It initially only aired a schedule of older movies in evening hours only. It began full commercial operations in July, airing a general entertainment format of off-network and first-run syndicated shows, movies, and cartoons. It was the first full-market Charlotte station since WCTU-TV (channel 36, now WCNC-TV) launched in July 1967 (WHKY-TV [channel 14] in Hickory had signed on in 1968, but mostly targeted the northwestern portion of the market). Capitol exercised its option to buy the remainder of WJZY later that summer; a group petitioned against the sale, claiming Metro–Crescent had reneged on its promises for local programming, but the challenges were dropped, and the sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in November. By that time, however, Gantt's stake had been an issue in his run for re-election; he lost in a close race to Sue Myrick and admitted that her statements on Metro–Crescent may have swung the race for her. Under Capitol, the station grew. In 1988, it was speculated that NBC might move to WJZY from channel 36 at a time when the network was actively courting other stations to upgrade in the market and the incumbent station had a weaker signal; NBC was reported to also covet Capitol's other broadcast property, WRAL-TV, then the CBS affiliate in Raleigh. Though this change did not occur, by 1990, channel 46 was even with WCCB (channel 18), the Fox affiliate, in key dayparts. The station's rapid growth came at a time when the Charlotte market had become large enough to support what were essentially two full-market independent stations (WCCB, like most early Fox affiliates, was programmed largely as an independent until 1995). WJZY owned a large amount of syndicated programming, but did not have nearly enough time in its broadcast day to air all of it. A solution came with the sign-on of WFVT (channel 55, later WWWB and now WMYT-TV) in September 1994. Capitol Broadcasting entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with WFVT's Indiana-based owner, Family 55. Under this LMA, WJZY bought WFVT's entire broadcast day and placed much of this extra programming on WFVT. UPN and CW affiliation The station became a charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN) when the network launched on January 16, 1995. WFVT joined The WB at the same time, creating one of the first UPN/WB partnerships in the country. For most of UPN's run, WJZY was