WMYD

WMYD, virtual channel 20 (UHF digital channel 21), is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station located in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The station is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, owners of ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV (channel 7), who operates WMYD as a duopoly.

WMYD maintains studio facilities located at the American Center Building on Franklin Road in Southfield;master control and traffic responsibilities for WMYD originate from centralcasting facilities at the studios of sister stations ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV at Broadcast House 4 miles southeast, also in Southfield; WMYD maintains transmitter facilities located on Eight Mile Road in Oak Park, along the Oakland and Wayne County line. On cable, the station is available on Comcast channel 3 and in high definition on digital channel 235.

History

As an independent station

The station first signed on the air on September 15, 1968 as WXON-TV, broadcasting on UHF channel 62 and operating as an independent station. It moved to channel 20 in 1972 after two short-lived stations abandoned the frequency in the 1950s and 1960s. WPAG-TV in Ann Arbor was first assigned to channel 20 and started broadcasting in April 1953. Little is known about WPAG except that it was owned by the same people (Washtenaw Broadcasting) who operated WPAG radio (1050 AM, now WTKA) and that it suspended operations in December 1957 in a futile attempt to get an allocation move to VHF channel 12. That station may have also been a DuMont affiliate. In 1967, WJMY-TV in Allen Park was awarded a construction permit for channel 20 but never made it to the air except for a brief test signal one night in 1968. This consisted merely of a card displaying its calls and city of license. In November 1972, WXON purchased WJMY's construction permit and moved to channel 20. WGPR-TV (now CBS owned-and-operated station WWJ-TV) took over the channel 62 frequency in 1975.