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.

The University’s Board of Trustees decided to approve the acquisition of WFUM-TV in Flint 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.

The Flint area is served by 4 public television stations — WDCQ, WFUM, WKAR and WTVS. According to the FCC and Consumer Electronics Association, approximately 85 percent 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 in the Flint area, carries three PBS stations: WDCQ, WKAR and WFUM.

The remaining 15 percent 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.

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 percent in 2007, 6.6 percent in 2008, and 4.63 percent 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.

CMU has stated that one of its purposes for acquiring WFUM is to market CMU in Oakland County, where the university can get access to some of Oakland County’s 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 CMU? 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.”

Tom Garnett
Midland resident

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.”

The television station, owned and operated by the University of Michigan, broadcasts from Bay City to the metro Detroit area.

CMU received a $750,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, which will be used to equip a mobile production truck with high-definition digital production equipment, said Ed Grant, general manager of CMU Public Broadcasting.

The truck and equipment was originally intended for use at CMU stations in the rural areas of central and northern Michigan, where the digital transition is slower. However, the university now plans to use the truck in Flint after the station is purchased, Grant said.

The Board met in special session Tuesday in the President’s Conference Room in the Bovee University Center to discuss the television station.

Interim University President Kathy Wilbur said the Board viewed the station as an opportunity to significantly expand the university’s coverage into critical areas such as southeast Michigan.

“It allows us to expand academic programs on the behalf of CMU, especially through ProfEd,” she said. “We’re so focused on our enrollment question and retention question, this gives us another avenue in which to pursue that.”

Public Broadcasting will draft a purchase agreement and interim management agreement for CMU to take over the station as soon as possible.

“This is very common in the broadcast world because of the normal delays in getting approval for a change in ownership through the FCC,” Grant said.

Under the interim management agreement, the university could control the station’s programming despite not being the official owner. Broadcasting could begin by the end of November, Grant said.

‘Not a front-end payment’

Public Broadcasting first took interest in the station after U-M said it would sell it in April. U-M employees at WFUM were notified that most of their positions would be eliminated, Grant said. At the same time, CMU Public Broadcasting will likely create new positions.

The university also plans to change the call letters of the station.

Funding for the $1 million purchase will come from university reserves, and Public Broadcasting will reimburse CMU. CMU will make a series of scheduled payments to U-M.

“We’re very careful about making sure it’s not a front-end payment,” said David Burdette, vice president for Finance and Administrative Services.

CMU Public Broadcasting reaches out to a potential 2.4 million viewers in mid- and northern-Michigan. The addition of the Flint and metro Detroit areas would mean an increase to about 8 million potential viewers.

Overlap market?

However, possible problems include an overlap market.

Other public broadcasting stations have a presence in the area and would see competition when it comes to fundraising, Grant said. The FCC could choose to deny the change in ownership because of it.

“There is a great potential for partnering,” Wilbur said. “I think that public broadcasting needs to consider much more collaborative efforts in order to survive in an ever-changing media market.”

During the meeting, the Board approved a proposal to pay back $619,489 to the National Science Foundation. The money was originally given to CMU as part of a research project grant, but the project was stopped after it was determined it could not be completed successfully.

The television station, currently owned and operated by the University of Michigan, would broadcast from Bay City to the metro Detroit area, Interim University President Kathy Wilbur said the board viewed it as an opportunity to significantly expand the university’s coverage into critical areas such as southeast Michigan.

“It allows us to expand academic programs on the behalf of CMU, especially through Prof Ed,” Wilbur said. “We’re so focused on our enrollment question and retention question, this gives us another avenue in which to pursue that.”

The Board met in special session today in the President’s Conference Room in the Bovee University Center to discuss the television station.

A purchase and interim management agreement will now be drafted so CMU can take over the station as soon as possible.

“This is very common in the broadcast world because of the normal delays in getting approval for a change in ownership through the FCC,” said Ed Grant, general manager for CMU Public Broadcasting.

Check cm-life.com for more updates.