Mississippi Public Broadcasting(MPB) is thepublic broadcastingnetwork serving theU.S. stateofMississippi.It is owned by theMississippi Authority for Educational Television(MAET), an agency of thestate governmentthat holds thelicensesfor all of thePBSandNPRmember stationsin the state. MPB's headquarters is located on Ridgewood Road in northeastJackson.The public broadcaster was established asMississippi Educational Television.
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|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | MPB |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Mississippi Authority for Educational Television |
| History | |
First air date |
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| NET(February–October 1970) | |
| Links | |
| Webcast | MPB Radio |
| Website | www |
History
editMississippi was a relative latecomer to public broadcasting. By the late 1960s, it was the only state east of theMississippi Riverwithout aneducational televisionstation licensed within its borders. The only areas of the state to get a clear signal from aNational Educational Television(NET) or PBS station were the northwestern counties (fromMemphis'WKNO) and the counties along the Gulf Coast (fromNew Orleans'WYES-TVandMobile'sAlabama Educational Televisionoutlet,WEIQ).
in 1969, theMississippi Legislaturecreated the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television to create a locally focused educational television service for Mississippi. After almost a year of planning, WMAA (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 JacksonNBCaffiliateWLBT,and Joe Root, WLBT Production Manager.
Only four months after beginning operations, WMAA received unwanted national attention when it refused to carrySesame Streetbecause 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 asMississippi Educational Television,or simplyETV.
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.
Programming
editThis sectionneeds additional citations forverification.(August 2024) |
Since its inception, MPB has produced manyeducationalorinstructional televisionprograms from its Jackson studios. A partial list includesTomes & Talismans,The Write Channel,The Clyde Frog Show,About Safety,Ticktock Minutes,Zebra Wings,Posie Paints,Project Survival,The Metric System,Media Mania,andBetween the Lions.
Series include:
- Artifacts[3]
- Between the Lions(2000–2010; national co-production withWGBHBoston)
- Fit to Eat,a cooking show[4]hosted by chef and restaurateur Rob Stinson[5][4]
- Job Bank(1970s-early 1990s)[citation needed]
- Mississippi Roads[6](1983–present)
- Mississippi Outdoors[7](1970s–present)
- Quorum(1976–2012)[citation needed]
- Southern Expressions[3]
- Tomes & Talismans(mid–1980s)
- The Write Channel(1977; distributed by theAgency for Instructional Technology(AIT))
- Write Right(1985; aired as part of the GED series, which was distributed byKentucky Educational Television)
MPB Television
editAs of 2009, the MPB television stations are:[8]
Notes:
- 1. All stations added the-TVsuffix to their callsigns on February 1, 1982.
- 2. WMPN-TV used the callsignWMAAfrom its 1970 sign-on (and added the-TVsuffix to its callsign in 1982) until 1990.
Coverage areas
edit| Station | Signal reach |
|---|---|
| WMAB-TV | Southern portion of the Tupelo–Columbus market and Northern portion of Meridian market. |
| WMAE-TV | Northeast Mississippi (Northern portion of the Tupelo–Columbus market) |
| WMAH-TV | South Mississippi (Hattiesburg–Laurel and Biloxi–Gulfport markets, as well as parts of Mobile–Pensacola and New Orleans markets) |
| WMAO-TV | Mississippi Delta (Greenwood–Greenville) |
| WMAU-TV | Southwest Mississippi (Natchez, McComb, Brookhaven), as well as parts of the Baton Rouge market |
| WMAV-TV | Northwest Mississippi, as well as parts of Tennessee and Arkansas (Memphis, TN market) |
| WMAW-TV | Meridian market and Northern portion of the Hattiesburg–Laurel market |
| WMPN-TV | Jackson and West Central Mississippi |
Translator
edit| City of license | Callsign | Translating | Channel | ERP | HAAT | Facility ID | Transmitter coordinates |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Columbia | W29EY-D | WMAU-TV 17 | 29 | 15 kW | 52.1 m (170.9 ft) | 43205 | 31°16′01.2″N89°49′57.3″W/ 31.267000°N 89.832583°W |
MPB received aconstruction permitfor stationWMAA,channel 43 inColumbus,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.[9]MPB has stated there are currently no plans or funding to build the station.[citation needed]
MPB Television covers nearly all of the state, as well as parts ofAlabama,TennesseeandLouisiana.Additionally, WMAV is carried onDirecTVandDish Network's Memphis feeds, bringing its programming to an additional 1.4 million people in Tennessee andArkansas.Oxford is part of the Memphis market.
Digital television
editSubchannels
editThe signals of MPB's TV stations are multiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WMXX[notes 1]HD | PBS |
| xx.2 | 480i | 4:3 | WMXX KD | MPB Kids |
| xx.3 | WMXX CR | MPB Create | ||
| xx.4 | Audio | WMXX FM (MTS) | MPB Think Radio MPB Music Radio | |
| xx.5 | 1080i | 16:9 | WMXX WD | MPB Classroom TV (7 a.m.–7 p.m.) MPB World(7 p.m.–7 a.m.) |
Analog-to-digital conversion
editDuring 2009, in the lead-up to theanalog-to-digital television transitionthat 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:[11]
- WMPN-TV shut down its analog signal, overUHFchannel 29, on February 17, 2009, the original date in which full-power television stations in the United States were totransition from analog to digital broadcastsunder federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 20, usingvirtual channel29.
- 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, using virtual 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, using virtual 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, using virtual 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, using virtual 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, using virtual 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, using virtual channel 18.
MPB Radio
editMPB Radio consists of eight stations covering most of the state. It airs mostly news and talk programming from NPR and other distributors ofpublic radioprogramming, along with several locally produced shows.
Recently, MPB has added a 24-hourclassical musicservice 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 programSounds Jewish.All of MPB's radio stations also air the Radio Reading Service of Mississippi[12]on their FM subcarriers, which is also simulcast on the DT4 subchannel on the "Spanish/Audio Description" audio channel.
MPB Radio streams both of its services live in Windows Media and Mac formats.
Notes
edit- ^The callsign of the station.
References
edit- ^"A history of sunny days".Los Angeles Times.January 8, 2009.
- ^"How Sesame Street Changed the World".Newsweek.May 23, 2009.
- ^abBlack, Patti Carr (1998).Art in Mississippi, 1720-1980.ISBN9781578060849.
- ^ab"Mississippi Public Broadcasting's Own 'Fit to Eat' Aires Nationally on Create TV | JFP Mobile | Jackson, Mississippi".
- ^"Fit to Eat | Cooking Shows".PBS.
- ^"Mississippi Roads | MPB".
- ^"Mississippi Outdoors".
- ^"The Clarion-Ledger".
- ^"DWMAA Facility Data".FCCData.
- ^*RabbitEars TV Query for WMAB
- ^"DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on August 29, 2013.RetrievedMarch 24,2012.
- ^"Radio Reading Services".MPB — Mississippi Public Broadcasting.RetrievedOctober 6,2022.
