WMSB (FM)

WMSB

Byhalia, Mississippi,US
Frequency	88.9MHz
Programming
Format	Christian
Network	American Family Radio
Ownership
Owner	American Family Association
History
First air date	January 4, 1971(1971-01-04)
Former call signs	WNJC-FM (1971–1992) WKNA (1992–2007)
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	42060
Class	C1
ERP	52,000watts
HAAT	145 meters (476 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	34°39′30.4″N89°37′32.3″W
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Webcast	Listen live
Website	afr.net

WMSBis a radio station on88.9 FMlicensed toByhalia, Mississippi,United States. It is a full-time repeater of theAmerican Family Radio(AFR) network and is owned by theAmerican Family Association,broadcasting from a tower inChulahoma.

Prior to being sold to AFR in 2007, this station was Mississippi's first public radio station as WNJC-FM, a service ofNorthwest Mississippi Junior College(NMJC) inSenatobia.After 16 years, the college shuttered the station in 1988 in order to reallocate its funds for classroom expenses. It was then acquired and operated for nearly two decades byWKNO-FMinMemphis, Tennessee.

History

WNJC-FM

Northwest Mississippi Junior College applied on April 15, 1969, for a new noncommercial educational radio station to be located on the college campus.The application specified 89.9 MHz, but this was amended to 90.1 before being granted on January 28, 1970. A September 28 launch date was promoted,but this was missed, and WNJC-FM made its debut on January 4, 1971.Listeners to Mississippi's first noncommercial radio station heard music, news, and coverage of the college's athletic events. After resolving some issues that caused interference to television reception, the station was found eligible forCorporation for Public Broadcastinggrants—and for membership in the newNPR.In addition, WNJC-FM also served as a training ground for student announcers and maintained a local news operation covering northern Mississippi; on one occasion, the news director was gathering a livestock report when they were chased by a bull.In 1976, the transmitter site was moved to a college-owned farm and the power increased to 18,000 watts.A construction permit was issued at the end of 1981 to move to 88.9 MHz.

Even though WNJC-FM had gone on the air in 1971, it was the only Mississippi-based public radio station for more than a decade. In the early 1980s, this began to change. The J. C. Maxwell Broadcasting Group was formed to build a minority-oriented public station inJackson,which went on the air asWMPRin late 1983. Simultaneously, theMississippi Authority for Educational Televisionbegan planning and securing funds for an eight-transmitter network to carry NPR programming across the state;the first seven transmitters in Public Radio Mississippi, comprising the entire network save Jackson, began that November.

Purchase by WKNO

In 1988, the community college opted to close WNJC-FM and reallocate its budget to classroom and curricular needs, effective August 1; the college's president called the decision "difficult".By November, the Memphis Community Television Foundation, parent of Memphis public radio stationWKNO-FM,had filed to purchase the facility from NMJC.

Some changes were made in the WKNO-FM lineup coinciding with the integration of the new transmitter, withPerformance TodayandMonitoradiodropped to addFresh Air.The station returned as a nearly full-time repeater of WKNO-FM on April 3, 1989; the only opt-outs from the parent station were to air normal programming while WKNO-FM airedShelby County, Tennessee,commission and Memphis city council meetings.After initially contemplating a sale of the Senatobia station in 1991, WKNO-FM changed tactics and split daytime weekday programming, with WNJC-FM becoming WKNA and adding several new news and talk offerings.The next year, the WKNA audio was added to theSecondary Audio Programchannel ofWKNO television.The amount of talk programming was increased in 1996, at which time WKNQ inDyersburg, Tennessee,also began airing the speech-based opt-outs.In 2003, this was changed to a fully separate service using NPR andBBC World Serviceprogramming.

Sale to AFA

WKNO, however, was frustrated in its efforts to pursue further facility improvements for WKNA and WKNQ in Dyersburg. As a result, at the end of 2006, it opted to sell both facilities, with Christian broadcasters purchasing each one. TheEducational Media Foundationacquired the Dyersburg outlet, while WKNA was sold to the American Family Association ofTupelofor integration into its network.The sale closed on April 13, 2007, and the station was taken silent while it was relocated; Northwest Mississippi Community College, as the former junior college had renamed itself, had refused to allow AFA to use its tower site.WKNO earned $1 million from the sale of the two stations.

In 2008, AFA was approved to change the city of license from Senatobia to Byhalia, which allowed that city to retain one primary aural service asK-Lovetransmitter WKVF moved north toward Memphis.