Owned by the University of Central Florida (UCF), it is the region's sole PBS member station, reaching an estimated population of 4.6 million people in its viewing area.

In response, UCF and Brevard Community College (BCC) partnered to approve the creation of WUCF-TV, a new PBS station to serve the Central Florida market.

[7][8] In 1963, the public school systems of Orange, Volusia, Lake, Osceola, Seminole, Brevard and Flagler counties formed Florida Central East Coast Educational Television with the goal of winning the license for channel 24.

In the meantime, WDBO-TV (now WKMG-TV) and WLOF-TV (now WFTV) donated air time for educational Spanish-language and Florida history programs produced by the group.

[12][13] On April 1, 2011, WMFE announced that it would sell the station due to these financial difficulties and "critical uncertainties in federal and state funding".

"[16] The deal had foundered when the Federal Communications Commission questioned whether Lamb and the Daystar-aligned nonprofits were qualified to buy WMFE and another former PBS outlet, KDYW (formerly KWBU-TV) in Waco, Texas.

[17] When news spread of the sale of WMFE in 2011, a campaign was undertaken by local residents and students at UCF to try to keep an active PBS station in the Orlando market.

[18][19] On May 26, 2011, the UCF Board of Trustees approved a partnership with BCC to create WUCF-TV, the new primary PBS station for Central Florida.

[5] On June 21, 2012, Community Communications - the owners of WMFE - announced that it planned to sell all of WMFE-TV's assets, except the studio facilities, to UCF, allowing channel 24 to resume its status as Central Florida's PBS outlet.

[23] The station carries a daily output of 12+1⁄2 hours of children's programming on its main channel (not counting its PBS Kids subchannel launched on January 16, 2017).