Technical Profile: WLOX-DT

TV Technical Profile: WLOX

Channel:: 32
Programming:: 13.1 - ABC; 13.2 - CBS; 13.3 - Bounce TV
13.4 - True Crime Network
13.5 - ION
13.6 - The 365
Transmitter Location:: [map] [street view] East of US-49 in Stone County. Along the aptly named WLOX-TV Road, near the intersection of Cliff O'Neal Road and Beaver Dam Road.
Power (ERP):: 525 kW
Height Above Average Terrain (HAAT):: 1,303 feet
Antenna:: Directional
Other Information:: 41 dBu protected contour map, from the FCC. (FCCdata Link); [FCC]
[FCCdata]
[RabbitEars]; [Wikipedia]

Owned by Gray Television
History:: This station signed on in October of 1962 as WLOX-TV, companion to the WLOX AM station on 1490 kHz, owned by the Love family (as WLOX Broadcasting Company. From the beginning, it was an ABC affiliate. The original tower and studio were located at the Buena Vista Hotel on the beach road, with the TV antenna on the AM's tower right on the Gulf of Mexico. It ran 31.7 kW (visual) from an RCA-TT5 transmitter.

In 1965, the station signed on from a tall tower near McHenry and increased power to the maximum 316 kW at 1,333 feet. The transmitter used was an RCA TT-25DH, feeding an RCA TW-18A-13P antenna. With the greater coverage, the station received a waiver to allow themselves to identify themselves as "WLOX-TV, Biloxi-Gulfport-Pascagoula, Mississippi".

The station faced a petition to deny a license renewal in 1976 by the Mississippi NAACP, but the petition was denied. After the passing of J. S. Love, Jr., the station fell to relatives who did business as Love Broadcasting, and the company name on the license was changed to that in 1978.

Love Broadcasting sold the station in 1995 to Cosmos Broadcasting for $41 million, ending over 30 years of Love family ownership. Cosmos was eventually absorbed into Raycom Media in 2009.; This station elected to keep analog broadcasts on until the new June 12^th deadline. Reports in May 2009 say WLOX has moved their digital signal to channel 13. As of June 2009 the station is applying to go back to their original temporary digital channel 39, due to reception problems related to their VHF 13 assignment. In early September 2009 the FCC approved channel 39 for WLOX's immediate use, however it was listed as an application until October 2009, when it was granted as a construction permit.; In May 2011 the station's parent company, Raycom, announced that WLOX would be adding the new black American-oriented Bounce TV network. It was originally scheduled to launch in the fall of 2012, but actually debuted on 1 January 2012. In March 2012 the station announced it would be carrying CBS programming on a subchannel. A launch date and technical details were not released. The market currently receives CBS programming from WKRG in Mobile (cable viewers) or WWL in New Orleans (satellite viewers). The CBS subchannel debuted in time for the Masters in early April 2012, in SD only, replacing the weather radar on 13.2. CBS programming is available in HD on local cable outlets and is made available to Dish Network, who as of this writing has not included it in their lineup. Both ABC and CBS were later made available off the air in 720p HD.

As part of the spectrum repacking scheme set off in 2017, the channel was granted a permit to relocate from RF channel 39 to 32 in July 2017. They signed on RF channel 32 in early September 2018. In July of 2018 the license was transferred to Gray Television, who in turn transferred it back to Raycom in November 2018.

Raycom Media and Gray Television Inc. agreed to a merger in June 2016, for $3.6 billion. The merger was approved in December 2016.

The station added the Circle network to the —.6 subchannel in 2021. That network was shut down at the end of December 2023 and replaced with The 365 in January 2024.