The Fort Walton Beach Broadcasting Company applied in 1982 for a new television station on channel 53 to serve that city, a plan that had been gestating since 1980. Construction began in 1983, with the station to be based at a site near Tupelo Avenue and 4th Street in Fort Walton Beach. WPAN intended to sign on in December 1983, but tower completion delays pushed the launch into 1984. The new station, which went on air on February 14, represented a $4 million investment. Programs telecast included family-oriented syndicated shows, movies, and sports. However, Fort Walton Beach Broadcasting could not operate the station from a financial standpoint, and it closed at midnight on November 16, 1986; one minority partner noted they simply could not sell enough advertising. Channel 53 returned to the air on July 1, 1988, under the aegis of Franklin Broadcasting. The station's new programming included more religious fare. It operated only sporadically, and at one point, it was affiliated with the short-lived
Star Television Network. By 1991, it was partially simulcasting
WJTC in
Pensacola in an agreement primarily conceived to allow some of that station's programs to be seen on cable systems otherwise unable to carry it. However, it would be
dark for a full two years from 1991 to 1993. In 1993, the revival of
must-carry legislation pushing channel 53 into more cable homes led to Franklin reviving WPAN, as did a contract with BLAB-TV (an acronym for "Basic Local Area Broadcasting"). BLAB, which produced local infomercials and sponsored segments for local businesses that aired on cable, purchased 37 hours a week of airtime on WPAN starting November 1; remaining hours were filled by
ValueVision and Video Catalog, home shopping services. Several attempts were made by Franklin over the years to sell the station, and it was silent for much of 2013 and 2014 pending sale. Neal Ardman was listed as managing the station in early 2013, when it began to air
Cozi TV. It returned in 2014 with programming from the
Soul of the South Network. From May 2015 to May 2016, WPAN was off the air under special temporary authority to be silent, as Franklin could not pay the electricity bill and had been placed into receivership; on May 16, WPAN returned to the air under new owners B&C Communications as an affiliate of the Vibrant TV Network, and then in February 2019, after the Vibrant TV network ceased operations, it switched to carrying
Antenna TV. WPAN went off the air in October 2019 due to a dispute with the tower owner, who expected the debt from the prior owners to be repaid in order to gain access to the transmitter. Since the station needed to move to channel 21 as part of the
FCC repack, it opted to construct a new tower in Molino to offer market-wide coverage for the first time. WPAN returned to the airwaves in October 2020 after filing for another silent STA due to the tower situation. BLAB also returned to channel 53. ==Technical information and subchannels==