On March 17, 1982, First City Media, Inc.—a locally based company co-founded by Max Andrews and Peter D'Acosta—filed the initial application for the channel 18 license. Just under 1½ months later, on April 30, Thornberry TV Ltd.—an Atlanta-based company owned by William J. Barbin (who owned 36% of the company), Bert Wallace and Janet T. Lee (who each owned 18%), and David Vaughan (who owned the remaining 28%)—filed a separate application. The FCC granted the permit to Thornberry on November 28, 1983. In August 1984, Thornberry was granted use of KJTL as the planned station's callsign (named for minority owner Janet T. Lee).