WLBT (channel 3) is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Jackson, Mississippi. The station is currently owned and operated by Gray Media, which acquired it as part of a major broadcasting merger in 2019. WLBT serves as the dominant news station in the Jackson metropolitan area and operates from studios located on South Jefferson Street in downtown Jackson. The station is known for maintaining the market's only helicopter used for breaking news gathering and traffic reports, giving it a significant advantage in local news coverage. WLBT has a remarkable and complex history that extends far beyond typical broadcasting. The station was founded on December 19, 1953, as WJBT by the Lamar Life Insurance Company and was renamed WLBT (standing for Lamar Broadcasting Television) shortly after. However, the station gained notoriety during the 1950s and 1960s for its aggressive support of racial segregation in Mississippi. Station management, including general manager Fred Beard, had close ties to segregationist groups and actively coordinated opposition to civil rights efforts. The station preempted NBC programs dealing with racial justice and interrupted civil rights coverage, famously displaying a "Sorry, Cable Trouble" sign when civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall appeared on a network program. In a landmark decision that changed broadcasting history, WLBT became one of only two television stations ever to lose its broadcast license for violating FCC regulations on fairness. After years of petitions from civil rights groups and the United Church of Christ, the FCC revoked Lamar's license in 1969. The station was then transferred to Communications Improvement, Inc., a non-profit, bi-racial group that transformed WLBT into a beacon of tolerance and racial equality. A new management team, including some of the first African American television executives in the South, recreated the station as a far more neutral news source. The permanent license was eventually awarded to TV-3, Inc. in 1980, a consortium with Black controlling interest, marking a complete transformation of the station's mission and values.