NBC; originally WWJ-TV from 1947 to 1978), as well as two of the market's former legacy independent stations, WMYD (Channel 20, formerly WXON-TV and WDWB) and WKBD (Channel 50). Channel 4 was the original Tiger television outlet, carrying games from 1947 to 1952, and again for a twenty-season run from 1975 to 1994. Channel 4, at least during a time when NBC's ratings were sagging during the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, was one of a handful of the network's affiliates that was either a primary outlet or an affiliate of the local/regional baseball team. Significant in the Tiger broadcasting network were television stations owned by Tigers' owner John Fetzer, including WKZO-TV (now WWMT) in Kalamazoo, WLNS in Lansing, WJRT in Flint, WWTV and WWUP-TV in northern Michigan, and even some television stations in Nebraska, namely KOLN-TV in Lincoln and its satellite in Grand Island, Nebraska. WJBK took over the Tigers telecasts starting with the 1953 season, and carried games until the end of the 1974 season; since 2007, the station simulcasts the team's home opener each season from Fox Sports Detroit. WKBD, for many years known as Detroit's leading independent TV station, as well as the longtime over-the-air TV home of the Red Wings and Pistons, televised Tigers games starting in 1995 (when it was an UPN owned-and-operated station) until 2003. WMYD televised selected Tigers games only for the 2006 season, and as WXON-TV and the local affiliate of the ONTV subscription TV service, Channel 20 also showed the team's games from 1981 to 1983. Pro-Am Sports System (PASS), originally started in 1982, became the regional cable outlet for the Tigers starting in 1984, after the network was purchased by then-Tigers team owner Tom Monaghan. Monaghan sold PASS to Post-Newsweek Stations (now Graham Media Group) in 1992, after he sold the Tigers to local pizza magnate and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch. PASS, thereafter, re-located its operations to the WDIV studio/office facility in Downtown Detroit. PASS shut down operations in 1997, after the Red Wings, Tigers, and Pistons all elected to sign-with and helped launch Fox Sports Detroit. Former TV announcers Ty Tyson (1947–1952) Harry Heilmann (1947–1950) Van Patrick (1953–1959) Dizzy Trout (1953–1955) Mel Ott (1956–1958) George Kell (1959–1963, 1965–1996) Ernie Harwell (1960–1964, 1994–1998) Bob Scheffing (1964) Ray Lane (1965–1966, 1999–2003) Larry Osterman (1967–1977, 1984–1992) Don Kremer (1975–1976) Al Kaline (1976–2001) Joe Pellegrino (1977–1978) Mike Barry (1978–1979) Larry Adderley