanksgiving Day Parade, The North American International Auto Show Charity Preview', the annual Woodward Dream Cruise and the City of Detroit's celebrations of its 250th anniversary in 1951 and 300th anniversary in 2001. WXYZ's special coverage has also included the victory parades of the city's professional sports teams, most recently the Detroit Red Wings' Stanley Cup victory in 2008 and the Detroit Pistons' NBA championship in 2004. WXYZ is also the official broadcaster of the Christmas parade in Rochester, Michigan.

In 1987, the station created and produced a weekly educational literacy program aimed at children called Learn To Read, which was based on the "Michigan Method" of literacy education, with co-production by Kentucky Educational Television. One of the hosts of this series was Doris Biscoe, then one of the anchors of Channel 7 Action News.

During Game 2 of the 2004 NBA Finals in Detroit, Jimmy Kimmel appeared on ABC's halftime show to make an on-air plug for that night's episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live. He suggested that if the Detroit Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, "they're gonna burn the city of Detroit down ... and it's not worth it." Channel 7 officials immediately announced that night's show would not air on the station. Hours later, ABC officials pulled that night's show from the entire network. Kimmel later apologized.[4]

On September 27, 2007, WXYZ Vice President & General Manager Grace Gilchrist announced her retirement after 13 years at WXYZ, effective at the end of 2007.[5] Her replacement is Bob Sliva, WXYZ's broadcast television management and sales executive.[6]

As of May 21, 2010, the WXYZ-TV 24/7 Weather station that was on digital channel 7.3 has been discontinued. This digital channel that broadcast Doppler Radar and current conditions 24/7 will now be exclusive to mobile TV.

Despite preempting shows for special events (i.e., Woodward Dream Cruise, etc.), WXYZ-TV is one of the few ABC affiliates in a U.S. major market that runs the entire ABC schedule.

Digital television
WXYZ-TV's digital channel, 41, is multiplexed, with the following lineup: After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion took place on June 12, 2009,[7] WXYZ-TV continues on its current pre-transition channel number, 41.[8] However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers will display the station's virtual channel as 7. After WXYZ-TV shut down its analog signal on channel 7 after over 60 years, Metro Detroit's WJBK channel 2 moved its digital signal to the channel 7 allocation. WXYZ-TV's third digital subchannel formerly carried weather radar, but in June 2010 this was removed without an explanation.

Coverage
WXYZ is carried on most cable systems in Southeast Michigan, Southwestern Ontario, and Northwestern Ohio. Coverage on cable systems outside the Detroit/Windsor market may be subject to syndex and network blackouts in the United States and simsubbing in Canada. The station can be received from as far away as Flint, Michigan with a good-quality antenna. It is also carried on cable in Grand Marais, Michigan.

Action News
WXYZ's former Action News opening, complementing being the first Detroit newscast in HD.===History=== WXYZ-TV’s news department has held a longtime dominance of TV news in Detroit partly due to the popularity of long time lead news anchor Bill Bonds. The station’s news department started as a small operation but would gain credibility for its coverage of the Detroit 1967 race riot. In the 1970s WXYZ began an aggressive build up of its news department. The station adopted many elements of the Eyewitness News format, such as the Cool Hand Luke news music, that were being used to build up news departments at ABC's four other O&O television stations in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. However, it opted to call its newscast Action News. Under the direction of general manager Jim Osborn and news director Phil Nye, the station would lure popular news personalities from its rival stations, WJBK-TV and WDIV-TV (known then as WWJ-TV), to join its already well-known anchors Dave Diles and Bill Bonds. WXYZ assembled Detroit’s most popular news anchors and reporters such as John Kelly, Jac LeGoff, Al Ackerman, Marilyn Turner, Jack McCarthy, Jerry Hodak, Don Lark, and Doris Biscoe. The station launched a promotional campaign to introduce its new anchor team: “Bonds, Kelly, Ackerman, Turner... Channel 7's Action News Team. We got who you wanted!”

By 1973, Channel 7 Action News, for the first time ever, became the highest-rated newscast in Detroit and has held the lead ever since. Its success was linked to the serious, controversial, opinionated hard delivery of lead anchor Bill Bonds. ABC tried to apply Bonds’ success in Detroit at KABC-TV in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, and again in 1975 at WABC-TV in New York; in both cases, he soon returned to WXYZ. During the 1980s and 1990s, Bonds hosted the interview segment, Up Front, on WXYZ's 5 p.m. Action News. During the interviews Bonds confronted Detroit’s public officials and newsmakers with hard-hitting and sometimes controversial questions. Bonds’ hard-edge style was widely known in Detroit for captivating viewers and repulsing others. Bonds became the station's icon and its main star. In the Ron Powers book, The Newscasters, Powers called Bonds "one of the 6 most influential news anchors in the country." However, Bonds had some public battles with alcoholism that is credited with his dismissal from the station in 1995. Bonds anchored newscasts and a late night talk-show at WJBK-TV and later hosted a radio show at WXYT-AM. Bonds returned to WXYZ-TV in 1999 to present editorials during the newscasts, but left the station after several months to star in local TV and radio commercials.

WXYZ’s ratings dominance was challenged by WDIV-TV in the 1980s. The two stations continue a head to head battle for ratings to this day. In recent years the station's news coverage has been awarded with several high journalism honors including the George Foster Peabody and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards. WXYZ’s Action News was named the best TV newscast in the U.S. by United Press International. The station was awarded as the top television station in America for outstanding community service. WXYZ is a partner in several charitable endeavors including the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul, Operation Can-Do and Detroit's annual children's immunization fair.

In the 1990s, WXYZ continued to expand its morning newscast, Action News This Morning to the present start time of 5 a.m. This newscast started as short news updates during Good Morning America. One of its long-time co-anchors was Erik Smith. Smith was at Channel 7, off and on, for over 40 years. During most of that time, Smith also served as a reporter of human-interest and Entertainment stories for Action News. Smith had also won acclaim for his award winning series From the Heart. The series, which began in the late 1990s, was a collection of heartwarming, historical and inspirational stories from around the Detroit area. Smith left the station in May 2010 after station management wanted to demote him from anchor of Action News This Morning to doing feature stories part-time. Smith ended up leaving five days before the end of his contract. Many long-time viewers of Action News This Morning were very upset at the departure of Smith, and it is unclear whether WXYZ-TV's high morning news ratings will survive his departure. Smith is currently working on an internet venture with another former Channel 7 personality, Captain Dennis Neubaucher.

In 2001 WXYZ's Action News expanded again and returned to airing a 7 p.m. newscast. The move was spurred after the September 11 attacks when the station moved ABC’s World News Tonight ahead a half-hour to 6:30 p.m.. Action News at 7 PM became a forum for interviewing guests and newsmakers on daily issues and became a ratings success in key demographics. The station also expanded its Action News at Noon broadcast to one hour. Action News has continued its success with long-time anchors Diana Lewis, Robbie Timmons, meteorologist Jerry Hodak, sportscaster Don Shane and up until October 9, 2006, anchor Frank Turner who became a successful replacement to Bill Bonds. Another recent addition is anchor Stephen Clark, a former anchor at WCBS-TV and CBS News correspondent. Chief Meteorologist Jerry Hodak was the station's primary weathercaster for at least 26 of his more than 40 years in Detroit television. On July 28, 2010, Hodak announced he will retire from WXYZ-TV on September 23, 2010. In 2006, WXYZ also boasted the most veteran general assignment reporters in Detroit TV with Cheryl Chodun, Bill Proctor, Mary Conway and Val Clark, each of whom had at least 20 years with the station.

In the November 2006 ratings period, shortly after the switch to HD, all of WXYZ's newscasts placed first in their respective timeslots except at 11 p.m. behind WDIV.[9] From the November 2007 ratings period until before the May 2009 ratings period, WXYZ's Action News was the number one newscast in all their respective timeslots.[10] Coupled with a strong syndicated programming lineup and top-ranked ABC prime-time programming, WXYZ has been the number one-ranked station in Detroit, from sign-on to sign-off. It has remained one of ABC's strongest affiliates since the network itself sold the station although WDIV took over first place in the evening and late news timeslots in the May 2009 sweeps period, due largely to the weakening of the ratings of the lead-ins to WXYZ's news programs. Both WXYZ and WDIV have been among the country's strongest affiliates of their respective networks over the years.

WXYZ-TV’s Special Projects department is home to the station’s investigative and consumer reporters and producers. It recently gained notoriety with Chief Investigative Reporter Steve Wilson and his stories of financial mismanagement at the Kmart Corporation, an undercover investigation that exposed high-pressure sales tactics used by a well-known financial firm, and confrontations with elected officials in Detroit, especially Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

On August 7, 2008, Mayor Kilpatrick appeared in front of a judge in Wayne County Circuit Court. The hearing was called to discuss a potential violation of his bond in one of the two felony cases against him. The hearing was called after Steve Wilson uncovered and revealed photos of the mayor in nearby Windsor, Ontario, Canada. A stipulation of the mayor's bond was that he was not to leave the country, and that he give the court 72 hours' notice if he planned to leave the state of Michigan for any reason. Mayor Kilpatrick was then ordered to spend the night in the Wayne County jail.

On November 30, 2009, WXYZ introduced their new graphics package for their newscast. These graphics are identical to those being utilized by all Scripps-owned stations. Also, WXYZ is the only station in Detroit to produce and air all its promos, commercials and other recordings in high definition.

[edit] Newscast titles

 * The Big News (1960–1964)
 * Channel 7 News (1964–1968)
 * The 11th Hour News (ca. 1968)
 * Channel 7 News / 7 News (1968–1969)
 * Newsbeat 7 / Supernews (1969)
 * Channel 7 News (1970)
 * WXYZ-TV 7 News (1970–1971)
 * Channel 7 Action News (1971–1997 and 1999–present)
 * WXYZ 7 Action News (1997–1999)

[edit] Station slogans
This film, television or video-related list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it with reliably sourced additions.====[edit] Newscast music====
 * Cool Hand Luke: The Tar Sequence - Lalo Schifrin (1969–1982)
 * So Good To Turn To - Frank Gari (1982–1984)
 * News Series 2000 - Frank Gari (1984–1996)
 * News Series 2000 Plus - Frank Gari (1991–1996)
 * Spirit Of Detroit - Joe Hogue Productions (now HitPlay) (1996–2000)
 * Ignitor - 615 Music (2000–2001)
 * Eyewitness News - Frank Gari (2001–2009)
 * Scripps TV News Music Package - Musikvergnuegen (2009–present)
 * Spotlight on the News - Theme Song - Sidney Howard, Lake Gennesaret SPS (2000–Present)

[edit] Movie umbrella titles

 * The 4:30 Movie (1968–1977)
 * The 4:00 Movie (1977–1982)
 * Cinema Seven (1982–present)

[edit] Current on-air staff

 * Anchors
 * Stephen Clark - weeknights at 6, 7 and 11 p.m.
 * Carolyn Clifford - weeknights at 7 and 11 p.m.; also Carolyn's Health Edge reporter
 * Vic Faust - weekday mornings "Action News This Morning" and noon
 * Michael Rosenfield - weekend mornings "Action News This Morning": also weekday field reporter
 * Dave LewAllen - weekends at 6 and 11 p.m. also weekday field reporter
 * Diana Lewis - weeknights at 5 and 6 p.m.
 * Glenda Lewis - weekends at 6 and 11 p.m.; also weekday field reporter 3 days a week
 * JoAnne Purtan - weekdays at noon and 5 p.m.; also "Don't Waste Your Money" consumer reporter
 * Anu Prakash - weekend mornings "Action News This Morning" also weekday field reporter
 * Alicia Smith - weekday mornings "Action News This Morning"; also fill-in noon anchor and weekday field reporter
 * Doppler 7 Weather
 * Dave Rexroth (AMS Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights 5, 6, 7 and 11 p.m.
 * Sean Ash (NWA Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekend evenings, also weekday fill-in
 * Olga Breese (AMS member; NWA member) - meteorologist; weekend mornings, also weekday fill-in
 * Keenan Smith (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist; weekday mornings and noon
 * Sports team
 * Don Shane - sports director; weeknights at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.
 * Tom Leyden - sports anchor; weekends at 6 and 11 p.m., also sports reporter
 * Reporters
 * Heather Catallo - investigative reporter (The Investigators); also fill-in weekend anchor
 * Cheryl Chodun - general assignment reporter
 * Val Clark - general assignment reporter
 * Mary Conway - general assignment reporter; also fill-in holiday anchor
 * Kimberly Craig - general assignment reporter
 * Scott Lewis - general assignment reporter
 * Christy McDonald - general assignment reporter; also fill-in holiday anchor
 * Erin Nicole - traffic reporter ("Traffic Tracker 7")
 * Bill Proctor - general assignment reporter
 * Michael Rosenfield - general assignment reporter; weekend mornings "Action News This Morning"
 * Brandon Truttling - general assignment reporter
 * Bill Spencer - consumer and investigative reporter ("Call For Action" and "7 On Your Side")
 * Tom Wait - general assignment reporter
 * Anu Prakash - general assignment reporter; weekend mornings "Action News This Morning"
 * Contributors
 * Carter Evans - NYSE correspondent
 * Ramy Inocencio - NYSE correspondent
 * Jeanne Yurman - NYSE correspondent
 * Tom Long - film critic; also seen in The Detroit News

Notable former on-air staff

 * Al Ackerman
 * Kim Adams - meteorologist, left for WDIV
 * Dennis Archer - 1970s public affairs show host, later mayor of Detroit
 * Betty Bahr
 * J.D. Beemer
 * Rita Bell
 * Jay Berry
 * Bill Bonds (early 1960s-1968) (1971-1975) (1976-1995)
 * Doris Biscoe (1973-2000)
 * Chris Bradley - weather, now at WBNS-TV
 * Blake Chenault - now with WOIO-TV
 * Jerry Chiappetta
 * Kristin Smith - now with KSA
 * Denise Dador - health reporter and weekend anchor, now with KABC-TV
 * Dave Diles (1961-1972, 1979-1982) - Sports Director, also was at ABC
 * Joe Ducey - investigative reporter (Newshawk, Special Assignment), now at KNXV-TV
 * Rick Edlund - later at WDIV, now at KDAF
 * Dayna Eubanks - later at WJBK-TV, then WKRC-TV
 * Rich Fisher - later at WJBK & WKBD
 * Ken Ford
 * Tim Fritz
 * Steve Garagiola - sports, now weekend news anchor at WDIV
 * Suzanne Geha - now with WOOD-TV
 * Johnny Ginger
 * Guy Gordon (1980-2004) - now with WDIV
 * Gordon Graham - later with CNN Headline News
 * Solon Gray
 * John Gross - now on the faculty of NPPA NewsVideo Workshop
 * Steve Handelsman (1978-1984) - investigative reporter, fill-in anchor, now with WRC-TV
 * Don Haney
 * Chris Hansen - later with WDIV, now with NBC News
 * Mark Hayes - now with WAGA-TV
 * Trudy Haynes - later with KYW-TV
 * Sandy Heng
 * Jim Herrington (1965-1993)
 * Mike Holfeld - now at WKMG-TV
 * Mike Huckman - now with CNBC
 * Bob Hynes
 * Harry Jarkey
 * Jerry Jorgenson
 * John Kelly
 * Mike Kenny (1969-1972) - later at WJR
 * Mary Kay Kleist - now with WBBM-TV
 * John Klekamp - now with News 12 New Jersey
 * Stu Klitenic
 * Rob Kress
 * Don Lark
 * Chris Lawrence - now with CNN's Los Angeles bureau
 * Jac Le Goff (1975-1983)
 * Gordon Loesch - now with WPXI-TV
 * Jim Madaus - now doing weather at WWJ-TV
 * Ven Marshall (1968-1985)
 * Jack McCarthy - anchor/reporter. Also, "The Friday Feast" segments. Retired in Florida
 * Lee McNew - the station's first news anchor (1960-1964)
 * Edythe Fern Melrose
 * Barney Morris (1964-1969)
 * Chad Myers - now a meteorologist at CNN
 * Dick Osgood
 * Alan Phillips
 * Alan Pinter (booth announcer 1971-90s)
 * Kurt Rivera - now with KBAK-TV
 * Shay Ryan - now with WWOR-TV
 * Soupy Sales - deceased
 * Ray Sayah - now with CNN under the name Reza Sayah
 * Johnny Slagle
 * Shelley Smith - now at NBC News
 * Joe Spencer - later with ABC News, killed in 1986
 * Dan Springer - now with Fox News
 * Jerry Stanecki
 * John Stromberg
 * Robbie Timmons - Noon and 5pm Anchor
 * Teresa Tomeo - now the host of the nationally-syndicated radio show Catholic Connection; also, a media consultant & nationally-renowned speaker
 * Ken Thomas (1966-1969)
 * Pat Tobin
 * Frank Turner (1990-98, 2000-06)
 * Marilyn Turner
 * Vince Wade
 * Kathy Walsh - now with KCNC-TV
 * Don Wattrick
 * Marv Welch
 * Steve Wilson (Chief Investigative Reporter)
 * Fred Wolf
 * Glenn Zimmerman - now with WNBC
 * Erik Smith - weekday morning anchor (1962-2010) contract not renewed

Logos and imaging
In the 1950s, WXYZ used the 'A' adent the ABC network used, with a '7' in the letter as its logo. It was similar to the logos other ABC O&O stations used at that time. In 1962, WXYZ, along with other ABC O&Os across the country, introduced the famous Circle 7. The Circle 7, which is common among ABC Channel 7s, is still used to this day.

In the late 1990s, WXYZ started to integrate the current ABC logo into the Circle 7, much like ABC O&Os across the country. WXYZ did this for general programming purposes, and for promos in relation to the ABC network. The ABC logo is to the right of the Circle 7, instead of to the left like it is for the standard ABC O&Os and affiliates across the country. The idea was suspended briefly from 2001–2004, but was brought back in early 2004.

In early 2009, the 7 ABC logo (the ABC logo integrate into the circle 7) became more prominently used with the station. Instead of being used just for general programming purposes, the 7 ABC logo is now the official logo used for the station.

On June 3, 2009, WXYZ updated its news opening, using the 7 ABC logo. On top of that, the on-screen bug used for the newscasts also displays the 7 ABC logo. The design is similar to that of sister station WEWS in Cleveland and the ABC O&Os across the country, like KABC in Los Angeles.

On November 30, 2009, WXYZ updated its news opening again, using the same graphics package as other EW Scripps stations. The music was updated as well, giving the station an edgier feel. The 7 ABC bug is also used for the graphics package.

WXYZ has used several campaigns over the years. In the 1970s, Channel 7 used the "We've Got Who You Wanted" campaign to launch the famous news team of Bill Bonds, John Kelly, Marilyn Turner, and Al Ackerman. In the mid 1980s, WXYZ used the "Stand Up and Tell 'em You're from Detroit" campaign (based on Frank Gari's "Turn to News" package) to emphasize the station's commitment to the community.

As an ABC owned and operated station, WXYZ also localized several ABC fall campaigns. "Still the One" was one of the most notable campaigns Channel 7 used in the late 1970s.