John Gibson, Director of Television for Mississippi Public Broadcasting spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson at the club’s May 19, 2020, meeting. Mr. Gibson is a native Mississippian. He did his undergraduate studies at Vanderbilt University and graduate work at the University of Texas.
Gibson said that Mississippi Public Broadcasting was formed on February 1, 1970, and is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The MPB radio network joined the MPB television network in 1984 to create the MPB we know today. MPB’s mission is to tell Mississippi’s story to the world. MPB reaches al of Mississippi’s 82 counties and it reaches a global audience via the internet.
For a network from a mostly rural state, MPB creates an impressive number of original programs, including, for example, “Mississippi Roads” with Walt Grayson, “Conversations” with Marshall Ramsey, Fit-to -Eat”, “Farm Week”, and “Mississippi Outdoors.” MPB has also created documentaries such as “Meet Carl Jackson” which premiered earlier this year.
The Educational Department participated in “Between the Lions” and “Aha Island” which are programs targeted to pre-K children and originated by WGBH in Boston, MA. MPB TV also devotes its morning and early afternoon programming to education. The Rotary Club of North Jackson has participated in both Between the Lions and Aha Island at Walton elementary school in Jackson.
During the Covid-19 crisis, MPB has been the originating station of the video coverage of Governor Reeves’ daily press briefings. Its feed is carried by other local stations.
For all of its activities and offerings, MPB operates on a relatively small budget of about $10 million. Six million is provided by the State of Mississippi, Approximately $1.3 million is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The balance of about #3million comes from Members, grants, and other sources.
We thank Gibson for his service to the citizens of Mississippi and for his presentation to our club. He is shown during his presentation in the following photo.
