WTVA

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WTVA
city =
station_
station_slogan = Live, Local, Late-Breaking.
station_branding = Channel 9
analog = 9 (VHF)
digital = 8 (VHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = NBC
FamilyNet (DT2)
airdate = March 18, 1957
location = Tupelo/Columbus, Mississippi
callsign_meaning = Tennessee Valley Authority, of which Tupelo was the first city
former_callsigns = WTWV (1957-1979)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = WTVA, Inc.
(Spain family)
licensee =
sister_stations = WKDH, WLOV-TV
former_affiliations = Secondary:
ABC (1957-1983)
effective_radiated_power = 316 kW (analog)
257 kW (digital)
HAAT = 542 m (analog)
528 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 74148
coordinates = coord|33|47|39.3|N|89|5|16|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wtva.com/ www.wtva.com]

WTVA is the NBC television affiliate for the Tupelo-Columbus-West Point, Mississippi television market. The station is owned by the Spain family. Its transmitter is located 2.1 miles (3.4 km) northwest of Woodland.

History

Channel 9 was the brainchild of Frank K. Spain, an engineering graduate of Mississippi State University who had helped build WRC-TV in Washington, DC. While serving as technical director at WHEN-TV in Syracuse, New York (now WTVH), he dreamed of bringing a television station to Tupelo, where he'd spent most of his childhood.

Spain applied for a license in 1953, which was granted in 1956. The station first signed on the air on March 18, 1957, with the call letters WTWV. The station's equipment (antenna, transmitter, cameras, etc.) were all hand-built in Spain's garage, backyard and basement in Syracuse.

Spain hoped to parlay his good relations with NBC officials into getting his new station an NBC affiliation. However, several NBC executives believed that Tupelo was not a desirable place for a local station because of its rural location, dozens of miles away from cities such as Memphis and Birmingham. Nonetheless, they told Spain that if he could figure out a way to obtain a network signal, he could carry it. Spain allegedly negotiated under-the-table deals with WMC-TV in Memphis, and set up a network of microwave relays and repeater systems to carry the WMC-TV signal to Tupelo. Station engineers then switched to and from the WMC-TV signal when network programming aired. This setup, necessary in the days before satellites, enabled WTWV to bring NBC programming to northeast Mississippi. The station also carried a secondary affiliation with ABC.

In the mid-1960s, WTWV was approached about becoming a full ABC affiliate. Spain, who was still receiving "bootleg" NBC programming, told NBC executives that ABC was willing to pay him. This prompted NBC to negotiate a formal deal with Spain, and WTWV officially became an NBC affiliate. Still, the station did carry some ABC programming in off hours until WVSB (now WLOV) in nearby West Point began operating on channel 27 in 1983. Ironically, WTVA now has an LMA with that station (see below).

WTWV built a brand-new tower in 1979 that not only brought a city-grade signal to Columbus for the first time, but gave the station one of the largest coverage areas in the country. Also in 1979, it changed its call letters to WTVA, in honor of Tupelo's recognition as the first Tennessee Valley Authority city in the Southeast. The WTWV callsign was later used on a radio station in Mashpee, Massachusetts, a station unrelated to the current WTVA.

The station is still owned by the Spain family today. Frank Spain died on April 25, 2006, at the age of 78. Frank was the former CEO of WTVA, Inc.; his wife Jane has now assumed the CEO position, continuing the Spain family ownership. The TV stations transmitter site is located in Woodland, Mississippi, a rural area in Chickasaw County.

Innovations

WTWV was the first commercial television station in Mississippi to devote the entire morning broadcast schedule to educational, or children's, programming. The station also made history as the first television station in Mississippi to broadcast a live basketball game.

Newscast titles

Weekday programs

* "A.M. Live" - Began airing on October 15, 2007 and is anchored by Julee Brown and Rachel Pierce. John Dolusic provides "TrueView"weather forecasts.
* "WTVA News Live at Noon" - Anchored by Anna Freeman. John Dolusic provides "TrueView" weather forecasts.
* "WTVA News Live at Five" - Anchored by Terry Smith. Dick Rice provides "TrueView" weather forecasts.
* "WTVA News Live at Six" - Anchored by Craig Ford. Dick Rice provides "TrueView" weather forecasts and Marlin Williams gives a look at the day's sports.
* "WTVA News Live at Ten" - Anchored by Craig Ford. Dick Rice provides "TrueView" weather forecasts and Marlin Williams gives a look at the day's sports.

Weekend programs

* "Kay Bain Saturday Mornin' Show" - Variety show comprised of musical performances by Kay Bain and the Morning Show Band, special guests on various topics.
* "Focus" - Community events program hosted by Terry Smith.
* "WTVA News Live at Six" - Anchored by Robert Byers. Jonathan Burleson provides "TrueView" weather forecasts and Brett Garrett gives a look at the weekend's sports. The 6:00 p.m. newscast only airs on Saturdays.
* "WTVA News Live at Ten" - Same format as 6:00 p.m. newscast on Saturday. Airs Saturday and Sunday evenings.

High-Definition, Digital Television, and the FCC

On July 24, 2008, WTVA began its digital service on DTV Channel 8, but is mapped to virtual channel 9.1. Shortly after, WTVA began multicasting FamilyNet over DT 9.2. Neither WKDH nor WLOV conduct multicasting at this time.

However, WTVA presently broadcasts over a temporary transmitter; the full power transmitter should be operational in August 2008.

By comparison, WTVA's sister station, FOX affiliate WLOV-TV, broadcasts network programming in high-definition over a low-power digital transmitter. The transmitter's maximum range is unknown.

It is likely that the allowable power levels on channel 8, WTVA's post-transition digital channel, will be severely limited due to potential interference to other stations. [ [http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1675A1.pdf FCC third-round DTV allocations] , DA-06-1675a1, allocate 9000 watts to WTVA.]

Current Personalities

*Terry Smith
*John Dolusic
*Kay Bain
*Dick Rice, chief meteorologist
*Craig Ford
*Marlin Williams
*Robert Byers
*Jonathan Burleson
*Julee Brown
*Wayne Hereford, reporter
*Susan Parker, reporter
*Anna Freeman, reporter
*Danielle Rotolo, reporter
*Brett Garrett
*Rick Jackson, reporter
*Rachel Pierce
*Beverly Tanner

Past Personalities

* Mark Ledbetter, former nightly newscast anchor; became WTVA's general manager in 1976
* Will Kollmeyer, former sports anchor; now sports information director at Itawamba Community College
* Matthew East, former evening/weekend meteorologist, now weekend meteorologist at News 14 Carolina in Charlotte
* Jeffrey Rupp, former reporter; now government affairs director at Mississippi State University
* Nick Paranjape, former anchor, now weekend anchor for WMC-TV in Memphis
* Kristin Tallent, former sports anchor, now weekend sports anchor for WHBQ FOX13 in Memphis
* Buddy Bain, co-host of The Mornin' Show; deceased, 1997.
* Wendy Allen, former news anchor; became main anchor for Central Florida News 13 in Orlando from 2004-2007, now professor of Broadcast Journalism at the University of Central Florida.
* James Hull, former reporter and substitute anchor
* Matt Wyatt, former weekend sports anchor and Southern Sportsman reporter, now sports information director for Northeast Mississippi Community College
* Scott Agner, former weekend meteorologist
* Chad Flowers, former weekend sports anchor
* Guy Hornbuckle, former Live at Five anchor and producer, quit in September 2007.
* Kathy Powell, former Live at Six and Ten anchor; now anchor and reporter for WXII in Winston-Salem as Kathy Cheek

Affiliated stations

WTVA, Inc., the parent company that controls and manages WTVA, also manages two other stations in the Tupelo-Columbus-West Point market. These stations are the FOX affiliate WLOV-TV and ABC affiliate WKDH. WTVA, Inc. manages the other two stations through an LMA, or local marketing agreement. Each station has its own station manager and owner, in accordance with FCC policy.

Between 1968 and 1975, WTWV's signal was rebroadcast for viewers in eastern central Mississippi on a translator in Meridian, WHTV, now known as WMDN. The station operated primarily as a CBS affiliate and was sold to Meridian Media in January 2008.

WTVA, Inc. also previously owned and operated a station in Flagstaff, Arizona, KTFL. During the majority of the time KTFL was broadcasting, it carried programing from FamilyNet. The transmitter was licensed as the most powerful television station in the market.

References

* [http://www.lib.usm.edu/~spcol/coh/cohspainfb.html Oral History with Mr. Frank Kyle Spain]
* [http://www.wtva.com/pages/history.html History of WTVA]

External links

* [http://www.wtva.com/ WTVA Homepage]
*TVQ|WTVA
*BIA|WTVA|TV|TV