Celebrating the First Black Owned and Operated TV Station, WGPR

(CBS Detroit) - WGPR historical society is a non-profit dedicated to preserving the history of the first Black-owned and operated television station in the country.

WGPR first went on air on Channel 62 in 1975.

Now the station is conserving its trailblazing contributions with the William V. Banks Museum.

On MLK Day in 2016, a Michigan historical marker was placed at the building in recognition of the station's legacy.

The site is also home to FM 107.5 a radio signal that launched in September 1961.

Koffey Brown, WGPR Marketing Director said, "When you think about people like Shaun Robinson got her start here, doing news here right this very building and then you have the scene that was here. Everybody knows RJ Watkins, everybody knows Nat Morris. This place is one of the biggest I'd say historical places in Detroit because it's so many people who came out of here. It's a landmark."

The William V. Banks Broadcast Museum is owned by the international free and accepted modern masons.

The William V. Banks Broadcast Museum is the brainchild of Karen Hudson Samuels, who was a former anchor at WGPR-TV 62 and museum director.

WGPR-TV 62 was sold to CBS in 1995, which is now CW50's sister station.

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