MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2017 By

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2017 By: Representatives Steverson, Aguirre, To: Rules Arnold, Bain, Boyd, Holland, Hood, Turner HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 38 1 A RESOLUTION CONGRATULATING TUPELO'S WTVA TELEVISION STATION 2 UPON THE OCCASION OF ITS 60TH ANNIVERSARY. 3 WHEREAS, 2017 marks the grand occasion of the 60th 4 anniversary of Tupelo's own WTVA television station, celebrating 5 six decades of excellent service to the Tupelo community and 6 surrounding areas; and 7 WHEREAS, WTVA was the brainchild of Frank K. Spain, an 8 engineering graduate of Mississippi State University, who, while 9 serving as Technical Director of WHEN-TV in Syracuse, New York, in 10 the early 1950s, dreamed of bringing a television station to 11 Tupelo, where he spent most of his childhood; and 12 WHEREAS, Spain applied for a license to run his station in 13 1953 and the FCC granted his request in 1956, and on March 18, 14 1957, his station began airing with the call letters WTWV; and 15 WHEREAS, the station's original equipment, including the 16 antenna, transmitter and cameras, was hand-built in Spain's 17 garage, backyard and basement in Syracuse; and H. R. No. 38 *HR43/R2152* ~ OFFICIAL ~ N1/2 17/HR43/R2152 PAGE 1 (AJT\EW) 18 WHEREAS, in the early years of the station, Spain had a hard 19 time talking NBC officials into getting his new station an 20 affiliation with the network, but NBC said that if he could figure 21 out a way to obtain a network signal he could carry it; and 22 WHEREAS, through alleged under-the-table deals with WMC-TV, 23 Spain set up a network of microwave relays and repeater systems to 24 carry the WMC-TV signal to Tupelo, enabling WTWV to bring NBC 25 programming to northeastern Mississippi and northwestern Alabama; 26 and 27 WHEREAS, in the mid 1960s, the station was approached by ABC 28 about becoming a full affiliate of that network, but Spain told 29 NBC executives about ABC's offer and that prompted NBC to finally 30 negotiate a formal deal with Spain, which made WTWV an official 31 NBC affiliate, one of only three in Mississippi at the time; and 32 WHEREAS, on July 4, 1979, WTWV changed its call letters to 33 WTVA in honor of Tupelo's recognition as the first Tennessee 34 Valley Authority city in the southeast; and 35 WHEREAS, in addition to its other achievements, the station 36 was the first commercial television station in Mississippi to 37 devote its entire morning broadcast schedule to educational 38 programming, and was also the first in Mississippi to broadcast a 39 live basketball game; and 40 WHEREAS, today, the station is owned by Heartland Media, 41 which acquired the station on September 16, 2014, ending 57 years 42 of Spain family ownership; and H. R. No. 38 *HR43/R2152* ~ OFFICIAL ~ 17/HR43/R2152 PAGE 2 (AJT\EW) 43 WHEREAS, it is the policy of the House of Representatives to 44 recognize the truly wonderful moments in the history of our 45 state's television stations, which provide our citizens with 46 entertainment and help connect them to the world's current events: 47 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF 48 REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, That we do hereby 49 congratulate WTVA upon the occasion of its 60th anniversary, and 50 extend best wishes for continued success in all future endeavors. 51 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be 52 furnished to Heartland Media, WTVA and to the members of the 53 Capitol Press Corps. H. R. No. 38 *HR43/R2152* ~ OFFICIAL ~ 17/HR43/R2152 ST: WTVA television station; commend and PAGE 3 (AJT\EW) congratulate upon 60th anniversary. .

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