Michigan Radio

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Michigan Radio is a service of Michigan Public Media, the public broadcasting company at the University of Michigan. Michigan Radio is:

  • WUOM 91.7 Ann Arbor/Detroit
  • WVGR 104.1 Grand Rapids
  • WFUM-FM 91.1 Flint
The stations of Michigan Radio are licensed to the Regents of the University of Michigan.

Radio began at the University of Michigan in the early 1920s, when the University began producing programs for WWJ in Detroit. The University's strategy at the time wasn't to own stations, but to produce programs for other stations throughout the state. By the early 1940s, the University changed direction and tried to apply for an AM frequency. All AM frequencies were unavailable, so in 1944, Michigan applied for a station at 43.1 MHz in the experimental FM band. The Federal Communications Commission eventually granted a license to Michigan for 91.7 in the newly-designated FM band and WUOM began broadcasting from Angell Hall on the Michigan campus in 1948. The station moved into its new home in the LS&A Building in 1949, where it stayed until 2003.

WVGR began broadcasting in December, 1961. WFUM-FM followed in 1985, serving the Flint area. (There was an earlier version of WFUM in Flint for a few years in the 1950's, repeating WUOM from Ann Arbor.)

Michigan Radio was a pioneer in educational broadcasting, producing programs in the 1950s and '60s that were heard throughout the country on educational, and some commercial, stations. The station was a charter member of NPR in 1971.

From its first days on the air, Michigan Radio's program service consisted of music, news, discussion programs, lectures, dramas and documentaries, most of which were produced in the station's four large studios at the LS&A Building. On July 1st, 1996, Michigan Radio inaugurated a new era, entering its second half-century of broadcasting with a news/talk format. Since then, Michigan Radio has grown to become one of the largest public radio stations in the country, with 451,000 weekly listeners to the stations (Fall 2005).

Series

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1 Piece

The Environment Report's Rebecca Williams traveled to Isle Royale to meet the researchers who have been watching how wolves and moose interact for 54 years. The research project is the longest continuous study of any predator-prey system in the world.

Caption: State of Opportunity from Michigan Radio
105 Pieces

What can be done to break the cycle of poverty and improve opportunities for the most disadvantaged children?


Latest Pieces

Caption: Musa, a new fourth-grader., Credit: DUSTIN DWYER / MICHIGAN RADIO
State of Opportunity’s Dustin Dwyer checks back in at Congress Elementary in Grand Rapids, a low-scoring school we've profiled in a documentary. Du...

  • Added: Feb 13, 2015
  • Length: 03:18
Caption: Abigail, a soon-to-be kindergartner., Credit: DUSTIN DWYER / MICHIGAN RADIO
In summer, there is a camp for everything. Swim camp, gymnastics camp, rock camp, Bible camp … there are even still camps where kids can go and act...

Bought by Delta College Public Radio


  • Added: Feb 13, 2015
  • Length: 03:35
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Yazmen Brown (left) and JaCquell Price, college students and slam poets from Flint., Credit: SARAH ALVAREZ
We asked Raise It Up!, an award winning arts organization in Flint, if the young artists they work with would like to contribute a poem for the sho...

  • Added: Feb 06, 2015
  • Length: 02:32
Caption: "Tired of living like this," says Krishna Harding, a 26-year old resident of Benton Harbor. "Section 8, government-based houses, Medicaid and stuff like that. I’m tired of it.", Credit: DUSTIN DWYER / MICHIGAN RADIO
It’s not a new story: A young black man dies after an encounter with police. A community takes to the streets to demand answers. Their protest turn...

Bought by Delta College Public Radio


  • Added: Feb 06, 2015
  • Length: 03:42
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: The Kids First building, an emergency foster shelter at D.A. Blodgett - St. John's in Grand Rapids., Credit: DUSTIN DWYER / MICHIGAN RADIO
Some children are taken from their homes on short notice. Some are taken in the middle of the night. For kids entering Michigan’s foster care syste...

  • Added: Feb 06, 2015
  • Length: 03:27
Caption: Dan Varner, Credit: Dan Varner
We have the story of one person’s journey. It’s not a journey across land, or across oceans. It is a journey to try to figure out what it will take...

  • Added: Feb 06, 2015
  • Length: 03:23
Caption: Dancers from the Muskegon Heights High School Academy perform during the Festival in the Park parade earlier this summer., Credit: DUSTIN DWYER / MICHIGAN RADIO
Two years ago, Muskegon Heights made history by becoming the first school district in Michigan to convert entirely to a charter district, and turn ...

  • Added: Feb 06, 2015
  • Length: 58:31
Caption: Officer Jesse Carpenter, left, and staff of the Haskell Youth Center in Flint., Credit: HASKELL CENTER
In Flint this summer, crime rates are down compared to last year. But there is still a lot of violence in that city and a lot of young people tryin...

  • Added: Feb 06, 2015
  • Length: 03:43
Caption: Detroit students get to practice archery at Camp Burt Shurly., Credit: JENNIFER GUERRA / MICHIGAN RADIO
Michigan Radio’s State of Opportunity reporter Jennifer Guerra recently spent the day with about one-hundred elementary school students at Camp Bur...

  • Added: Jan 23, 2015
  • Length: 03:21
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Black students consistently lag behind their white peers on standardized tests. Experts have been trying to come up with ways to shrink the achieve...

Bought by WABE and Delta College Public Radio


  • Added: Jan 23, 2015
  • Length: 03:54
  • Purchases: 2