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WTVA

WTVA
WTVA9.png
WTVA9-2.png
Tupelo/Columbus/West Point, Mississippi
United States
City Tupelo, Mississippi
Branding
  • .1:WTVA 9
  • WTVA 9 News
  • .2: ABC WTVA 9
Slogan North Mississippi's Own
The Spirit of Mississippi
Channels Digital: 8 (VHF)
Virtual: 9 ()
Subchannels
  • .1: 1080i WTVA-DT
  • .2: 720p ABCWTVA
Affiliations
Owner Heartland Media
(Mississippi TV License Company, LLC)
First air date March 18, 1957; 60 years ago (1957-03-18)
Call letters' meaning Tennessee Valley Authority (Tupelo was the 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)
  • .2: FamilyNet (2008–2011)
  • MeTV (2011–2012)
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 www.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 ) 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!. On cable, the station is carried on Comcast channel 6.

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.


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