William E. "Bill" Hardy was granted a construction permit for a new radio station on 1540 kHz in Greenwood, to operate with 500 watts during daytime hours only, on January 29, 1963.
[6] In April 1971, shortly before the consolidation took place, the Greenwood Movement—which included three of the fired staffers—petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for an investigation of racially discriminatory employment practices.
It ordered Leflore Broadcasting Company to file an early application for renewal of its license by November 1, citing substantial questions about the firm's qualifications.
Issues the commission raised included the nature of the 1971 format change and whether it went against promises Leflore Broadcasting had made in its 1970 license renewal application; potential misrepresentations to the FCC; and racial discrimination in its hiring practices.
[6] Commissioners grilled Forbes W. Blair, the attorney for the WSWG stations, when he claimed the promises the firm had made in the past came from an "overly zealous former general manager",[12] and the FCC upheld the administrative law judge's decision and denied renewal to the AM and FM outlets in July 1977.
[14] The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the decision in 1980, though it took the FCC to task for failing to explain the particular reasons for denying the license renewal applications.
Because interim operation had to be agreed on by all parties involved, when negotiations fell through and the Leflore-Dixie and Mid-Delta groups dropped out, the WSWG stations went off the air at midnight on August 18, 1982.
[19] The stations went back on a week later—with a skeleton crew and a new music library—as Grantham and East Delta stepped in to continue providing an interim service on the AM and FM frequencies.