Television comes to Detroit - 1946/1947

[benman94]

Originally Posted by dieseljeep

It looks like Detroit got TV almost a year before Milwaukee did, May 1948.
When we got a TV, I was about 4YO. The local programs weren't that great and programing first started at 3:00 PM. One channel carried all the programing from the various networks, NBC, Dumont etc.

Earlier than that even. WWDT signed on temporarily in October of 1946, conducted unpublicized, but frequent, tests in November and December of 1946, went dark for January 1947, then resumed tests in February for a planned March 1947 introduction of regularly scheduled programs 5 to 7 days a week.

This didn't pan out due to techincal issues. Tests continued through May, and finally in June 1947, WWJ started regular, daily programming.

I consider the station to have brought television to the city in October of 1946, as at least some members of the public purchased recievers in advance of the test as reported by the newspapers, and thus could have, and likely did, see the October telecast from the comfort of their living rooms.