- For the co-owned radio station in Flint, WFUM-FM, see Michigan Radio.
WFUM, also known as Michigan Television, is a PBS member station in Flint, Michigan. It is owned and operated by the University of Michigan Flint, with studios based at the U of M's Flint campus' William S. White Building. WFUM's transmitter is located on Hill Road, just north of the town of Goodrich in southeastern Genesee County. WFUM's transmitter is 846 feet (258 meters) tall. WFUM programing is enjoyed in the Flint/Tri-Cities and as far away as Port Huron, Michigan and Lansing.
WFUM first went on the air on August 23, 1980. Prior to then, Flint had been one of the few areas of Michigan without over-the-air PBS service. Most cable systems in the area, then as now, piped in Bay City's WDCP, Detroit's WTVS, East Lansing's WKAR-TV, Mount Pleasant's WCMU-TV or Toledo's WGTE-TV.
WFUM was, and still is, U of M's only TV station, but is no stranger to the medium -- U of M produced a syndicated educational series, "University of Michigan Presents", which was syndicated to TV stations nationwide from the 1960s into the early-1980s. Over the years WFUM has produced several of its own shows, including Passing Through with Karen Sherrin, and High School Challenge with Jim Gaver.
On cable, it is not seen on Cogeco's systems in Windsor, Ontario or Comcast systems in Detroit and the southern suburbs, though it's available on Comcast systems in Ann Arbor and Detroit's western and northern suburbs. It is unknown if Charter in Mount Pleasant will be offering the channel.
For unknown reasons, WFUM's second digital subchannel (Create) is not available on Comcast's Flint system.
Availability on Cable
WFUM's main channel is available on most cable systems in Mid-Michigan and some in Metro Detroit, but its digital subchannel Create is not. However, a recent agreement between the American Cable Association, the Association of Public Television Stations and PBS will require it to be put on digital cable television systems after the digital transition date of February 17, 2009. 1
Digital Channels
WFUM's digital signal is multiplexed.
Digital channels
| Channel |
Programming |
| 28.1 |
Main WFUM / PBS programming in HD |
| 28.2 |
Create |
Analog to Digital Conversion
WFUM-TV shut down its analog signal permanently on November 19, 2008, 3 months ahead of the federally mandated shutoff for February 17, 2009. Per Michigan Television's homepage, the channel is currently unavailable via antenna or satellite, but it is viewable on cable. The site also says that it will return to viewers via antenna and satellite on November 22. According to their website, they're the first PBS station in Michigan to broadcast exclusively in digital, as well as the first station in the Flint / Tri-Cities market to do so.
External links
References
