WUMT

WUMT is an ABC affiliate located in Oxford, Mississippi and serves the Mississippi hills region (Lafayette, Marshall, Union, Pontotoc, and Benton counties) Broadcasting on channel 6, WUMT is owned and operated by Southern Broadcasting, Co., and was launched in 1972, two years after WKMZ changed their call letters following Tyler Broadcasting by the license to WKMZ and changing it to WOXT. WUMT became an ABC affiliate in 1972

History
Before WUMT came along, WOXT (when it was WKMZ) was the only station in town. In 1969, shortly after Lamar Communication had their license to WKMZ revoked by the FCC, Southern Broadcasting and Tyler Communications began to battle for WKMZ's license. In the end, an agreement was reached, and Tyler Communications took WKMZ's license. As part of the agreement (and to avoid another lengthy battle), FCC gave Southern Braodcasting a license for any station that they chose. On March 1, 1972, WUMT was launched and became an ABC affiliate. When ABC became no. 1, so did WUMT in the Mississippi hills, beating WOXT five straight years. However, when WPLC was launched in 1980, WUMt's ratings were cut in half, enabling WOXT to start winning the ratings war. In 2002, Southern Broadcasting bought WITA from TBN Broadcasting, making WUMT and WITA station sisters.

Newscast
Launched in 1972, ABC 6 News became the top-rated newscast in the Mississippi hills, beating WOXT's newscast from 1975-80. However, when WPLC was launched in 1980, WUMT saw their newscast's ratings plummeted to 3rd place behind WOXT and WPLC. In 2002, when Southern Broadcasting purchased WITA, WUMT began producing newscasts for WITA.