WCMU-TV

WCMU-TV, channel 14 is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member Public television station for much of the northern portion of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, with a coverage area spanning three television markets and small portions of several others. The network is based at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant. The station's on-air branding is CMU Public Television.

WCMU came to the air on March 29, 1967. WCMV serves Cadillac and Traverse City while WCML serves Alpena and Petoskey along with Cheboygan and the Straits of Mackinac. WCMW serves the Lake Michigan communities of Manistee, Ludington and Pentwater, all of which are on the edge of the Grand Rapids market. On January 15, 2010, WCMU took over operations of WFUM in Flint pending approval of the sale of the station from the University of Michigan-Flint by the Federal Communications Commission. After the FCC approved the sale in March and CMU officially took over the station in May, the call letters of WFUM were changed to WCMZ-TV, using the same callsign as sister station WCMZ-FM in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. Although Mount Pleasant is part of the Flint/Saginaw/Bay City market, the majority of its viewership is in the Traverse City/Cadillac market.

WCMU

WCMU is the callsign of two public broadcasting stations in Mount Pleasant, Michigan, owned by Central Michigan University:

Both stations also have rebroadcast transmitters throughout northern Michigan.

WCMU-FM

WCMU-FM is a radio station in the United States, broadcasting at FM 89.5 in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. The station, owned by Central Michigan University, is a National Public Radio member station, airing a large amount of classical and jazz music along with a variety of other programming. The station call letters WCMU are also used to refer to the station network, CMU Public Radio.

Programming

CMU Public Radio offers a number of jazz and blues programs, including Nightside Jazz and Blues, Take Five, The Juke Joint and Destination Out. Locally produced weekend programs include Our Front Porch and Homespun. The station was MAB Public Station of the Year for 2002. Staff producers David Nicholas, Rick Westover, Jamie Lynn Gilbert, Sara Bingham and Eileen LaTarte have also won state awards.

Nightside Jazz and Blues is a locally produced Jazz and Blues show featuring music chosen and played by a live Radio DJ.

History

WCMU-FM was originally a 10-watt campus radio station at 90.1, signing on in April 6, 1964. During its early years the station broadcast a wide variety of programming aimed at the campus population of the university, including classical, popular music, and progressive rock. By 1969 the station was an affiliate of the National Educational Radio Network, which became NPR in 1970, and since then, the station has broadcast primarily classical and jazz music and news. WCMU-FM moved to 89.5 with 100,000 watts of power in the mid-1970s, and in 1978 began to add a series of rebroadcaster stations around central and northern Michigan, beginning with WCML-FM in Alpena.