WWDT, owned by by Evening News Corp., made Detroit's first public demonstration of television on October 23, 1946. A day of programming was telecast from the Penobscot building to Convention Hall, just three miles away. This was a one-day event, and WWDT started broadcasting with a regular schedule on March 4, 1947. They changed their call sign to WWJ-TV later that year.
Here are photos of the 1946 telecast:
The audience at Convention Hall
Left to right: George Hunter, William Kuinzel and Henry Fraser
Left to right: Dr. Louis Gariepy, Admiral Chester Nimitz and Andrew Kirkpatrick
Right Reverend Frank W. Creighton. Cameraman is Frank Tantello
WWJ-TV Photos from 1947-48
1947 camera
Courtesy of Chuck Pharis
Control panel - audio is on the right, video on the left (July 1947)