WJBK-TV went on the air for the first time on October 24, 1948. It was the third television station in Detroit to sign on, following WWJ-TV (channel 4, now WDIV-TV) and WXYZ-TV (channel 7), all of which signed on within a 14-month period. Despite being a major television market, Detroit only had three VHF allocations because it was sandwiched between Flint (channel 12) and Saginaw (channel 5) to the north, Lansing (channels 6 and 10) to the west, Toledo (channels 11 and 13) to the south, and Cleveland (channels 3, 5, and 8) to the east. As a result, WJBK was given the final VHF channel in Detroit.