WPXD-TV

WPXD-TV, virtual channel 31 (UHF digital channel 50), is an Ion Television owned-and-operated television station serving Detroit, Michigan, United States that is licensed to Ann Arbor, Michigan. The station is owned by Ion Media Networks. WPXD maintains studios and transmitter facilities are located on West 11 Mile Road in Southfield.

History

In 1973, Ann Arbor resident Gershom Morningstar acquired a license from the FCC to operate a local station on UHF channel 31, but lack of funds meant that Morningstar was unable to construct the station. In January 1980, Morningstar sold the license to Satellite Syndicated Systems (SSS) of Oklahoma. SSS gave the station the call letters WRHT, with studios in Chelsea, Michigan.

WRHT signed on the air on January 13, 1981, originally operating as an independent station. The first program broadcast on the station was a college basketball game between the Texas Tech Red Raiders and the Baylor Bears from the TVS Television Network, a national syndicated sports network. This was done largely to test the satellite equipment, which would be utilized further after the switch to In-Home Theatre (see below). Most of channel 31's early programming, was either locally produced or outsourced by other production companies; it also carried business news programming from the Financial News Network (which later merged with CNBC in 1989), as well as some programs from the Satellite Program Network.