WCMU-TV (channel 14) is a

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

member

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...

Mount Pleasant, Michigan Mount Pleasant is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in Central Michigan, the city is the county seat of Isabella County, Michigan, Isabella County. The population was 21,688 as of the 2020 United States census. It is surrounded by Unio ...

, United States, owned by Central Michigan University. The station's studios are located on the CMU campus in Mount Pleasant, and its transmitter is located west of Barryton, Michigan. WCMU-TV operates three satellite stations: WCMW (channel 21) in Manistee (with transmitter northeast of Ludington), WCMV (channel 27) in Cadillac (with transmitter east of Kalkaska), and WCML (channel 6) in Alpena (with transmitter north of

Atlanta, Michigan Atlanta is an unincorporated community in the U.S. state of Michigan, along the 45th parallel. It is a census-designated place (CDP) for statistical purposes and does not have any legal status as an incorporated municipality. The population was 7 ...

). Collectively branded as WCMU Public Media, the four stations cover an area spanning three television markets and small portions of several others. Although Mount Pleasant is part of the

Flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

–

Saginaw Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

– Bay City market, the majority of WCMU Public Media's viewership is in the

Traverse City Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

–Cadillac and Alpena markets.

Satellite stations

WCMU-TV was previously relayed on W46AD in

and W69AV in Leland; however, the transmitters ceased operations before their licenses were canceled by the FCC on September 7, 2011. WCML once carried the -TV suffix.

History

WCMU came to the air on March 29, 1967. In January 2010, WCMU-TV began airing 24 hours a day, and launched an HD feed.

Acquisition of WFUM

On October 27, 2009, it was announced that the CMU Board of Trustees approved a proposal for CMU to acquire Flint, Michigan's PBS member station, WFUM (later WCMZ-TV), from the

University of Michigan–Flint The University of Michigan–Flint (UM-Flint, UMF) is a public university in Flint, Michigan. It is one of the two regional universities operating under the policies of the University of Michigan Board of Regents, the other being the University ...

for a maximum of $1 million. The sale was approved by the FCC, allowing the network's presence to expand further south, not only including Flint, but also Ann Arbor and into

Metro Detroit The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. State of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and its Southeast Michigan, surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the a ...

. The network provided at least secondary over-the-air coverage from far Northern Emmet County to northern Monroe County. While WFUM was folded into the CMU Public Television network, CMU vowed to include Flint-area events and issues in its programming, as well as produce new programming that would originate from the region. CMU believed the acquisition of WFUM will increase its viewership from 2.2 million to 8 million. CMU originally hinted that the takeover of WFUM would begin in late November, but WCMU took over operations of WFUM on January 15, 2010. The FCC approved the sale of WFUM in March and CMU officially took over in May at which point the call letters were changed to WCMZ-TV. On February 8, 2017, Central Michigan University announced it will sell WCMZ-TV in the FCC spectrum auction for $14 million, claiming its viewers are already able to watch PBS on other nearby affiliates, namely Delta College's

WDCQ-TV WDCQ-TV, virtual channel 19 (UHF digital channel 15), branded on-air as Delta College Public Media, is a Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) member television station licensed to Bad Axe, Michigan, United States and serving the Flint/Tri-Cities t ...

. It signed off on April 23, 2018.

Technical information

Subchannels

The stations' digital signals are

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

: The entire network discontinued analog service on March 31, 2009. Unlike other major stations in the Traverse City/Cadillac/Sault Ste. Marie market, CMU Public Television does not have marketwide coverage. Following the 2009 digital transition, the network ''lost'' significant coverage. WCML decently penetrated most of the Eastern Upper Peninsula before the analog shutdown. With the switch to digital, residents of the Eastern Upper Peninsula (except for those on the Lake Huron shoreline) were no longer able to receive WCML due to its 300 kW UHF signal. Currently, WCMU Public Media has no plans to add transmitters in the Eastern U.P. All PBS service, whether from CMU Public Television or another station, is available in that region only via cable or satellite. Some cable systems in that region carry another PBS station instead of WCMU — in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Marquette's WNMU is seen on Charter, while across the locks in

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants ...

, Shaw carries

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

's WTVS instead mainly because of the lack of a local over-the-air signal to the nearly 90,000 people in the twin Saults and Eastern U.P. (Shaw previously carried WNMU for that same reason before it was replaced by WTVS in 2002.)

References

External links

WCMU
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wcmu-Tv PBS member stations Central Michigan University Television channels and stations established in 1967 1967 establishments in Michigan CMU-TV