WCMZ-TV

WCMZ-TV, virtual and UHF digital channel 28, is a PBS member television station located in Flint, Michigan, United States. The station is owned by Central Michigan University, and operates as a satellite station of WCMU-TV in Mount Pleasant. WCMZ-TV maintains transmitter facilities located off Kipp Road near M-15 (State Road), just south east of the village of Goodrich in southeastern Genesee County.

History

As WFUM

The station first signed on the air on August 23, 1980 as WFUM and was originally owned by the University of Michigan–Flint. Initially promoted using its WFUM call letters, the station eventually began to brand itself as "Michigan Television". Prior to WFUM's sign-on, Flint had been one of the few areas of Michigan that was not served by an over-the-air PBS station. Most cable providers in the area (then as now) piped in WCMU-TV, WDCQ-TV in Bay City, WTVS in Detroit, WKAR-TV in East Lansing or WGTE-TV in Toledo.

WFUM was the only television station owned by the university, but the University of Michigan–Flint was no stranger to the medium – it produced an educational series, University of Michigan Presents, which was syndicated to television stations nationwide from the 1960s into the early 1980s. Over the years, WFUM had introduced several of its own shows, including Passing Through (hosted by Karen Sherrin) and High School Challenge (hosted by Jim Gaver).