WGNT (channel 27) is an independent television station licensed to Portsmouth, Virginia, United States, serving the Hampton Roads area.

[8] Test pattern broadcasts began in late October 1953; a building across the street from the radio studios was leased to provide a permanent home for the TV station.

[9] The station went off the air on October 3, 1954, having failed to secure sufficient support to continue operating while it fought for the Hampton Roads area to get a third VHF allotment.

[16] Norfolk radio station WNOR purchased a half interest in WTOV-TV in May 1957 and announced its intention to apply to move to channel 13.

He was the station's newsreader, and he was fired after his lone appearance because he was Black and irate White callers expressed their displeasure; he remarked, "I thought it would be good for all my folks and friends to see me rather than this dumb news sign up there.

[24] However, WAVY-TV protested on economic grounds, believing a third VHF station in its market would hurt it,[25] and it was not until April 1959 that the FCC granted an initial decision in its favor in the case.

[30] In August 1960, his Christian Broadcasting Network applied for a new construction permit to put channel 27 back in service, proposing the call letters WTFC-TV ("Television for Christ").

This consisted of puppet shows, skits, prayers, singalongs, games, stories and religious short films such as Davey and Goliath and JOT.

Weekends consisted of televangelists such as Oral Roberts, Kathryn Kuhlman, Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham, and local church services.

Jim and Tammy actually left at the end of March 1973, their show last airing on August 31, 1973 (reportedly, Pat Robertson had fired Jim Bakker from the station over philosophical differences, though Robertson stated they left on their own will due to plans to eventually relegate their show to Sundays); the Bakkers soon after moved on in May 1973 to co-found the Trinity Broadcasting Network with Paul Crouch before splitting up with him to begin The PTL Club in 1975.

But while WYAH-TV had evolved into a conventional independent station by this time, its programming policy was decidedly conservative, in keeping with Robertson's Baptist/charismatic religious views.

The impact was near-immediate as WTVZ equaled, then surpassed, WYAH (the station officially dropped the -TV suffix from its call sign in June 1983[36]) in viewership.

In 1986; CBN announced plans to sell WYAH and KXTX to Family Group Broadcasting, which had agreed to retain the same personnel and programming,[37] though the deal ultimately fell through.

The scandal in televangelism at the time had hit CBN hard with a decline in donations; earlier that year, it had laid off 500 employees in Virginia Beach.

They included Raymond Bottom Jr., former editor of the Daily Press in Newport News, with a 72 percent stake; Ernest Harris, a former vice president of WVEC-TV; Robert L. Freeman, a local accountant; and W. Howard Jernigan, former general sales manager of WGH-AM-FM.

[40][41] After the FCC approved of the sale in July,[42] and Centennial changed the call letters to WGNT ("Greater Norfolk Television") in September to fulfill a stipulation imposed by CBN in the transaction.

[43] After Centennial took control, WGNT initially ran shows inherited from the CBN days, but ended the station's decades-long practice of censoring the small amount of profanity from off-network syndicated programming.

However, it has aired on numerous outlets in the area in the years since then; and following a brief period in late 2016 when The 700 Club returned to WGNT[44] after WTKR launched a local lifestyle program called Coast Live,[45] the show is now on its second stint on WVBT.

[54] However, the transaction was designated in July 2018 for hearing by an FCC administrative law judge, and Tribune moved to terminate the deal in August 2018.

[58] In 1995, WTKR began to produce the market's first prime time local newscast, a half-hour program at 10 p.m. called NewsChannel 3 at 10 on UPN 27.

[59] After Paramount Stations Group acquired WGNT in 1997, new management cancelled the newscast that December, citing a shift to an entertainment-focused programming direction.

[60] The 10 p.m. time period was used for off-network repeats until June 29, 2015, when the weeknight primetime newscast returned under the name WGNT News at 10 - Powered by NewsChannel 3.

[63] At some point afterwards, a half-hour 10 p.m. newscast began airing on weekends (unusual as primetime newscasts on most television stations typically air either seven nights a week or Monday through Fridays only), followed by a half-hour program recapping stories sister station WTKR broadcast over the past week in their "Taking Action, Getting Results" franchise.

On July 7, 2014, WGNT debuted a half-hour 7 p.m. newscast featuring former morning anchor Laila Muhammad, Les Smith and chief meteorologist Patrick Rockey.