WXMS launched on December 13, 1999, on cable as a primary affiliate of
The WB and secondary affiliate of
UPN. Previously, cable viewers were able to see WB programming via
Chicago's
WGN-TV, which had dropped WB programming from its
national superstation feed two months earlier. WXMS launched a low power signal on channel 27 on July 2, 2000. On October 7, 2001, WXMS became a primary UPN affiliate after ceding its WB affiliation to sister station
WDBD, which had defected from the
Fox network. On January 5, 2006, WXMS lost its UPN affiliation to
WRBJ and became an
independent station. WXMS simulcast with its sister station
WBMS-CA. WXMS was sold by Jackson Television to Roundtable Broadcasting in early 2010. Roundtable Broadcasting filed to sell WXMS and WDBD to
American Spirit Media in July 2012. As part of the deal, the station's operations were taken over by
Raycom Media, owner of
WLBT, under a
shared services agreement; American Spirit also acquired WBMS-CA from Vicksburg Broadcasting. WXMS, which had only ever operated through a series of
special temporary authority grants in lieu of a permanent license, left the air on February 11, 2013. In advance of the most recent STA's expiration on January 3, 2014, American Spirit Media on January 2 returned the station's
construction permit to the
Federal Communications Commission, which cancelled it the next day. ==References==