WAXN-TV (channel 64) is an independent television station licensed to Kannapolis, North Carolina, United States, serving the Charlotte area. It is owned by Cox Media Group alongside dual ABC/Telemundo affiliate WSOC-TV (channel 9). Both stations share studios on West 23rd Street north of uptown Charlotte, while WAXN-TV's transmitter is located near Reedy Creek Park in the Newell section of the city. History The station first signed on the air on October 15, 1994 as WKAY-TV. It was originally owned by Kannapolis Television Company, a subsidiary of Truth Temple in Kannapolis. It had originally received a construction permit as WDZH, but changed the call letters to WKAY on November 15, 1989. The pastor of Truth Temple, Garland Faw, named the station WKAY after his wife Kay. The station aired a mix of religious programming, older movies, and barter syndicated programs, as well as the locally produced special Magic or Something in 1995. Kannapolis Television entered into a joint sales agreement (JSA) with WSOC-TV owner Cox Enterprises, and formally changed the call letters to WAXN-TV in August 1996. Under the agreement, channel 9 took over channel 64's operations and re-branded the station as "Action 64." The "Action" branding had also been used at the time on Cox's two other independent stations, WRDQ in Orlando and KICU-TV in San Jose, California, the latter of which is now owned by Fox Television Stations since 2014. Cox invested over $3 million toward relaunching the station and making other improvements. The station moved its operations to WSOC-TV's facilities and underwent a significant technical overhaul, boosting its transmitting power to a level comparable with other Charlotte area stations. Previously, it could only be seen on cable television in most of the market, as its over-the-air analog signal barely made it out of Cabarrus County. WSOC-TV owned the rights to a large amount of syndicated programming, but increased local news commitments left channel 9 without nearly enough time in its broadcast day to air it all. It placed much of this surplus programming on WAXN, giving channel 64 a much stronger schedule. One of these shows was The Andy Griffith Show, which had aired on channel 9 for many years. From 2001 to 2012, WAXN had also been the Charlotte home of the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon, which had aired on WSOC-TV since 1974; Cox's overall local rights to the telethon ended with the 2012 edition,