MS Public Broadcasting Director Returns to MC Roots
Judy Lewis brings enormous energy to the job as the new executive director of Mississippi Public Broadcasting.
That was clearly obvious the moment the former Mississippi College professor began her guest lecture Thursday to MC students. Some were her former students on the Clinton campus as Lewis returned to her alma mater. It was her first time back in an MC classroom since taking the MPB leadership post in August.
Lewis, who directed MC theater productions and taught communication classes, leads a Jackson-based agency reaching 2.2 million Mississippians on its TV stations. Another 127,000 folks are being reached each week on its radio stations.
Her job is to change the perception by some that MPB programming is "boring" at times, and doesn't do enough to cater to its audience.
Lewis is working hard on many levels to step up programming that deals with the educational needs of Mississippians, from kindergarten through the adult level. She's also trying to squeeze in more quality programs dealing with health care nerds, emergency preparedness, and sports. She also wants to see MPB tell interesting Mississippi stories about the state's luminaries in the literary and entertainment worlds and spotlight tourist attractions.
"The sky is the limit in terms of what we can do," said the Forest native who spoke for an hour in Reid Vance's communications class at the Leland Speed Library.
MPB reaches 81 of Mississippi's 82 counties with its eight towers around the state. The one county that the network cannot reach? That would be Coahoma County. And Lewis and her colleagues are trying to fix that this year so the viewers in that Delta county can be served, too.
Working with folks at other Public Broadcasting stations around the nation, whether in Boston, New York or Los Angeles and developing more home-grown programming in Mississippi sounds like a fun job.
But there are some heartaches, too.
On the job at MPB studios off Ridgewood Road in northeast Jackson for just three weeks, Lewis had to deal with state budget cuts resulting from a weak economy and slump in tax collections. MPB, like other state agencies, was forced to chop its budget 5 percent. That represents a painful cut of $422,000.
Not one to fret over such things for very long, Lewis just presses on with her ambitious dreams for MPB. "We want an educational component for everything we produce" and that runs the gamut for children in elementary school to adult learners, she said.
Lewis gets excited when talking up plans by MPB to broadcast state high school football championships later this year. Before the live games, she wants MPB stations to take their cameras to the cities where Friday night football is a very big deal. It could be televised slices of life about the players or the fans cheering each week for Madison Central, South Panola, Meridian, Puckett, Brandon or Olive Branch.
Mississippi Public Broadcasting played a big role in communicating disaster relief efforts and recovery after Hurricane Katrina devastated much of the state in August 2005. The TV and radio stations will continue in that capacity when future disasters strike, she said.
During her 18-month tenure at MC, Lewis taught communication classes, and directed a number of theater productions, including "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever."
Lewis also was a professor at Troy State in Alabama and served with the United Nations World food Program's U.S. Relations Office in Washington. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees from MC and a doctorate from the University of Mississippi. She's traveled much of the globe during her career, and her "homecoming" visit at MC Thursday went off without a hitch.
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