WJTV, Mississippi's first and oldest broadcast television station, signed on the air January 20, 1953, with the Inauguration Ceremony of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Originally owned by the Mississippi Publishers Corporation, WJTV first began broadcasting on Channel 25. It was not until WJTV & WSLI-TV merged to form Capitol Broadcasting Company and WJTV that the station found a home at Channel 12.In 1994, WJTV made Mississippi broadcasting history with it's highly acclaimed "12 In Your Town" series of interactive town meetings. No other broadcast entity had performed a production that allowed citizens to share their views with the air personalities and staff of WJTV.

Other broadcasting firsts for WJTV were the first live broadcast of the Miss Mississippi Pageant in 1988 and in 1994 the first live broadcast of the City of the Jackson Christmas Parade. Additionally, in 1985 WJTV received "Live Star," Mississippi's first mobile satellite truck. This vehicle has enabled the WJTV news team to cover stories all over the state, anywhere in the nation and potentially get a story to you anywhere in the world.

Some local and national personalities have also been featured on WJTV. Johnny Cash, Jerry Clower, Eudora Welty, Willie Morris, John Grisham, Oprah Winfrey, Dan Rather, Connie Chung, Dan & Marilyn Quayle, Dr. Joyce Brothers and the Commodores are just a small sampling of the popular personalities WJTV has interviewed for its viewers both at the station and on location. The late Charles Kuralt while producing an episode of his program "On the Road with Charles Kuralt" visited and used WJTV facilities to feed material to CBS Network.

Major upgrades have occurred to WJTV between 1985 and 1988 and in 1997, when Media General, Inc., assumed ownership of the station.