WJBK - Programming

Programming

Some of WJBK's early productions included popular children's shows. Milky's Movie Party starring Milky the Clown, played by magician Clarence R. Cummings, Jr, was one of the station's first locally produced children's programs from 1950 to 1955. The program was sponsored by the Twin Pines Dairy and featured a mix of cartoons and Westerns with Cummings performing magic tricks with other acts in front of a live audience. Cummings would eventually take the Milky character to WXYZ-TV and the former WWJ-TV.

Other original WJBK children's programs included a cowboy themed show with Sagebrush Shorty, played by ventriloquist Ted Lloyd, with his sidekick dummy Skinny Dugan that aired from 1956 to 1960, featuring a mix of children's activities and various other characters that interacted with Lloyd. That program was followed by another WJBK children's favorite, Jungle-La with wildlife expert “B'wana” Don Hunt that aired from 1960 to 1963. Hunt with his sidekick chimpanzee Bongo Bailey hosted cartoons and taught viewers about various wildlife. Hunt moved to Africa in 1964 and managed a wildlife preserve in Kenya responsible for saving some species from extinction. After airing first on the former WWJ-TV and CKLW-TV, performer Art Cervi would obtain the Bozo the Clown franchise for Detroit and perform the character at WJBK beginning in 1975. During its run at the station the program would be syndicated from WJBK to cities including New York City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Wichita, Kansas.

WJBK also produced one of Detroit's first morning talk shows, Ladies' Day with Chuck Bergeson that aired from 1952 to 1959. The hour long show included games and contests and interviews with the biggest stars of the time including Lucille Ball and Red Skelton. Bergeson also hosted other WJBK shows in the 1950s including Your TV Golf Pro and The Name Game. From 1967 to 1983 Sir Graves Ghastly, played by actor Lawson J. Deming, hosted WJBK's assorted sci-fi and horror movies on Saturday afternoons. The humorous character became a popular figure in Detroit television. Deming had originally come to the station as a puppeteer and voice actor for the children's program Woodrow the Woodsman when that show moved from WKYC-TV/Cleveland to WJBK in 1966. He would also play the character in Cleveland and on WTOP-TV in Washington, D.C. at the same time.

With This Ring was a nationally-syndicated religious program produced at the studios of WJBK from the early 1970s through the mid-1990s. The weekly 15 minute show hosted by Roman Catholic priest Raymond Schlinkert featured lectures and advice about marriage and family life. The program appeared on several U.S. commercial stations, usually shown immediately following the station's sign-on or before sign-off on Sundays.

WJBK would also produce Sunday public affair/interview shows over the years including Focus Detroit hosted by reporters Woody Willis and Beverly Payne in 1973. Sunday in Detroit hosted by news anchor Kathy O'Brien would air around 1980 and WJBK business reporter and news anchor Murray Feldman also hosted a Sunday business and financial program in the mid 1990s. WJBK produced a local version of the syndicated program PM Magazine from 1978 to the mid-1980s. The show changed titles and hosts over the years starting as PM Magazine and then PM Detroit. Its hosts included Ronnie Klemmer, Lorrie Kapp, Gary Cubberly and Mattie Majors. The station was also the Detroit home and active participant for comedian Jerry Lewis' annual Labor Day MDA Telethon for several years.

From 1983 to 1986, popular WJR morning radio host J. P. McCarthy hosted an evening interview show with newsmakers and people of interest called JP. He also previously hosted sports interview show specials through the 1970s. In 1995 former WXYZ-TV news anchor Bill Bonds hosted the 11 p.m. talk/interview show, Bonds Tonight. Bonds eventually would end up anchoring and reporting on WJBK's newscasts.

WJBK has also aired some of television's most popular syndicated programming over the years including The Phil Donahue Show, The Muppet Show, Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Family Feud, The Mike Douglas Show, Too Close for Comfort, The Merv Griffin Show, The People's Court, The Arsenio Hall Show and Martha Stewart Living as well as reruns of Cheers, Taxi and Seinfeld.