Its intellectual property, programming and NBC affiliation moved to WAGT-CD, a low-power station which was purchased by Gray Television.

Dr. Harold W. Twisdale, a dentist from Charlotte, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C.–based engineer David L. Steel were the leaders of the original ownership group, operating as Augusta Telecasters Inc.[2][3] The Twisdale/Steel group, which had interests in other planned stations (WCTU-TV in Charlotte being the only one of their other interests to make it to air), was granted a construction permit for the Augusta outlet in late 1967.

Even after WATU signed on, NBC allowed WJBF and WRDW-TV to cherry-pick its stronger shows, most likely because most Augusta-area viewers still didn't have UHF-capable sets (the FCC had only mandated all-channel tuning in 1964).

In a market that was just barely large enough to support three full network affiliates, WATU-TV was unable to make any headway, and went dark on November 9, 1970.

Until the arrival of cable in the market in the early 1980s, many Augusta-area viewers actually got a stronger signal from WIS, even though channel 10's transmitter was located almost 100 miles (160 km) from the South Carolina–Georgia line.

Even then, WAGT still lost many potential viewers to WIS, which remained on many area cable systems (including Augusta itself) well into the 21st century.

In October 2009, Schurz and WJBF's then-owner, Media General, announced that the two would enter into joint sales and shared services agreements in January 2010.

[9] Media General had initially intended to move WAGT into an expanded wing of WJBF's studios on Reynolds Street in downtown Augusta.

Media General instead chose to renovate a former Barnes & Noble store at Augusta West to serve as a joint headquarters for both stations.

[13] In January 2016, Gray filed for special temporary authority for WAGT to shut down its full-power signal so it could be replaced on the same technical facilities and UHF channel 30 by a recently acquired low-power station, WRDW-CD.

However, the FCC ordered Gray to continue operating WAGT separately until the auction was complete, and not enter into any joint sales arrangements with WRDW or any other station.

The Commission has long taken the view that it is a violation of Section 310(d) for a company (here, Media General) to seek injunctive relief that interferes with a licensee's ultimate control of a station.

[25] On March 23, 2016, the Supreme Court of Georgia struck down the injunction without addressing the litigation, allowing Gray to re-assume control of the station.

[28] Gray had indicated on the station's website that WAGT-CD would assume the channel 26 designation and its subchannels on May 31, 2017, when the full-power WAGT license was returned to the FCC.

The latter program was expanded in June 2003 to a full two-hours (from 5 until 7) in the morning resulting in WAGT being the first outlet in the market to make such a launch.

The station changed its branding several times in attempts to improve ratings and increase viewership by adopting variations including 26 Action News.

This was due to the fact that the graphics package produced by Television By Design was less than a year old and still carried the WAGT News moniker.

The principal look of the set and on-air graphics for Fox 54 News at 10 remained the same from the newscast's launch and always used Gari Media Group's "The X Package" as its music theme.

Meanwhile, WAGT decided to establish its own weeknight prime time newscast at 10 in 2004 to offer an alternative against WFXG's effort.

On April 23, 2007, in an attempt to boost continual anemic ratings, WAGT decided to drop the CW Augusta Now title and its fast-paced format replacing it with a more traditional newscast.

Following a national trend among television stations, WAGT's continual third-place ranking and low advertising sales resulted in Schurz Communications handing over daily operations to Media General and rival WJBF.

Media General ultimately decided to construct a new combined facility at the Augusta West Shopping Center in a former Barnes & Noble bookstore.