Mississippi Public Broadcasting
 |
|
| statewide 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 (television) 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.
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. Six other stations began operation over the next few years, and the state network became known as Mississippi Educational Television, or simply ETV.
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