WAZE signed on October 15, 1983, as WLCN, the market's first independent television station. It originally ran mostly Christian programming (the call letters presumably stood for "Local Christian Network") along with segments of HSN Spree. After WEVV-TV, which signed on a month later, became a charter Fox affiliate in 1987, WLCN was the only over-the-air source of non-network programming in the Illinois–Indiana–Kentucky tri-state area for 11 years. However, cable systems piped in either WTTV in Indianapolis (now a CBS affiliate) or KPLR-TV in St. Louis (now a CW affiliate), depending on the location.