WHLT
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WHLT, channel 22, is the CBS-affiliated television station for southern Mississippi that is licensed to Hattiesburg. Its transmitter is located northeast of Petal in Forrest County. Owned by Media General, the station has studios on U.S. 49 in the Forest Hill section of Hattiesburg. WHLT is sister station and semi-satellite of Jackson's CBS affiliate, WJTV. As such, it airs some of that station's non-network programming. There are also programs that only air on WHLT and some are only seen on WJTV. It airs separate station identifications and commercials. WHLT clears all CBS programming but pre-empts CBS News Sunday Morning in favor of paid religious programming and delays Face the Nation until 1:05 Monday mornings. This is unlike its parent station, WJTV, which shows both programs as fed by CBS from 8 to 10 A.M. WHLT is one of three local stations broadcasting from Hattiesburg.
History
WHLT signed on in June of 1987 as a satellite of WJTV to expand that station's coverage area into southern Mississippi. The launch was also made in order for WJTV's then owner, News-Press & Gazette Company, to take advantage of local advertising and news opportunities. In 1993, News-Press & Gazette sold several of its stations (including WHLT and WJTV) to the first incarnation of New Vision Television who in turn sold its entire stations group to Ellis Communications in 1995. Ellis was merged into the Raycom Media operation the following year after it was bought out by a media group led by the Retirement Systems of Alabama (who bought Aflac's broadcasting group a few months earlier). In 1997, Media General acquired both WHLT and WJTV (as well as Savannah's WSAV-TV) from Raycom Media in a swap for Richmond, Virginia's WTVR-TV. For the analog to digital switchover on February 17, 2009, WHLT has a construction permit that will allow it to flash cut to digital on channel 22.
The station's news gathering efforts are mainly simulcasts of WJTV's newscasts with segments contributed by one WHLT reporter. All WJTV newscasts are simulated on WHLT excepts weeknights at 5 and 6. The station has made various attempts at establishing its own news department. The latest attempt, 22 Daily News, had the same branding and slogan ("It's About Time") to the 42 Daily News product at then-sister station WIAT in Birmingham, Alabama. The broadcasts were discontinued due to low commercial support despite good ratings and winning news awards. WHLT'S current slogan is "Your Very Own". Former 22 Daily News personalities include news anchor Blaine Stewart (who now reports and anchors weather at WTKR), Mia Butler who hosts TBS's "Movie and a Makeover", Forecaster Rex Thompson (now at WDAM-TV), Tom Colt (now a morning radio host at WXRR in Laurel), and Joe Wiggins (now a Southern Baptist pastor in Louisiana).
Digital television
When the national digital switchover occurs in February 2009, WHLT will flash-cut to digital on channel 22. WHLT was assigned channel 58 for its complementary digital signal, but cannot use it after the switchover due to it being out of core (all UHF channels above 51 must be vacated by television broadcasters at that time).