WOXT

WOXT is an NBC affiliate that serves Oxford, MS, as well as the Mississippi boothill counties of Lafayette, Union, Marshall, Benton and Pontotoc Counties in Mississippi. WOXT was the first television station bought by an African American when Robert Tyler (of Tyler Communications) bought the license after the FCC yanked the license from the FCC when they revoked the license of the station from Lamar Communications in 1969. Started in 1950 as WKMZ, WOXT has been an NBC affiliate since they launched, even though they came close to lose their affiliation during the Civil Rights Movement.

History
WKMZ was launched in 1950 by Lamar Communications. from launch, they became affiliates of NBC. The station attained notoriety for its aggressive support of racial segregation 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.

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 4 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 WKMZ had no competition

Over the years, NBC—along with civil rights groups and the United Church of Christ—sent numerous petitions to the FCC to complain of WKMZ's flagrant bias.[4] The FCC issued several warnings to Lamar, but these went unheeded. Finally, in 1964, Reverend Everett Parker and the UCC's Office of Communication formally petitioned the FCC to revoke WKMZ's license. The FCC ruled that the petitioners had no standing because they had no economic interest in the station or were not subject to electronic interference from WKMZ's signal. The UCC appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In 1966, the court, in an opinion by Warren Burger, later to become Chief Justice of the United States, ruled that the public had the right to take part in FCC hearings in order to protect the public interest. At a new hearing held in 1967, the FCC again ruled in favor of Lamar. The UCC again appealed to the Appeals Court, which found Lamar's record to be beyond repair and ordered the FCC to revoke Lamar's license in 1969.

Tyler takes over
An agreement was in the works as Robert Tyler (of Tyler Communications) wanted to have an all-African American channel. Most people scoffed at it, but Tyler decided to go after the license that FCC just revoked from Lamar. After months of attempts, an agreement was reached. Lamar Communications would sell their license to Tyler Communications. In turn, Tyler agreed to change the call letters of the station. On Dec. 31, 1969, WKMZ signed off for good, and at 5 AM on January 1st, history was made when WOXT signed on, immediately taking NBC's affiliation.

Newscast
Launched in 1980, Newscenter 4 became one of the best newscast in the Mississippi Boothills. From 1980-2009, Newscenter 4 was the no. 1 rated newscast in the region. Then The Jay Leno Show premiered, and the newscast, been no. 1 for 29 years, saw their ratings plummeted, and WPLC's newscast became the no. 1 newscast in Oxford for the first time ever. Since 2010, when The Jay Leno Show ended, Newscenter 4 made a slow climb back to no. 1, finishing back at the top at the end of the 2013-14 season.