Mississippi Public Broadcasting

Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) is the public broadcasting state network serving the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is owned by the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television (MAET), an agency of the state government that holds the licenses for all of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and National Public Radio (NPR) member stations in the state.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting
BrandingMPB
Country
United States
First air date
February 1, 1970 (1970-02-01) (television)
1983 (1983) (radio)
Availabilitystatewide Mississippi
SloganMississippi is Our Mission
TV transmitters8
OwnerMississippi Authority for Educational Television
AffiliationTelevision:
PBS (1970–present)
Radio: NPR
NET (February-October 1970)
WebcastMPB Radio
Official website
www.mpbonline.org

History

Mississippi was a relative latecomer to public broadcasting. By the late 1960s, it was the only state east of the Mississippi River without an educational television station licensed within its borders. The only areas of the state to get a clear signal from a National Educational Television (NET) or PBS station were the northwestern counties (from Memphis' WKNO) and the counties along the Gulf Coast (from New Orleans' WYES-TV and Mobile's Alabama Educational Television outlet, WEIQ).

Finally, in 1969, the Mississippi Legislature created the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television to create a locally focused educational television service for Mississippi. After almost a year of planning, WMAA-TV (channel 29, now WMPN-TV) in Jackson debuted on February 1, 1970 as the state's first educational television station. It immediately joined PBS. The initial broadcast was written by Jeanne Lucket and produced and co-directed by Mims Wright, then Director of Public Affairs at Jackson NBC affiliate WLBT, and Joe Root, WLBT Production Manager.

Only four months after beginning operations, WMAA received unwanted national attention when it refused to carry Sesame Street because of its racially integrated cast. That decision was reversed 22 days later after a nationwide outcry.[1][2] Six other stations began operation over the next few years, and the state network became known as Mississippi Educational Television, or simply ETV.

Public radio came even later, arriving in the state in 1983. Eventually, Public Radio in Mississippi (PRM) expanded to eight stations throughout the state.

In 2005, MAET adopted "Mississippi Public Broadcasting" as an umbrella on-air brand for all television and radio operations.

Educational programming

Since its inception, MPB has produced many Educational television or instructional television programs from its Jackson studios. A partial list includes Tomes & Talismans, The Write Channel, Clyde Frog Show, About Safety, Ticktock Minutes, Zebra Wings, Posie Paints, Project Survival, The Metric System, Media Mania, and Between the Lions.

MPB Television

As of 2009, the MPB television stations are:[3]

Station City of license Channels
VC / RF		 First air date Third and fourth letters of callsign meaning ERP HAAT Facility ID Transmitter coordinates Public license information
WMPN-TV1 Jackson 29 (PSIP)
20 (UHF)		 February 1, 1970 (1970-02-01) Mississippi

Public
Network

 400 kW 482 m (1,581 ft) 43168 32°11′29″N 90°24′22″W Profile
CDBS
WMAH-TV Biloxi 19 (PSIP)
16 (UHF)		 January 14, 1972 (1972-01-14) 540 kW 474.4 m (1,556 ft) 43197 30°45′18″N 88°56′44″W Profile
CDBS
WMAE-TV Booneville 12 (PSIP)
12 (VHF)
(to move to 9 (VHF))		 August 11, 1974 (1974-08-11) 31 kW 223 m (732 ft) 43170 34°40′0.8″N 88°45′5″W Profile
CDBS
WMAU-TV Bude 18 (PSIP)
18 (UHF)		 January 14, 1972 (1972-01-14) 682 kW 340 m (1,115 ft) 43184 31°22′22″N 90°45′4″W Profile
CDBS
WMAO-TV Greenwood 23 (PSIP)
25 (UHF)		 September 15, 1972 (1972-09-15) 815 kW 317.3 m (1,041 ft) 43176 33°22′34″N 90°32′32″W Profile
CDBS
WMAW-TV Meridian 14 (PSIP)
44 (UHF)
(to move to 28 (UHF))		 January 14, 1972 (1972-01-14) 880 kW 369 m (1,211 ft) 43169 32°8′18″N 89°5′36″W Profile
CDBS
WMAB-TV Mississippi State
(Starkville)		 2 (PSIP)
10 (VHF)
(to move to 8 (VHF))		 July 4, 1971 (1971-07-04) 8 kW 349 m (1,145 ft) 43192 33°21′14″N 89°9′0″W Profile
CDBS
WMAV-TV Oxford–University 18 (PSIP)
36 (UHF)		 May 19, 1972 (1972-05-19) 272.5 kW 426.3 m (1,399 ft) 43193 34°17′28″N 89°42′21″W Profile
CDBS

Notes:

  • 1. WMPN-TV used the callsign WMAA-TV from its 1970 sign-on until 1990.

Coverage areas
Station Signal reach
WMPN Jackson and West Central Mississippi
WMAB Southern portion of the Tupelo/Columbus market and Northern portion of Meridian market.
WMAE Northeast Mississippi (Northern portion of the Tupelo/Columbus market)
WMAH South Mississippi (Hattiesburg/Laurel and Biloxi/Gulfport markets, as well as parts of Mobile/Pensacola and New Orleans markets)
WMAO Mississippi Delta (Greenwood/Greenville)
WMAU Southwest Mississippi (Natchez, McComb, Brookhaven)
WMAV Northwest Mississippi, as well as parts of Tennessee and Arkansas (Memphis, TN market)
WMAW Meridian market and Northern portion of the Hattiesburg/Laurel market

Mississippi Public Broadcasting also operates a translator station for WMAH-TV: W45AA-D in Columbia (digital).

MPB received a construction permit for station WMAA, channel 43 in Columbus, in 1998. This permit was modified to specify digital-only operation and granted again in 2001. The permit expired June 27, 2003 without any construction having taken place.[4] MPB has stated there are currently no plans or funding to build the station.

MPB Television covers nearly all of the state, as well as parts of Alabama, Tennessee and Louisiana. Additionally, WMAV is carried on DirecTV and Dish Network's Memphis feeds, bringing its programming to an additional 1.4 million people in Tennessee and Arkansas. Oxford is part of the Memphis market.

Digital television

Digital channels

The digital signals of MPB's stations are multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]
xx.11080i16:9MPB HDMain MPB programming / PBS
xx.2480i16:9 (anamorphic)MPB KDPBS Kids
xx.3MPB CRCreate
xx.4AudioAudioMPB FM (MTS)MPB Think Radio
MPB Music Radio

Analog-to-digital conversion

During 2009, in the lead-up to the analog-to-digital television transition that would ultimately occur on June 12, MPB shut down the analog transmitters of its stations on a staggered basis. Listed below are the dates each analog transmitter ceased operations as well as their post-transition channel allocations:[13]

  • WMPN-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 29, on February 17, 2009, the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 20. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 29.
  • WMAH-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 19, on February 17, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 16. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 19.
  • WMAE-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 12, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 55, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to its analog-era VHF channel 12.
  • WMAU-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 17, on February 17, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 18. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 17.
  • WMAO-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 23, on February 17, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 25. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 23.
  • WMAW-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 14, on February 17, 2009. The station's digital signal, remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 44. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 14.
  • WMAB-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on February 17, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 10. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 2.
  • WMAV-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 18, on February 17, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 36. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 18.

Notable local programming

MPB Radio

MPB Radio consists of eight stations covering most of the state. It airs mostly news and talk programming from NPR and other distributors of public radio programming, along with several locally produced shows.

Recently, MPB has added a 24-hour classical music service on its second HD channel, which now also airs on DT4 on all MPB television stations. It brands this programming as "Music Radio," while the original MPB Radio service is known as "Think Radio." Shows produced by MPB Music include the nationally distributed program Sounds Jewish.

MPB Radio streams both of its services live in Windows Media and Mac formats.

Call sign Frequency ERP (W) HAAT Class City of license Broadcast Area
WMAB-FM 89.9 MHz 64,300 323.5 m (1,061 ft) C1 Mississippi State (Starkville)
WMAE-FM 89.5 MHz 85,000 199 m (653 ft) C1 Booneville, Mississippi
WMAH-FM 90.3 MHz 100,000 431 m (1,414 ft) C Biloxi, Mississippi
WMAO-FM 90.9 MHz 100,000 268 m (879 ft) C1 Greenwood, Mississippi
WMAU-FM 88.9 MHz 100,000 293 m (961 ft) C1 Bude, Mississippi
WMAV-FM 90.3 MHz 100,000 378 m (1,240 ft) C Oxford, Mississippi
WMAW-FM 88.1 MHz 100,000 320 m (1,050 ft) C Meridian, Mississippi
WMPN-FM 91.3 MHz 45,000 423 m (1,388 ft) C Jackson, Mississippi

References
  1. "A history of sunny days". 2009-01-08.
  2. "How Sesame Street Changed the World". 2009-05-23.
  3. "The Clarion-Ledger".
  4. "DWMAA Facility Data". FCCData.
  5. RabbitEars TV Query for WMPN
  6. RabbitEars TV Query for WMAH
  7. RabbitEars TV Query for WMAE
  8. RabbitEars TV Query for WMAU
  9. RabbitEars TV Query for WMAO
  10. RabbitEars TV Query for WMAW
  11. RabbitEars TV Query for WMAB
  12. RabbitEars TV Query for WMAV
  13. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
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