Channels Analog: 20 (UHF) Owner Washtenaw Broadcasting Call letters' meaning Paul and Art Greene | Affiliations Defunct Founded April 3, 1953 Sister station(s) WPAG-AM | |
WPAG-TV was a television station in Ann Arbor, Michigan assigned to Channel 20 from 1953-1957.
WPAG-TV signed-on April 3, 1953, making it both Washtenaw County's first TV station and the first UHF station in Michigan (Saginaw's WKNX-TV (now WEYI-TV), signed-on two days later).
WPAG-TV was owned by the same people (Washtenaw Broadcasting) who operated WPAG radio (now WTKA). Art Greene (president) and Edward Baughn (general manager) were listed as both owning 50% of the station's stock (by 1957, Baughn would own 100% of the station); studios were located in downtown Ann Arbor, in the same building as the radio station. As of 1955, WPAG-TV broadcast during the evening hours only, from 6pm to 11:30pm. WPAG-TV was nominally an independent station, but is believed to have been at least a part-time DuMont affiliate. After the demise of DuMont, the station allowed the University of Michigan to supply educational programming.
On December 31, 1957, WPAG-TV suspended operations after a failed attempt to get an allocation for Channel 12, with the ownership claiming to have lost $145,680 over the previous four years. The license for Channel 20 was later assigned to WJMY-TV in Allen Park, which broadcast for eight months in 1962-63; they later aired a series of test signals in the late 1960s before finally giving up their license in 1970. WMYD-TV has held the frequency since 1972.
After WPAG's demise, Ann Arbor would not see another TV station for a generation; WUOM-TV, to be operated by University of Michigan, was assigned a construction permit for Channel 26 in 1953, but never made it to the air. Finally, in 1981, independent WRHT signed on; they are now WPXD, an affiliate of Ion Television.