Central Michigan University Public Broadcasting hopes to have WFUM-TV of Flint up and running by the end of the month.
Ed Grant, general manager of CMU Public Broadcasting, has had enough on his plate with WCMU-TV complying with the federally mandated conversion from an analog to a digital signal.
And that was before the CMU Board of Trustees agreed to purchase WFUM-TV of Flint for $1 million from the University of Michigan.
“There’s been some good, bad and ugly,” Grant said of the conversion. “It’s been an extremely expensive conversion for everybody, commercial stations as well as non-commercial stations. It cost us about $14 million.”
The acquisition of WFUM, which will extend from Bay City to metro Detroit, will nearly quadruple CMU Public Broadcasting’s audience, Grant said.
Grant said a commercial station with the reach of WFUM is usually valued at around $7 million to $10 million, and the University of Michigan’s desire to keep the station non-commercial is why CMU is getting the station at a discount.
Grant said he feels the station will be a recruiting tool as much of as anything.
“It gives Central Michigan University access and coverage in southeast Michigan that they’ve not had at this point,” Grant said.
Linda Dielman, programming and outreach manager for CMU Public Broadcasting, said broadcasting will still include local issues for the Flint market.
“There are cultural issues that have to be addressed,” Dielman said. “But doing live programming from Flint is our intent.”
CMU Public Broadcasting is the largest university-licensed public broadcasting station in the country, Dielman said. WCMU-TV was launched March 29, 1967, and is the flagship station for CMU Public Television, serving the Mount Pleasant area.
Expansion
During the administration of former university president Harold Abel, CMU Public Broadcasting saw a lot of expansion.
On Nov. 21, 1975, WCML in Alpena was added to the CMU Public Broadcasting family and, on Sept. 7, 1984, WCMV of Cadillac and WCMW of Mainstee began carrying the CMU Public Broadcasting feed.
The WCMU-TV feed also is carried in Leland and Traverse City in northwest Michigan.
With the conversion to digital television nearly complete, Grant said the next step for WCMU-TV is outfitting its mobile production with high-definition cameras and equipment. Grant said Public Broadcasting already has the $1.5 million in funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture from the Rural Utility Service Grant program.
“That truck’s going to be equipped by next summer,” Grant said. “I’ve told everybody that’s a requirement.”
Grant said WCMU-TV only does live broadcasts from itsstudios in Mount Pleasant, which affects programs such as “Quiz Central,” a high school quiz bowl show, and “Meet the Candidates,” broadcast during election years.
With the mobile production truck, Grant said it will now be possible to broadcast these programs live outside of Mount Pleasant.
With the struggling economy, Grant said Public Broadcasting is doing the best it can to spend each dollar wisely.
The university provides a little more than $5 million to CMU Public Broadcasting’s budget, which is about 25 percent.
The rest, Grant said, comes from grant programs and public contributions.
“We’re always looking for ways to be more efficient, money’s tough, money tight. We’re always looking for ways to stretch the dollar,” Grant said. “It allows us to do many more things than we were doing 10 years ago with actually fewer staff than we had 10 years ago.”
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Joe Martinez
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With Michigan’s public schools facing an economic crisis because of state funding issues, there are sure to be cuts that will be painful to our communities. Our tax dollars need to be carefully targeted but that message is not connecting with Central Michigan University.
The University’s Board of Trustees decided to approve the acquisition of WFUM-TV located in Flint, Michigan, for $1 million of CMU’s reserve funds. My understanding is that University reserve funds are made up of appropriated state dollars, leftover tuition and university earnings.
The purchase of this station represents poor judgment at a time when Michigan is fighting for its future. I believe this for the following reasons:
1. The Flint area is currently served by 4 public television stations, WDCQ, WFUM, WKAR and WTVS. According to the FCC and Consumer Electronics Association, approximately 85% of television viewers in the Flint area get their television by cable and satellite providers such as Comcast, Charter, Direct TV, Echostar, and AT&T. Comcast, the largest of these providers, carries three PBS stations: WDCQ, WKAR, and WFUM.
The remaining 15% of the population watches with home antennas, and can receive PBS programming from the stations mentioned. As the University of Michigan has learned, there is no community need for a redundant PBS station in Flint.
2. The initial cost for CMU’s new station is high enough, but there are significant ongoing costs involved with broadcast transmission. Is this use of taxpayer money a wise investment? Consider that CMU has increased tuition by 21% in 2007, 6.6% in 2008, and 4.63 for 2009. Perhaps with better fiscal control of tuition costs, this university might have seen a Freshman enrollment increase this year, as it did for most of the higher education schools in our region.
3. CMU has stated that one of their purposes for acquiring WFUM is to market CMU in Oakland County, where the University can get access to some of Oakland Counties dollars. Operating a television station is an expensive way to market a University when more traditional marketing tools such as advertising can be used with greater effectiveness and less money.
How does running a redundant public television station in Flint meet the mission of Central Michigan University? It doesn’t. Nor is it the mission of Public Broadcasting to act as an advertising outlet for CMU. Keep in mind that the FCC licenses for Public Broadcasting are “non-commercial FCC licenses.”