About Us: Northeast Mississippi business owners, industry leaders, Main Street Directors, school and hospital leaders discuss what's happening in our "little postage stamp of native soil" - William Faulkner. Interviews are recorded in Ripley, MS at Sun Bear Studio, broadcast every day at 11 am on The Shark 102.3 FM Radio and added here to help you stay informed.   When broadcast on The Shark, the shows will either come from Main Street Moments or Heard It On The Shark.  On Main Street Moments, Melinda talks to area Main Street Directors, Chamber directors and small business owners.  Heard It On The Shark interviews are usually with industry, medical, non-profit and school leaders in North Mississippi.  If you would like to be considered for an interview, you can call us at 662-837-1023.  Ask for Melinda. Topper Time is a weekly presentation by Blue Mountain College Students about life at Blue Mountain College.  BMC a private liberal arts college, supported by the Mississippi Baptist Convention, located in the northeastern Mississippi town of Blue Mountain between Ripley and New Albany. Founded as a women's college in 1873, the college's board of trustees voted for the college to go fully co-educational in 2005.     

The Shark 102.3 FM Radio Station and Sun Bear Studio are located in Ripley, MS and owned by Chris and Melinda Marsalis.  Chris and Melinda have a passion for community development and love all of the amazing things that are going on in North Mississippi.  

This Week:  Commissioner Brandon Presley talks about his visit to TEPA Connect in Tippah County to celebrate the success of North Mississippi's broadband rollout.  Commissioner Presley also explains the American Connectivity Program that allows a monthly discount for lots of Mississippians.  

Commissioner Brandon Presley was elected Public Service Commissioner for the Northern District of Mississippi in 2007, re-elected in 2011, 2015 and most recently in 2019 without opposition. Elected to the Public Service Commission at age 30, he was the youngest Commissioner ever elected in Mississippi. Prior to his election to the Public Service Commission, he served as Mayor of Nettleton from 2001 to 2007, having been elected at the age of 23, making him one of the youngest mayors in Mississippi history.

Commissioner Presley was elected in November 2019 to serve as the President of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), which is composed of regulatory commissioners from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.  He has also served as President of the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, which is composed of Public Service Commissioners from the eleven (11) Southern States and Puerto Rico.  He is a member of the board of directors of NARUC and serves on multiple NARUC boards and committees. He is co-vice chair of the NARUC Committee on Gas, a member of the Committee on Telecommunications and the International Relations Committee. He is a former member of the board of directors of the National Regulatory Research Institute (NNRI).

Commissioner Presley currently serves on the advisory committee for the New Mexico’s State University Center for Public Utilities and is serving his second term on the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI) Advisory Council. He is also a member of the Financial Research Institute Advisory Board. He is a graduate of Harvard University’s Kennedy School program for State and Local Government Executives.

Commissioner Presley, 44, is a lifelong resident of Nettleton, where he is a member of the Enon Primitive Baptist Church. He is past-President and current member of the Nettleton Lions Club and is a member of the Nettleton Civitan Club.

Welcome to HEARD IT ON THE SHARK with your show host Melinda Marsalis and show sponsor, Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area.  HEARD IT ON THE SHARK is a weekly interview show that airs every Tuesday at 11 am on the shark 102.3 FM radio station based in Ripley, MS and then is released as a podcast on all the major podcast platforms.  You’ll hear interviews with the movers and shakers in north Mississippi who are making things happen.  Melinda talks with entrepreneurs, leaders of business, medicine, education, and the people behind all the amazing things happening in north Mississippi.  When people ask you how did you know about that, you’ll say, “I HEARD IT ON THE SHARK!”  HEARD IT ON THE SHARK is brought to you by the Mississippi Hills National Heritage area.  We want you to get out and discover the historic, cultural, natural, scenic and recreational treasures of the Mississippi Hills right in your backyard.  And of course we want you to take the shark 102.3 FM along for the ride.    

Bounded by I-55 to the west and Highway 14 to the south, the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area,  created by the United States Congress in 2009 represents a distinctive cultural landscape shaped by the dynamic intersection of Appalachian and Delta cultures, an intersection which has produced a powerful concentration of national cultural icons from the King of Rock’n’Roll Elvis Presley, First Lady of Country Music Tammy Wynette, blues legend Howlin’ Wolf, Civil Rights icons Ida B. Wells-Barnett and James Meredith, America’s favorite playwright Tennessee Williams, and Nobel-Laureate William Faulkner. The stories of the Mississippi Hills are many and powerful, from music and literature, to Native American and African American heritage, to the Civil War.  The Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area supports the local institutions that preserve and share North Mississippi’s rich history. Begin your discovery of the historic, cultural, natural, scenic, and recreational treasures of the Mississippi Hills by visiting the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area online at mississippihills.org.

Musical Credit to:  Garry Burnside - Guitar; Buddy Grisham - Guitar; Mike King - Drums/Percussion

All content is copyright 2021 Sun Bear Studio Ripley MS LLC all rights reserved.  No portion of this podcast may be rebroadcast or used for any other purpose without express written consent of Sun Bear Studio Ripley MS LLC