The first African American television station owned and operated solely by African Americans was WGPR-TV.  WGPR-TV, based in Detroit, Michigan, was founded by William Venoid Banks, who was a Detroit attorney, leading member of the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons (who also had their hands in helping to create the television station), and minister, with the intention to reach an urban African American audience in the community.

September 29, 1975, was the debut of WGPR-TV on channel 62.  WGPR-TV focused on broadcasting R&B music shows, older cartoons, religious shows, and off-network dramas, such as Big City News and The Scene.  WGPR stood for, Where God’s Presence Radiates.^[1]  William Venoid Banks served as the television station’s president and general manager until 1985, when he passed away.^[2]

WGPR TV Programs

The development of WGPR-TV did several things for the African American community in Detroit, including offering jobs.  Several people were hired to work behind the scenes of the television station in a variety of positions, such as directing, producing, and several other roles which would place content on-air.

Anyone could be hired for the position as the television station offered great training and experience. Because of WGPR-TV’s 800,000 watt signal, compared to other company’s 2 million watt signal, the audience of the television station failed to branch out of the urban African American community in Detroit.

Furthermore, in 1980, Black Entertainment Television (BET) gave WGPR-TV their biggest competition to that point.  By 1990, WGPR-TV was mainly airing infomercials and reruns.  The station was eventually sold to CBS amongst controversy as several members of the African American community felt it should remain under complete African American control.

About two months after taking WGPR-TV over, CBS changed the audience to a more general audience and the name of the station to WWJ-TV.^[3]

Today, there is a nonprofit called the WGPR TV Historical Society which states on their facebook page their mission is to preserve the history of the first African American owned and operated television station, WGPR-TV, with a museum established at the original location of the television station.^[4]

_{^[1] WGPR-TV (1975–1995) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. Accessed November 13, 2017. http://www.blackpast.org/aah/wgpr-tv-1975-1995.}

_{^[2] “WGPR.” Wikipedia. November 05, 2017. Accessed November 13, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGPR.}

_{^[3] WGPR-TV (1975–1995) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed. Accessed November 13, 2017. http://www.blackpast.org/aah/wgpr-tv-1975-1995.}

_{^[4] “Telling Our Story.” Facebook – Log In or Sign Up. Accessed November 13, 2017. https://www.facebook.com/pg/Telling-Our-Story-143405645828708/about/?ref=page_internal.}