WGVU-TV is the Public Broadcasting Service

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 (PBS) member public television station for West Michigan, broadcasting on channel 35 (digital 11) in Grand Rapids

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Grand Rapids is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city is located on the Grand River about 40 miles east of Lake Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 188,040. In 2010, the Grand Rapids metropolitan area had a population of 774,160 and a combined statistical area, Grand...

. It operates a full-time satellite, WGVK, channel 52 (digital 5) in Kalamazoo

Kalamazoo, Michigan

The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...

. Both are owned by Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley State University

Grand Valley State University is a public liberal arts university located in Allendale, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1960, and its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids...

.

Its studios are located in the Meijer

Meijer

Meijer, Inc. is a regional American hypermarket chain based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founded in 1934 as a supermarket chain, Meijer is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept in 1962. About half of the company's 196 stores are located in Michigan, with additional locations in...

 Public Broadcast Center, located in the Eberhard Center on the GVSU Pew Campus, and have been there since 1986. Prior to that, they were located in the basement of Manitou Hall on GVSU's Allendale

Allendale Charter Township, Michigan

Allendale Charter Township is a charter township of Ottawa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the township population was 20,708...

 campus.

The call letters originally referred to Grand Valley State College when Channel 35 signed on in 1972 as WGVC-TV. It became WGVU in 1987 when Grand Valley State was elevated to university status.

WGVC-TV's signal was somewhat marginal in the southern portion of the vast West Michigan market (Kalamazoo and Battle Creek) due to the presence of WNIT in South Bend, on adjacent channel 34. In much of this area, WGVC-TV could only be seen on cable. This was very similar to what faced the area's main ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 affiliate, WZZM-TV

WZZM-TV

WZZM channel 13 is the Western Michigan affiliate television station for the American Broadcasting Company. It's based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, broadcasting at 16.5 kilowatts of power from a tower located in Newaygo County, near Grant...

. To make up for this shortfall in coverage, Grand Valley State signed on WGVK in 1984.

Weekly

• Ask The... is a live call-in show about a specific topic. Shelley Irwin is the host. It airs Thursdays at 6:00pm.
• Grand Valley State Sports Report (formerly GV Sports), hosted by Steve Lloyd-Jones, covers Grand Valley State University
  Grand Valley State University
  Grand Valley State University is a public liberal arts university located in Allendale, Michigan, United States. The university was established in 1960, and its main campus is situated on approximately west of Grand Rapids...
  
   athletics. During the sports seasons it airs Mondays at 6pm and 11pm. It doesn't air during the summer.
• West Michigan Week discusses the week's news. Patrick Center hosts the show. It airs Fridays at 9:30pm.
• WGVU Newsmakers profiles people and issues. Hosted by Patrick Center, it airs Wednesdays at 6:00pm.

Specials

• WGVU Community Connection is a monthly program hosted by Shelley Irwin. It spotlights non-profit agencies in West Michigan.
• WGVU Family Health Matters covers health issues.

Documentaries

• WGVU produces documentaries. Notable documentaries are LZ Michigan, Time and Chance: Gerald Ford
  Gerald Ford
  Gerald Rudolph "Jerry" Ford, Jr. was the 38th President of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977, and the 40th Vice President of the United States serving from 1973 to 1974...
  
  's Appointment with History, Surviving Auschwitz: Children of the Shoah and Defying Hitler.

Digital television

WGVU & WGVK carry four digital subchannel

Digital subchannel

In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...

s:

Channel (WGVU/WGVK)	Programming
35.1/52.1	Main WGVU/WGVK programming / PBS
35.2/52.2	Create Create (TV channel) Create is a digital television public television network in the United States. The network was created after the closure of PBS YOU in 2006. Create is a public television network, and runs mainly how-to, DIY, and other non-commercial educational television shows from the libraries of Public...
35.3/52.3	MHz Worldview MHz Worldview MHz WorldView is an independent, non-commercial Public television network that broadcasts newscasts and other programs from around the world. It is owned and operated by Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation who also run MHz Networks....
35.4/52.4	Schedules for WGVU/WGVK w/ audio from WGVU/WGVS (AM).

External links

• WGVU Broadcasting
• Laker Watchbox
• WGVU Online Auction