city tupelo branding wtva general wtva news newscasts abc wtva on dt2 slogan north mississippi s own the spirit of mississippi channels digital 8 vhf virtual 9 psip subchannels 9.1 nbc 9.2 abc owner heartland media mississippi tv license company llc first air date march 18 1957 ; 59 years ago 1957 03 18 call letters meaning tennessee valley authority tupelo was first city in corporation or we re tv alive sister station s wlov tv former callsigns wtwv 1957 1979 former channel number s analog 9 vhf 1957 2009 22 w22bs uhf repeater former affiliations secondary abc 1957 1983 transmitter power 16 kw height 540.1 m class dt facility id 74148 transmitter coordinates 33 47 40 n 89 5 16 w 33.79444 n 89.08778 w 33.79444 ; 89.08778 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website wtva.com wtva is the nbc affiliated television station for northern mississippi that is licensed to tupelo . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on vhf channel 8 or virtual channel 9.1 via psip from a transmitter in woodland . owned by heartland media wtva operates fox affiliate wlov tv through a local marketing agreement lma . the two outlets share studios located on beech springs road county road 681 in saltillo . syndicated programming on the station includes wheel of fortune dr. phil inside edition and jeopardy . contents 1 history 2 programming 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 newscasts 5 references 6 external links history edit wtva was the brainchild of frank k. spain an engineering graduate of mississippi state university who had helped build nbc owned station wnbw now wrc tv in washington d.c. . while serving as technical director at when tv now wtvh in syracuse new york in the early 1950s he dreamed of bringing a television station to tupelo where he had spent most of his childhood . spain applied for a license in 1953 which was granted by the federal communications commission fcc in 1956 . the station began airing on march 18 1957 with the call letters wtwv . its equipment antenna transmitter cameras etc. was 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 affiliation with the network . however several nbc executives believed tupelo was not a desirable place for a local station because of its rural location even though most viewers in northern mississippi could only get nbc via grade b coverage from wmc tv in memphis tennessee wlbt in jackson mississippi and wapi tv now wvtm tv in birmingham alabama . 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 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 signal when network programming aired . this setup necessary in the days before satellites enabled wtwv to bring nbc programming to northeastern mississippi and northwestern alabama . the station also carried a secondary affiliation with abc . in the mid 1960s wtwv was approached by abc about becoming a full affiliate of that network . spain who was still receiving bootleg nbc programming told nbc executives about abc s offer to pay him the customary rates . this prompted nbc to finally negotiate a formal deal with spain which made wtwv an official nbc affiliate one of only three in mississippi at the time . it still carried some abc programming in off hours namely college football on saturdays until wvsb now wlov in nearby west point began operating in 1983 . starting in 1972 wtwv operated a full time satellite for eastern central mississippi whtv now wmdn in meridian on channel 24 ; whtv operated as such until 1980 when spain decided to make it a stand alone station with a cbs affiliation . wtwv built a new tower in the 1970s 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 . on july 4 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 call sign was later used on wfrq a radio station in mashpee massachusetts . the wtwv call sign is now in use by a memphis based tv station . neither the massachusetts nor the memphis station are related to the current wtva . the spains continued to own whtv until it was sold to meridian media now waypoint media in january 2008 . today the station is owned by heartland media mississippi tv license company llc . frank spain served as ceo of wtva inc. until his death on april 25 2006 . he continued to visit the station regularly well into his seventies . his widow jane assumed the ceo position until the station was sold in september of 2014 . the outlet was the first commercial television station in mississippi to devote its entire morning broadcast schedule to educational programming . the station also made history as the first in mississippi to broadcast a live basketball game . although wtva operates wlov through local marketing agreement lma and previously operated abc affiliate wkdh through a similar arrangement from its 2001 sign on until its final sign off on august 31 2012 each station has its own station manager and owner in accordance with fcc policy . wtva inc. also previously owned and operated ktfl in flagstaff arizona . during the majority of the time ktfl was broadcasting it carried programing from familynet . ktfl s transmitter was licensed as the most powerful television station its own market . on july 24 2008 wtva began its digital service on vhf channel 8 but is mapped via psip to virtual channel 9 . by comparison sister station wlov broadcasts network programming in high definition over a low powered digital transmitter . it is likely the allowable power levels on channel 8 wtva s post transition digital channel will be severely limited due to potential interference to other stations . 1 previously familynet was carried on wtva dt2 until december 31 2011 when it was replaced by metv . 2 the subchannel again switched affiliations this time to abc on september 1 2012 ; the subchannel replaced wkdh as the abc affiliate for the columbus tupelo west point market which ceased operations the night before on august 31 . 3 4 the metv affiliation was moved to sister station wlov dt 27.2 . 5 heartland media announced on september 16 2014 that it would purchase wtva from wtva inc. the sale ended 57 years of spain family ownership . 6 heartland media assumed control of the station on february 11 2015 . 7 programming edit wtva clears the entire nbc schedule except for the sunday edition of the today show from nbc news which has never aired on the station for years now infomercials are aired in its place although they tape delay meet the press to 10 a.m. while its second digital subchannel 9.2 clears the entire abc schedule in pattern . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 8 9.1 1080i 16 9 wtva dt main wtva programming nbc 9.2 720p abcwtva wtva dt2 abc analog to digital conversion edit wtva shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 9 on february 17 2009 the original target 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 vhf channel 8 . 9 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former vhf analog channel 9 . newscasts edit in march 2000 wtva began producing a sunday through friday night prime time newscast on wlov tv . currently known as wlov fox news at nine this broadcast can be seen for thirty minutes . there has not been any plans made announced to launch a weekday morning show at 7 a.m. on wlov produced by wtva that would compete with a sixty minute show seen on mynetworktv affiliate wcbi dt2 . on april 20 2009 wtva became the first station in the market and second in the state to upgrade local news to high definition level wlov s show was included . compared nationwide it was the smallest market outlet that made the change . with the addition of abc network programming on wtva dt2 the subchannel also airs local news programming as per the terms of its affiliation agreement featuring simulcasts of most local newscasts seen on the primary channel . more specifically wtva s half hour midday newscast at noon on weekdays and one hour news and talk program kay bain s saturday mornin show is not seen on wtva dt2 . 3 5 there are currently no local broadcasts seen exclusively on wtva dt2 . the station operates a weather radar at its facilities that is known on air as stormtrack doppler . wtva s weather authority made national news on april 28th 2014 when chief meteorologist matt laubhan escorted the station s crew to the basement when an ef3 tornado struck nearby . after calling the national weather service in memphis and operating without any radar data for three hours he later won an emmy in 2015 for his efforts . references edit fcc third round dtv allocations da 06 1675a1 allocate 9000 watts to wtva . where to watch me tv wtva a b abc getting new outlet in columbus tupelo . tvnewscheck . august 28 2012 . retrieved august 28 2012 . wtva to broadcast abc tv . wtva.com . august 28 2012 . retrieved august 28 2012 . a b abc wtva information heartland media buying wtva tupelo . tvnewscheck . september 16 2014 . retrieved september 16 2014 . seid dennis february 11 2015 . wtva sale complete ; new general manager named . northeast mississippi daily journal . retrieved february 11 2015 . rabbitears tv query for wtva dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . oral history with mr. frank kyle spain history of wtva external links edit official website mobile wlov tv query the fcc s tv station database for wtva v t e television stations in north mississippi including columbus tupelo and west point reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations wmab 2 wmae 12 x. 1 pbs mpb x. 2 pbs hd x. 3 create wcbi 4.1 cbs 4.2 mntv 4.3 the cw w07bn d ind tbn wtva 9.1 nbc 9.2 abc w25ad tbn wlov 27.1 fox 27.2 metv 27.3 this tv w34dv d w39ca d ubn weph 49.1 ctn adjacent locals jackson ms wlbt 3.1 nbc 3.2 bounce tv 3.3 this tv wjtv 12.1 cbs 12.2 the cw 12.3 antenna tv wapt 16.1 abc 16.2 metv memphis tn wreg 3.1 cbs 3.2 nc3a 3.3 antenna tv wmc 5.1 nbc 5.2 bounce tv 5.3 grit tv wkno 10.1 pbs whbq 13.1 fox 13.2 escape 13.3 decades watn 24.1 abc wlmt 30.1 cw 30.2 mynetworktv metv wpxx 50.1 ion 50.2 qubo 50.3 ion life 50.4 ion shop 50.5 qvc 50.6 hsn birmingham tuscaloosa al wdbb 17.1 the cw 17.2 abc via wbma ld wses 33.1 heroes and icons 33.2 decades wbma ld 58.1 abc 58.2 weather 58.3 heartland florence al wfiq 36.1 pbs apt 36.2 apt world 36.3