Expanding Her Coverage in a Great Television Career
Spanning a career in television that began in the early 80s, Sherry Nelson McQueen of Greenwood is now forging a new niche in the field she has spent her career involved in, dealing with just about every aspect of the industry.
McQueen has carved out her own path, owning two stations currently—one in Monroe, LA and the other run from Greenwood in her native Delta.
“I purchased the license for WMEL-LD in April of 2022 from Whitfield Media, LLC,” says McQueen. “The station’s call sign was originally W13CS-D covering only the city of Grenada and airing Heartland Network along with local church services. On October 1, 2022, the FCC granted me the call sign change to WMEL-LD,” she says.
A logical progression for a woman who has, literally, done and seen it all in the television industry.
“I served as Vice President/General Manager for the group of stations in the Greenwood/Greenville television market from 2004 until 2016,” she says. “But I started out with the station in the early 80’s working over the years as a weather anchor, reporter, morning anchor, sales executive and sales management—you name it, I did it!”
Briefly, McQueen left her beloved Delta for a career opportunity, but the move to another market proved beneficial in a number of ways, she says.
“In 2016, I was contacted by the original owners of WABG in Greenville where I had worked, the Bahakel family out of Charlotte, NC—Bahakel Communications—and was asked to manage their station, WAKA, in Montgomery, AL,” says McQueen. “I did that for a little over two years before I returned home to the Delta. It was a great experience, but I was ready to come home.”
As the manager of WMEL, Channel 13, Delta-Hills, McQueen’s station is licensed in the communities of Grenada-Greenwood, where programming can be seen on local cable. The station is owned and operated by Legacy Broadcasting of Mississippi, LLC. the name of McQueen’s company.
The station’s primary network is the popular, classic programming MeTV channel but WMEL’s channels run from 13.1 to 13.4 and encompass the following programming, according to McQueen.
“We carry Channel 13.2, StartTV which showcases strong and resourceful female leading characters in a lineup of contemporary and proven procedural dramas such as ‘Murder, She Wrote,’ ‘Major Crimes,’ ‘Rizzoli and Isles.’ and ‘The Closer.’
“There’s also Channel 13.3, MeTV Toons, which features the greatest classic animation of all time,” continues McQueen. “It’s twenty-four hours of cartoons such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner and all their other assorted, friendly characters. Then we have Dabl 13.4, Dabi, which a lifestyle network with some of the most popular sitcoms from the past 25 years or so such as ‘Girlfriends,’ ‘Moesha,’ ‘The Parkers,’ ‘The Game,’ ‘Sister Sister,’ and ‘Half and Half.’”
McQueen originally got into station ownership through Broadcast Leadership Training, which is offered by the National Association of Broadcasters.
“I was involved in that training from 2011 to 2012 and its purpose is to help minorities and women get into ownership,” she says. “I would travel to Washington, D.C. once a month during that year for classes and seminars and it was a wonderful program where major broadcasters from all over the country taught us everything there is to know about television station management and ownership.”
That class lit the fire for McQueen and led her, through a series of other programs and initiatives she had become familiar with, to be awarded—along with her daughters—a station license in Monroe, Louisiana, KMLU in 2014.
Shortly thereafter, other station licenses became available to McQueen and she officially purchased several other stations in markets across the country in late December, 2014, including Rapid City, South Dakota, Lincoln, Nebraska and Bismark/Minot, North Dakota.
“And in all of the stations I acquired, MeTV has been the staple network,” she says. “In fact, Monroe has been one of the top MeTV affiliates in the nation. It’s a family-friendly network with great, quality classic shows like ‘Bonanza’ and “M*A*S*H” and that was important to me when I entered into management; I wanted programming that anyone in the household could watch and enjoy.”
McQueen eventually sold the other stations in the other parts of the country she had purchased, with the exception of Monroe, adding WMEL in Greenwood through a license that became available in Grenada.
WMEL can be seen on Optimum Cable, Greenwood channel 19 and HD 119 and Greenville Channel 13 and HD 113 and on Sparklight Cable on Grenada channel 13 and Winona 10. Sparklight also serves Carrollton, Itta Bena, and portions of Tallahatchie counties where WMEL is carried. This, after McQueen received approval from the FCC after filing to increase the station’s coverage footprint wattage to its maximum capacity.
WMEL’s transmission facility was relocated 30 miles northwest in December 2023. “This enabled the station to increase its power to serve a much larger area. During the relocation, new upgraded equipment was installed, which was very expensive,” she laughs, “but well worth it.”
The enhanced “over the air” footprint now includes Grenada, Greenwood, Winona, Carrollton and communities in Sunflower, Holmes, Tallahatchie, and Yalobusha counties. The increased power also enabled the station to be carried in Greenville on the Optimum Cable System. “My hope is to also expand further into the Cleveland area and beyond,” says McQueen.
Administrative offices for Legacy Broadcasting of Mississippi are located in a building McQueen bought in Greenwood on the corner of Front and Fulton Streets. Brand new transmission equipment is housed in the company’s facility on Maimason Road.
“I have a lot of plans moving forward,” says the visionary businesswoman. “And I have to say that God has guided and blessed me throughout my career and has had His hand in all I’ve been able to accomplish throughout my career. I give Him all the glory and credit, especially for paving the way to be a broadcast owner.”