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Hi Jeff,
Channel 4 in Detroit (originally WWDT then WWJ) was the 6th station to go on the air in the US on March 4 1947. (they had been operating experimentally since October 23, 1946) It was originally owned and operated by the Detroit News, becoming the NBC affiliate on March 31, 1948. Channel 4 in Cleveland (WNBK) went on the air on October 31, 1948 as an NBC affiliate.
By FCC mandate in 1953, WNBK swapped channels with Channel 3 WLWC in Columbus to eliminate interference they were causing on WWJ.
The Windsor/Cleveland issue is murkier. WXEL Channel 9 in Cleveland went on the air on December 17 1949 while CBET (originally CKLW-TV) Channel 9 Windsor went on the air on September 16, 1954. Why a station was allowed to go on the air on a same channel as a nearby city after the 1953 FCC-dictated frequency realignment is unclear. Perhaps some issue between the US and Canada allowed this to happen. Also, it seems strange that WXEL was made to change their assignment rather than CKLW since they were operating years before CKLW, unless they wanted to change their assignment for other reasons.
Darryl
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