Oral history with Mr. Frank Kyle Spain

              Oral history with Mr. Frank Kyle Spain
F341.5 . M57 vol. 746, pt. 2
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Biography
Frank Kyle Spain is the owner and chief executive officer of WTVA, Inc., which is the licensee of WTVA, Channel Nine, Tupelo, Mississippi. Additionally he is the sole owner of WMDN Television, Meridian, Mississippi, and Microwave Service Company of Mississippi and Florida.
Mr. Spain was born in 1927 in Ohio and moved with his family to Mississippi in 1930. While still a high school student, he helped build and operate a local AM radio station, serving as chief engineer on a part- time basis. Having graduated with honors from Mississippi State University with a degree in electronics engineering at age nineteen, he moved to Washington, D. C., where he was employed by NBC to participate in the construction of WNBW ( now WRC- TV). He assisted with the first TV programs originating from The Capitol, The White House and at various other historic locations and events, such as the 1948 Presidential Inauguration. In 1949, he joined the NBC Development Group in New York to design television and microwave relay equipment.
Mr. Spain helped build the first UHF TV station in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and supervised the antenna pattern measurements. He participated in the 1949- 1950 demonstration of the RCA compatible color television system before the Federal Communications Commission. In 1952, he left NBC to assume the duties of director of engineering for the Meredith Syracuse Television Corporation, which operated WHEN - TV ( now WTVH) and WHEN Radio in Syracuse, New York. In December 1953, while with the Meredith Corporation, he successfully petitioned the FCC to assign channel nine to Tupelo, Mississippi, and was subsequently granted a construction permit. Mr. Spain designed and hand built the antenna, transmitter, cameras, and all ancillary equipment used by WTWV ( now WTVA). That station commenced broadcasting on March 18, 1957.
In 1959, Mr. Spain started Microwave Service Company to provide distant signals to CATV systems and network interconnect links for broadcast facilities. At the peak of the terrestrial transmission business, the company served twelve states. Because of these strategically located facilities, Mr. Spain joined Jack Goeken and Bill McGowan in the start- up of MCI. This resulted in his sole ownership of MCI Mid- South and an equal partnership with the Meredith Corporation in MCI Southeast. mus- coh. spainf. doc Page 1 of 22