WLBT
Encyclopedia
WLBT, virtual channel
3 (digital channel 30), is the NBC
-affiliated television station in Jackson, Mississippi
, and it is owned by Raycom Media
. WLBT transmits its signal from an antenna, 624 meters in height, located near Raymond
.
(channel 12), which debuted in January 1953. Channel 3 is also Mississippi's third-oldest television station (WTOK-TV
in Meridian
went on the air three months earlier). A few weeks after its debut, the station was renamed WLBT - which stands for Lamar Broadcasting Television - because the original call letters sounded similar to WJTV.
It has always been an NBC affiliate, though it shared ABC
with WJTV until WAPT-TV (channel 16) started broadcasting in 1970. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network
.
in Mississippi in the 1950s and 1960s. Lamar had close ties to the state's white political and business elite and with segregationist groups, such as the White Citizens' Council
. It went as far as to coordinate opposition to civil rights with these groups. For instance, the station allowed the WCC to operate a bookstore in the lobby of its studios in downtown Jackson. and the station manager editorialized on the air against the admission of James Meredith
to the University of Mississippi
in 1962, arguing that states should determine who should and should not be allowed to attend their schools.
For the most part, the station ignored the Civil Rights movement
, cutting out coverage of it from the NBC News
feed (largely by pretending that technical problems were the cause of interruptions). It also pre-empted NBC programs that even mildly referred to racial justice or featured African American
actors prominently. At the same time, it provided a platform on its local newscasts and public affairs programs for individuals advocating resistance to efforts by the federal government to enable African Americans to vote and gain access to basic amenities such as non-segregated public schools. Allegedly, the station sold airtime to the Ku Klux Klan
.
Many television stations in the South felt chagrin at network coverage of the Civil Rights movement, especially WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama
and WRAL-TV
in Raleigh, North Carolina
. Although some Southern stations severed their ties with their networks in order to prevent being forced to air coverage of the movement, Channel 3 kept its affiliation with NBC, even though that network historically had an extremely low tolerance towards local pre-emptions at the time. Indeed, many NBC stars, like Bonanza
's Pernell Roberts
, were speaking out on behalf of civil rights. This was largely because WLBT's only competition was CBS affiliate WJTV, a situation that lasted until 1970, when the market picked up a full-time ABC affiliate in WAPT.
Over the years, NBC, civil rights groups and the United Church of Christ
(represented locally by the Woodworth Chapel at nearby Tougaloo College
) sent numerous petitions to the Federal Communications Commission
to complain of WLBT's flagrant bias. The FCC issued several warnings to Lamar, but these went unheeded. The issue was contested in court, with the United States courts of appeals
, in an opinion written by Warren Burger, forcing the FCC to revoke the station's license in 1969. Lamar appealed, but lost in 1971. That June, control of the station was given to a bi-racial, non-profit foundation called "Communications Improvement, Inc." The group promised to make the station a beacon of tolerance. While most WLBT employees were retained, a new group of managers, including some of the first African American television executives in the South, recreated the station as a far more neutral news source.
To this day, WLBT remains one of only two television stations that has ever lost its license for violating FCC regulations on fairness. The other station, WJIM-TV (now WLNS-TV
) in Lansing, Michigan
, had its license reinstated on appeal.
On January 9, 1980, Communications Improvement sold WLBT to TV-3, Inc., a group of five companies who had competed for the license. In 1984, Frank Melton
(who later became mayor of Jackson) formed Civic Communications and bought WLBT.
From 1982 to 1991, the station operated a low-powered satellite in Meridian, Mississippi
, WLBM; that station is now a stand-alone station, WGBC
. In 2000, Melton sold the station to Liberty Corporation, who in turn merged with Raycom Media
in 2006.
The tower's collapse knocked WLBT and the local PBS
/Mississippi ETV Network
affiliate WMPN off the air for several hours. WLBT was able to resume broadcasting on a 100 feet (30.5 m) secondary tower, which only reached about half of its normal viewing area until a new 2000 feet (609.6 m) tower was completed in 1999.
The 1999 feet (609.3 m) tower was actually the second WLBT transmission tower to fall at their Raymond site. WLBT's original transmission tower collapsed on March 3, 1966 when the Candlestick Park Tornado
, one of only two F5 tornadoes in Mississippi's history struck the tower and transmitter building. WLBT engineers salvaged what they could of the transmitter and operated on the same stand by tower as it would operate with later after the second tower collapse. When the 1999 feet (609.3 m) replacement tower was completed later in 1966, the new tower was one of the tallest structures east of the Mississippi River and was in service until the second collapse in 1997.
. The station moved its digital broadcasts to channel 7 using PSIP to display WLBT's virtual channel as 3.
On January 14, 2010, WLBT moved to UHF channel 30, because of viewers having difficulty receiving their signal on VHF Channel 7. Some stations solved the problem with a power increase, but WLBT could not due to potential interference to another station.
in 1956 in reaction to the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education
, WLBT investigated the Commission's activities. For most of the last 30 years, WLBT has been the dominant news station in Jackson. WLBT's Skycopter 3 is the only news helicopter in Mississippi.
WLBT launced a weekday afternoon 4 p.m. newscast in March 2008; this was the first of its kind in the Jackson, Mississippi television market.
As of October 2010, WLBT broadcasts its local newscasts in high definition
, becoming the second television station in the Jackson market to produce its newscasts in HD.
, who appeared on WLBT in the 1950s before embarking on a successful musical career in Quebec and France.
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
3 (digital channel 30), is the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
-affiliated television station in Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson, Mississippi
Jackson is the capital and the most populous city of the US state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County ,. The population of the city declined from 184,256 at the 2000 census to 173,514 at the 2010 census...
, and it is owned by Raycom Media
Raycom Media
- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....
. WLBT transmits its signal from an antenna, 624 meters in height, located near Raymond
Raymond, Mississippi
Raymond is a city in Hinds County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 1,664. Raymond is one of the two county seats of Hinds County and is the home of the main campus of Hinds Community College....
.
History
The station was founded on December 19, 1953 as WJBT by Lamar Life Insurance Company. It is Jackson's second-oldest television station, following WJTVWJTV
WJTV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Jackson, Mississippi. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter in Raymond. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 13 and in high definition on digital channel 433. Owned by Media General, WJTV has...
(channel 12), which debuted in January 1953. Channel 3 is also Mississippi's third-oldest television station (WTOK-TV
WTOK-TV
WTOK-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Meridian, Mississippi. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter south of the city along MS 145 . The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 431. Owned by...
in Meridian
Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi. It is the sixth largest city in the state and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area...
went on the air three months earlier). A few weeks after its debut, the station was renamed WLBT - which stands for Lamar Broadcasting Television - because the original call letters sounded similar to WJTV.
It has always been an NBC affiliate, though it shared ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
with WJTV until WAPT-TV (channel 16) started broadcasting in 1970. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network
NTA Film Network
The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run television programs from major Hollywood studios...
.
Opposition to civil rights
The station attained notoriety for its aggressive support of racial segregationRacial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
in Mississippi in the 1950s and 1960s. Lamar had close ties to the state's white political and business elite and with segregationist groups, such as the White Citizens' Council
White Citizens' Council
The White Citizens' Council was an American white supremacist organization formed on July 11, 1954. After 1956, it was known as the Citizens' Councils of America...
. It went as far as to coordinate opposition to civil rights with these groups. For instance, the station allowed the WCC to operate a bookstore in the lobby of its studios in downtown Jackson. and the station manager editorialized on the air against the admission of James Meredith
James Meredith
James H. Meredith is an American civil rights movement figure, a writer, and a political adviser. In 1962, he was the first African American student admitted to the segregated University of Mississippi, an event that was a flashpoint in the American civil rights movement. Motivated by President...
to the University of Mississippi
University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi, also known as Ole Miss, is a public, coeducational research university located in Oxford, Mississippi. Founded in 1844, the school is composed of the main campus in Oxford, four branch campuses located in Booneville, Grenada, Tupelo, and Southaven as well as the...
in 1962, arguing that states should determine who should and should not be allowed to attend their schools.
For the most part, the station ignored the Civil Rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
, cutting out coverage of it from the NBC News
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of American television network NBC. It first started broadcasting in February 21, 1940. NBC Nightly News has aired from Studio 3B, located on floors 3 of the NBC Studios is the headquarters of the GE Building forms the centerpiece of 30th Rockefeller Center it is...
feed (largely by pretending that technical problems were the cause of interruptions). It also pre-empted NBC programs that even mildly referred to racial justice or featured African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
actors prominently. At the same time, it provided a platform on its local newscasts and public affairs programs for individuals advocating resistance to efforts by the federal government to enable African Americans to vote and gain access to basic amenities such as non-segregated public schools. Allegedly, the station sold airtime to the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
.
Many television stations in the South felt chagrin at network coverage of the Civil Rights movement, especially WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
and WRAL-TV
WRAL-TV
WRAL-TV, virtual channel 5 , is a television station in Raleigh, North Carolina. WRAL-TV has been the flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting Company since its inception, and is currently the CBS affiliate for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Fayetteville area, known collectively as the Triangle...
in Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
. Although some Southern stations severed their ties with their networks in order to prevent being forced to air coverage of the movement, Channel 3 kept its affiliation with NBC, even though that network historically had an extremely low tolerance towards local pre-emptions at the time. Indeed, many NBC stars, like Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
's Pernell Roberts
Pernell Roberts
Pernell Elvin Roberts, Jr. was an American stage, movie and television actor, as well as a singer. In addition to guest starring in over 60 television series, he was widely known for his roles as Ben Cartwright's eldest son, Adam Cartwright, on the western series Bonanza, a role he played from...
, were speaking out on behalf of civil rights. This was largely because WLBT's only competition was CBS affiliate WJTV, a situation that lasted until 1970, when the market picked up a full-time ABC affiliate in WAPT.
Over the years, NBC, civil rights groups and the United Church of Christ
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination primarily in the Reformed tradition but also historically influenced by Lutheranism. The Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches united in 1957 to form the UCC...
(represented locally by the Woodworth Chapel at nearby Tougaloo College
Tougaloo College
Tougaloo College is a private, co-educational, liberal arts institution of higher education founded in 1869, in Madison County, north of Jackson, Mississippi, USA.Academically, Tougaloo College has received high ranks in recent years...
) sent numerous petitions to the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
to complain of WLBT's flagrant bias. The FCC issued several warnings to Lamar, but these went unheeded. The issue was contested in court, with the United States courts of appeals
United States courts of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
, in an opinion written by Warren Burger, forcing the FCC to revoke the station's license in 1969. Lamar appealed, but lost in 1971. That June, control of the station was given to a bi-racial, non-profit foundation called "Communications Improvement, Inc." The group promised to make the station a beacon of tolerance. While most WLBT employees were retained, a new group of managers, including some of the first African American television executives in the South, recreated the station as a far more neutral news source.
To this day, WLBT remains one of only two television stations that has ever lost its license for violating FCC regulations on fairness. The other station, WJIM-TV (now WLNS-TV
WLNS-TV
WLNS-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Central Michigan licensed to Lansing. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 36 from a transmitter on Van Atta Road in Meridian. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 and Broadstripe channel 13...
) in Lansing, Michigan
Lansing, Michigan
Lansing is the capital of the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located mostly in Ingham County, although small portions of the city extend into Eaton County. The 2010 Census places the city's population at 114,297, making it the fifth largest city in Michigan...
, had its license reinstated on appeal.
WLBT today
WLBT was one of the first television stations in the South to devote a significant block of airtime and dedicated personnel to the production of local investigative, documentary style news. Probe was a 30 minute program that aired weekly. It garnered numerous awards, including a George Foster Peabody award in 1976 for a segment called "Power Politics in Mississippi."On January 9, 1980, Communications Improvement sold WLBT to TV-3, Inc., a group of five companies who had competed for the license. In 1984, Frank Melton
Frank Melton
Frank Ervin Melton was the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi, United States, from 4 July 2005 until his death on 7 May 2009. Melton, an African American, defeated the city's first black mayor Harvey Johnson, Jr. Melton won 63 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary against Johnson, who had...
(who later became mayor of Jackson) formed Civic Communications and bought WLBT.
From 1982 to 1991, the station operated a low-powered satellite in Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian, Mississippi
Meridian is the county seat of Lauderdale County, Mississippi. It is the sixth largest city in the state and the principal city of the Meridian, Mississippi Micropolitan Statistical Area...
, WLBM; that station is now a stand-alone station, WGBC
WGBC
WGBC is the Fox-affiliated television station for Meridian, Mississippi. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 from a transmitter at studios on Crestview Drive south of downtown. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 7 and in high definition on digital channel 432...
. In 2000, Melton sold the station to Liberty Corporation, who in turn merged with Raycom Media
Raycom Media
- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....
in 2006.
Tower tragedy
On Thursday, October 23, 1997, three Canadian men from Canada's LeBlanc & Royal were preparing to replace the guy wires of WLBT's 1999 feet (609.3 m) transmission tower near Raymond when the tower collapsed, killing them all. The workers were at the 1500 feet (457.2 m) level and held on to the tower as it fell.The tower's collapse knocked WLBT and the local PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
/Mississippi ETV Network
Mississippi Public Broadcasting
Mississippi Public Broadcasting is the public broadcasting state network in Mississippi, United States. It is owned by the Mississippi Authority for Educational Television, an agency of the Mississippi state government that holds the licenses for all of the PBS and NPR member stations in the...
affiliate WMPN off the air for several hours. WLBT was able to resume broadcasting on a 100 feet (30.5 m) secondary tower, which only reached about half of its normal viewing area until a new 2000 feet (609.6 m) tower was completed in 1999.
The 1999 feet (609.3 m) tower was actually the second WLBT transmission tower to fall at their Raymond site. WLBT's original transmission tower collapsed on March 3, 1966 when the Candlestick Park Tornado
Candlestick Park Tornado
On March 3, 1966, a violent F5 tornado, dubbed the Candlestick Park tornado after the name of a Jackson, Mississippi shopping mall which was leveled by the storm, wrought catastrophic damage in Mississippi and Alabama along a track. The tornado first touched down in Hinds County, Mississippi...
, one of only two F5 tornadoes in Mississippi's history struck the tower and transmitter building. WLBT engineers salvaged what they could of the transmitter and operated on the same stand by tower as it would operate with later after the second tower collapse. When the 1999 feet (609.3 m) replacement tower was completed later in 1966, the new tower was one of the tallest structures east of the Mississippi River and was in service until the second collapse in 1997.
WLBT-DT
WLBT's digital signal on UHF 30 is multiplex:| Channel | Aspect | Display | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
1080i 1080i 1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels... |
Main WLBT programming / NBC |
| 3.2 | 4:3 | 480i 480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC... |
Bounce TV Bounce TV Bounce TV is a United States television network airing on digital terrestrial television stations. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created exclusively for African Americans," Bounce TV launched on September 26, 2011 and features programming geared toward blacks in... |
| 3.3 | This TV This TV This TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies.... |
Post-analog shutdown
WLBT shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United StatesDTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
. The station moved its digital broadcasts to channel 7 using PSIP to display WLBT's virtual channel as 3.
On January 14, 2010, WLBT moved to UHF channel 30, because of viewers having difficulty receiving their signal on VHF Channel 7. Some stations solved the problem with a power increase, but WLBT could not due to potential interference to another station.
News operation
Since the 1970s, WLBT's news department has been quite aggressive. Beginning more than 15 years after the creation of the Mississippi Sovereignty Commission, formed by the Mississippi LegislatureMississippi Legislature
The Mississippi Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The bicameral Legislature is composed of the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, with 122 members, and the upper Mississippi Senate, with 52 members. Both Representatives and Senators serve four-year...
in 1956 in reaction to the 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 , was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that declared state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students unconstitutional. The decision overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson decision of 1896 which...
, WLBT investigated the Commission's activities. For most of the last 30 years, WLBT has been the dominant news station in Jackson. WLBT's Skycopter 3 is the only news helicopter in Mississippi.
WLBT launced a weekday afternoon 4 p.m. newscast in March 2008; this was the first of its kind in the Jackson, Mississippi television market.
As of October 2010, WLBT broadcasts its local newscasts in high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
, becoming the second television station in the Jackson market to produce its newscasts in HD.
Notable alumni
Previous notable staffers at WLBT included Nanette WorkmanNanette Workman
Nanette Joan Workman is today a singer-songwriter, actress and author who has been based in Quebec, Canada during much of her career. She was raised by musician parents in Jackson, Mississippi where she began her first performances. She mainly performs in French although raised as a native...
, who appeared on WLBT in the 1950s before embarking on a successful musical career in Quebec and France.
External links
- WLBT 3
- On the Front Lines: Television and African-American Issues From the Museum of Television & RadioMuseum of Television & RadioThe Paley Center for Media, formerly The Museum of Television & Radio and The Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S...
; includes info on WLBT in the 1960s