Flint station WFUM-TV broadcasting WCMU programs
WFUM-TV began broadcasting WCMU-TV programming Jan. 15.
The station was purchased by Central Michigan University late last October from the University of Michigan for $1 million.
Ed Grant, general manager of public broadcasting, said the programming out of the Flint station is the same as what is broadcast from the PBS station in Mount Pleasant. Grant also said there are two university staff members working on the station.
“When the filing period for the FCC is complete and the station ownership transfers over, we won’t have any university staff there, it’ll just be a transmitter to broadcast our programming,” said Rick Schudiske, assistant general manager of public broadcasting.
The actual transfer of ownership is in the final stages, but the station does not yet belong to CMU, despite WCMU’s signal being broadcast from the station. It is currently in a stage called interim management, one of the final stages of Federal Communications Commission requirements that take place before the transfer is complete.
“What happens is that the plan to make the change of owner ship is made public and the people have the opportunity to comment or complain about the switch,” Grant said.
Flint station manager Jennifer White said the filing period for the FCC can take about three or four months. Schudiske predicted it would be complete around May.
“Once the filing period is over, the ownership of the station will officially switch to WCMU — until then, their programming will broadcast, but ownership will remain with the University of Michigan,” White said.
Besides the FCC requirements, Grant said there were no serious roadblocks in the acquisition.
“There’s just been a fair amount of engineering work to get the signal running and keep it running when it is supposed to,” Grant said.
