mississippi united states branding mpb slogan mississippi is our mission channels digital see table below subchannels see table below affiliations television pbs 1970 present radio npr owner mississippi authority for educational television first air date february 1 1970 1970 02 01 television 1984 1984 radio call letters meaning see table below former affiliations net 1970 transmitter power see table below height see table below facility id see table below transmitter coordinates see table below licensing authority fcc public license information public broadcasting profile public broadcasting cdbs website www.mpbonline.org mississippi public broadcasting is the public broadcasting state network in mississippi united states . it is owned by the mississippi authority for educational television an agency of the mississippi state government that holds the licenses for all of the pbs and npr member stations in the state . contents 1 history 2 educational programming 3 mpb television 3.1 coverage areas 4 digital television 4.1 digital channels 4.2 analog to digital conversion 5 notable local programming 6 mpb radio 7 references 8 external links history edit 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 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 or prm expanded to eight stations throughout the state . in 2005 maet adopted mississippi public broadcasting as an umbrella on air name for all television and radio operations . educational programming edit 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 edit as of 2009 the mpb television stations are 3 station city of license channels tv rf first air date third and fourth letters of callsign meaning erp haat facility id transmitter coordinates wmpn tv1 jackson 29 psip 20 uhf february 1 1970 public network 400 kw 482 m 43168 32 11 29 n 90 24 22 w 32.19139 n 90.40611 w 32.19139 ; 90.40611 wmpn tv wmah tv biloxi 19 psip 16 uhf january 14 1972 540 kw 474.4 m 43197 30 45 18 n 88 56 44 w 30.75500 n 88.94556 w 30.75500 ; 88.94556 wmah tv wmae tv booneville 12 psip 12 vhf august 11 1974 31 kw 223 m 43170 34 40 0.8 n 88 45 5 w 34.666889 n 88.75139 w 34.666889 ; 88.75139 wmae tv wmau tv bude 17 psip 18 uhf january 14 1972 682 kw 340 m 43184 31 22 22 n 90 45 4 w 31.37278 n 90.75111 w 31.37278 ; 90.75111 wmau tv wmao tv greenwood 23 psip 25 uhf september 15 1972 815 kw 317.3 m 43176 33 22 34 n 90 32 32 w 33.37611 n 90.54222 w 33.37611 ; 90.54222 wmao tv wmaw tv meridian 14 psip 44 uhf january 14 1972 880 kw 369 m 43169 32 8 18 n 89 5 36 w 32.13833 n 89.09333 w 32.13833 ; 89.09333 wmaw tv wmab tv mississippi state starkville 2 psip 10 vhf july 4 1971 8 kw 349 m 43192 33 21 14 n 89 9 0 w 33.35389 n 89.15000 w 33.35389 ; 89.15000 wmab tv wmav tv oxford university 18 psip 36 uhf may 19 1972 272 .5 kw 426.3 m 43193 34 17 28 n 89 42 21 w 34.29111 n 89.70583 w 34.29111 ; 89.70583 wmav tv notes 1 . wmpn tv used the callsign wmaa tv from its 1970 sign on until 1990 . coverage areas edit 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 w45aa d in columbia digital . mississippi public broadcasting has also operated a microwave relay station kmz 77 for many years . this special microwave relay station has been used as a studio to transmitter link stl for wmpn tv in jackson . during the weekly signoff message formerly nightly signoff message kmz 77 would be mentioned following the technical specifications of wmpn tv ; as of 1992 it operates with a frequency of 7012.5 mhz to serve the studio in jackson . kmz 77 was also mentioned in the same manner during the time prior to 1990 when wmpn tv carried the call sign of wmaa tv . each station in the state network and kmz 77 would be identified in the state network s signoff message as being owned and operated by the mississippi authority for educational television with studios at 3825 ridgewood road jackson . 4 although the fcc apparently granted mpb a permit to build wmaa channel 43 a digital only station near columbus 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 and tennessee . 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 edit digital channels edit the digital signals of mpb s stations are multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 xx .1 480i 4 3 mpb sd main mpb programming pbs xx .2 1080i 16 9 mpb hd xx .3 480i 4 3 mpb cr create xx .4 mpb fm mpb music radio analog to digital conversion edit 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 12 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 edit job bank 1970s early 1990s mississippi roads 1983 present mississippi outdoors 1970s present quorum 1976 2012 tomes & talismans mid 1980s mpb radio edit 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 . mpb radio streams both of its services live in windows media and mac formats . call sign frequency watts class city of license broadcast area wmab 89.9 fm 64 300 c1 mississippi state starkville 1 wmae 89.5 fm 85 000 c1 booneville mississippi 2 wmah 90.3 fm 100 000 c biloxi mississippi 3 wmao 90.9 fm 100 000 c1 greenwood mississippi 4 wmau 88.9 fm 100 000 c1 bude mississippi 5 wmav 90.3 fm 100 000 c oxford mississippi 6 wmaw 88.1 fm 100 000 c meridian mississippi 7 wmpn 91.3 fm 45 000 c jackson mississippi 8 references edit http articles.latimes.com 2009 jan 08 entertainment et book8 pg 2 http www.newsweek.com id 199141 http www.clarionledger.com article 20090206 biz 902060338 1 frontpagetabmodule 1v rabbitears tv query for wmpn rabbitears tv query for wmah rabbitears tv query