WJBK, virtual channel 2 (VHF digital channel 7), is a Fox owned-and-operated television station licensed to Detroit, Michigan, United States. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation. WJBK's studios and transmitter are located on West 9 Mile Road in the Detroit suburb of Southfield.
WJBK's over-the-air signal covers all of Metro Detroit, along with Southwestern Ontario, Canada, surrounding the city of Windsor. The station is also carried on most cable systems in southeast Michigan, southwestern Ontario, and northwest Ohio.
David Alexander Nichol (February 9, 1940 – September 22, 2013) was a Canadian businessman and product marketing expert. As head of product development and eventually President of Loblaws Supermarkets, Nichol introduced the President's Choice store-branded lines of products in the 1970s that propelled Loblaws from a struggling supermarket chain to an industry leader. For a time, as a pitchman for Loblaws, he became a recognizable Canadian business personality, largely due to his being featured in thirty-second commercials and thirty-minute infomercials during the mid-1990s.
After leaving his position as head chef at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, Boiardi opened a restaurant called Il Giardino d'Italia in 1924 at East 9th Street and Woodland Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. The idea for Chef Boyardee came about when restaurant customers began asking Boiardi for his spaghetti sauce, which he began to distribute in milk bottles. Four years later, in 1928, Boiardi opened a factory and moved production to Milton, Pennsylvania, where he could grow his own tomatoes and mushrooms. He decided to name his product "Boy-Ar-Dee" to help Americans pronounce his name correctly. The first product was to be sold as a "ready-to-heat spaghetti kit" in 1928. The kit included uncooked pasta, tomato sauce, and a container of pre-grated cheese.
The U.S. military commissioned the company during World War II for the production of army rations, requiring the factory to run 24 hours a day. At its peak, the company employed approximately 5,000 workers and produced 250,000 cans per day. After the war ended, Boiardi had to choose between selling the company or laying off everyone he had hired. He sold the company to American Home Foods in 1946 for nearly $6 million and remained as a spokesman and consultant for the brand until 1978. American Home Foods turned its food division into International Home Foods in 1996. Four years later, International Home Foods was purchased by ConAgra Foods, which continues to produce Chef Boyardee canned pasta bearing Boiardi's likeness.
