The stations share studios on South Jefferson Street in downtown Jackson, while WLBT's transmitter is located on Thigpen Road southeast of Raymond, Mississippi.

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.

[4] Station manager Fred Beard 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.

[5] 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).

[4] In 1955, when civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall—later appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court—appeared on The Today Show, WLBT interrupted the interview, putting up a sign that said, "Sorry, Cable Trouble.

Although some Southern stations severed their ties with their networks in order to prevent being forced to air coverage of the movement (WRAL and WUSN both switched from NBC to ABC in 1962), WLBT kept its affiliation with NBC, even though that network historically had an extremely low tolerance towards local preemptions at the time.

Everett Parker of the United Church of Christ (UCC)—sent numerous petitions to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to complain of WLBT's flagrant bias.

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 WLBT's signal.

[7] To this day, WLBT remains one of only two television stations that has ever lost its license for violating FCC regulations on fairness.

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.

[4] In 1973, the FCC was asked to revoke WLBT's broadcast license because the station's largest shareholder, William Mounger, also served as a Jackson Academy Vice President.

Even with the station's growth over the last two decades (see below), the growing trend toward consolidation in the media industry made it difficult for Melton to buy stronger syndicated programming or sell advertising.

The cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion – in which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycom – resulted in WLBT gaining new sister stations in nearby markets, including CBS/ABC affiliate KNOE-TV in Monroe, Louisiana, and ABC affiliate WTOK-TV in Meridian.

[18] The tower's collapse knocked WLBT and the local PBS/Mississippi ETV Network station WMPN off the air for several hours.

One was the miniseries Freedom Road (which was filmed in nearby Natchez)[20] and another was the short-lived animated sitcom God, the Devil and Bob.

[22][23][24][25] On December 30, 2023, WLBT parent company Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with the New Orleans Pelicans to air 10 games on the station during the 2023–24 season.

In October 2010, WLBT began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition becoming the second television outlet in the area to make the upgrade.

Although it shares a majority of on-air personnel with WLBT, WDBD maintains a separate additional news anchor for the weekday morning and weeknight shows.