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| Channels | |
| Branding | CBS 58 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WBME-CD, WMLW-TV, WYTU-LD | |
| History | |
First air date | November 10, 1988 |
Former channel number(s) |
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| Independent (1988–1994) | |
Call sign meaning | Original permit holders Debra Jackson and John Torres[1] |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 71427 |
| ERP | 1,000 kW |
| HAAT | 351 m (1,152 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°6′42″N 87°55′50″W / 43.11167°N 87.93056°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WDJT-TV (channel 58) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting alongside three other stations in southeastern Wisconsin: independent station WMLW-TV (channel 49), MeTV station WBME-CD (channel 41), and Telemundo affiliate WYTU-LD (channel 63). The stations share studios in the Renaissance Center office complex on South 60th Street in West Allis; WDJT-TV's transmitter is located in Milwaukee's Lincoln Park.
Channel 58 went on the air in November 1988 as a lower-tier independent station subsisting on classic reruns and movies, as well as programs not aired by Milwaukee's network affiliates. The construction permit had originally been awarded to a company owned by two minority stockholders, whose initials are preserved in the station's call letters. However, the terminal illness of one of the partners created funding problems only solved when the surviving partner sold controlling interest to Weigel, who eventually became sole owner. WDJT-TV gradually increased its profile in the market over the course of the early 1990s, notably by carrying gavel-to-gavel coverage of the murder trial of Jeffrey Dahmer.
In 1994, Milwaukee's then-CBS affiliate, WITI, announced it would switch to Fox. This decision led to an especially lengthy search by CBS for a new affiliate in Milwaukee. The other Milwaukee independents and WDJT-TV alike initially rebuffed the network's overtures, leaving CBS scrambling for a new affiliate with only weeks before WITI was due to join Fox. Channel 58 finally committed to becoming a CBS affiliate just six days before doing so on December 11, 1994. Over the next two years, WDJT-TV started a local news operation—which has since expanded to provide news programming for two additional Weigel stations in the market and throughout the day—and built a new transmitter tower to provide a full-market signal, which it had previously lacked. The station has since helped Weigel launch new national digital multicast networks.
- ^ Golembiewski 2008, p. 456.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WDJT-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.