A fire has destroyed a transmitter building serving WCMU Public Media, knocking off the air one of its FM signals and one of its TV stations. It may take months to get them back up.
Licensed to Central Michigan University, the organization serves the central and northern parts of the state. The fire Wednesday took down the signals of 92 kW FM station WCML on 91.7 and its TV station WCML Channel 6. The stations are licensed to Alpena and serve Atlanta, Mich.
“We anticipate it may take several months to restore full service to northeast Lower Michigan,” the organization posted on its website.
“WCMU’s commitment to northeast Michigan remains strong,” it wrote in the post. It said the cause of the fire was unknown.
“While we work to restore our broadcast services in the region over the coming weeks and months, we will continue to bring you news and information from the northeast Lower Peninsula and all of Michigan. WCMU will remain northeast Lower Michigan’s NPR and PBS station.”
Listeners in that area can hear the FM station on its website, on its app, on TuneIn and on smart speakers. The TV content is still available to cable and satellite viewers, and to online and app viewers.
In total WCMU Public Media has four television and eight radio stations. Fred Bennett is the acting director of engineering.
The fire also resulted in a loss of service to WCMW 103.9 in Harbor Springs, Mich., but that signal was returned to the air early Thursday morning.
