Branding Public TV 13 | Affiliations PBS | |
Slogan Public TV for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Northern Wisconsin Channels Digital: 13 (VHF)
Virtual: 13 (PSIP) Subchannels 13.1 PBS
13.2 PBS Kids
13.3 PBS Encore Owner Northern Michigan University
(Board of Control, Northern Michigan University) | ||
WNMU Channel 13 in Marquette, Michigan is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member Public television station, serving Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
Contents
History
The station first went on the air in 1972. The station is owned and operated by Northern Michigan University. When the station first went on the air, its call letters were WNPB.
WNMU serves all communities in the UP, over the air on channel 13 in the central UP, and on cable regionwide, including portions of northern Wisconsin not served by Wisconsin Public Television stations WPNE-TV or WLEF-TV.
It is also seen on Charter cable in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, instead of WCMU-TV, which the rest of its market get via transmitters throughout the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan. In most of the Eastern U.P., cable or satellite are required to receive any PBS service; when the digital conversion took place in 2009, the Eastern U.P. lost terrestrial PBS service when WCMU satellite WCML in Alpena lowered its transmitter power for its digital broadcasts. Neither WCMU nor WNMU currently have plans to expand into the Eastern U.P. to fill the void left by the departure of WCML from the Eastern U.P. airwaves.
WNMU was part of the Shaw line-up on its Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario system until 2002, when it was replaced with Detroit's WTVS.
The transmitter for WNMU-TV is located just outside Ishpeming in Ely Township. The antenna is 1,000 feet tall.
The future of WNMU radio and TV was threatened in recent years, as budget cuts led to a proposed sale or closure of the stations. However, new funding was approved, keeping the station on the air.
Shows
WNMU Produces a number of shows directly from their studios.
In 2012 a broadcast titled "Mauvais Sort: Spellbound" won a Good News Award for uplifting and excellent journalism.
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Analog-to-digital conversion
WNMU discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 33 to VHF channel 13.