WTVA
On July 4, 1979, WTWV changed its call letters to "WTVA" to reinforce its identity, not only as the first TVA city,[1] but also its then-current branding of "TV Alive".[2] The WTWV call sign was later used on WFRQ, a radio station in Mashpee, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod. 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.
Frank Spain was CEO of WTVA 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 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. In the late 1990s, WTVA launched a low-power translator, W22BS, which served as a primary UPN affiliate, before selling the station to rival WCBI in 2002.[3] The Spains continued to own WHTV/WMDN until it was sold to Meridian Media (now Waypoint Media) in January 2008.
Although WTVA formerly operated 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 had its own station manager and owner in accordance with FCC policy. WTVA, Inc. also previously owned and operated WTVX in Fort Pierce, Florida, and 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 30, 1999, WTVA began its digital service on UHF channel 57 but is mapped to virtual channel 9; that service would move to VHF channel 8 on July 24, 2008. By comparison, sister station WLOV broadcast network programming in high definition over a low-power 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.[4]
Previously, FamilyNet was carried on WTVA-DT2 until December 31, 2011, when it was replaced by MeTV.[5] 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.[6][7] The MeTV affiliation was moved to sister-station WLOV-DT 27.2.[8]
Heartland Media announced on September 16, 2014, that it would purchase WTVA from the Spain family, ending 57 years of local ownership.[9] Heartland Media assumed control of the station on February 11, 2015.[10] Allen Media Broadcasting, in turn, purchased Heartland in 2020, bringing WTVA into its portfolio.[11]
On June 1, 2025, amid financial woes and rising debt, Allen Media Group announced that it would explore "strategic options" for the company, such as a sale of its television stations (including WTVA).[12][13] On August 8, 2025, it was announced that AMG would sell 12 of its stations, including WTVA, to Gray Media for $171 million.[14] The sale of WTVA was completed on March 27, 2026, marking Gray's entry into the Columbus–Tupelo market.[15]
