some questions about 1950s tv in south eastern michigan

[mbayus]

I got to thinking the other day, and I was remembering that I had either heard or read something some where about WTAC-TV in flint Michigan. Does anyone know if there ever was such a station, and what did it broadcast? Also, I remember when I was little, in 1957 or so, when I would be getting ready for school, I would tune to channel 2, WJBK, in Detroit, and hear something like: "For more college programing, tune to channel 56." We didn't have a converter, so I couldn't do that, but that brings to mind my next question: Did University of Michigan have a tv station in the 1950s and if they did, where was it on the dial? And, Lastly, does anyone have program schedules for a weekday in 1957 in Detroit and Flint? My dad was interested in tv back then, and ours was always on. I could hear it in bed, and I still need the tv to go to sleep.
I like to creat old tv days using my DVD collection, and play them on the day and at the time they were first on, and pretend.

 

[mjlarochelle]

I can find you at least the Detroit/Windsor stations.

 

[w9wi]

I got to thinking the other day, and I was remembering that I had either heard or read something some where about WTAC-TV in flint Michigan. Does anyone know if there ever was such a station, and what did it broadcast?

Station listings in 1953 and 1954 show this station, on channel 16. It was gone by 1960 - probably went out of business when channel 12 signed on. I don't know what they broadcast.

Also, I remember when I was little, in 1957 or so, when I would be getting ready for school, I would tune to channel 2, WJBK, in Detroit, and hear something like: "For more college programing, tune to channel 56." We didn't have a converter, so I couldn't do that, but that brings to mind my next question: Did University of Michigan have a tv station in the 1950s and if they did, where was it on the dial?

I don't think the University of Michigan ever had a TV station.

There was a commercial station (or at least a permit for one) on channel 20 in Ann Arbor in the early 1950s.

By 1960, today's PBS station WTVS channel 56 was on the air. It's my understanding WTVS was initially a commercial station, but was donated to an educational group when it failed financially.

 

[azumanga]

Wikipedia has a little something about WTAC-TV:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTAC-TV

 

[mbayus]

Detroit/Windsor stations are O.k.
I didn't know that WTVS was comercial before 1960 as we couldn't watch it. Were they an indi, or were they like DuMont or something. I just remember that very early in the morning, WJBK would broadcast some college program or other, and then tell us to watch channel 56. I always thought that was aud, because I didn't know about converter boxes then, I was only five, and I new that my tv only went to channel 10.

 

[Bob1370]

" "For more college programing, tune to channel 56."

That had to be WTVS. I think channel 56 in Detroit was never commercial, but it was one of the many hundreds of channel allocations reserved for noncommercial educational use back in 1952 when the television "freeze" ended and the FCC opened the floodgates for expansion of TV service in the United States. It took a few years for the noncomm licenses to hit the air in large numbers after the educational reservation rule was passed. Many wouldn't sign on until the late 50s or 60s even in large markets. But Detroit was probably one of the early ones, not as early as Boston and San Francisco (which date to about 1953) but earlier than New York, which didn't get an educational station on Channel 13 until about 1960.