Rights to channel 10 were granted to Shenandoah Life after a competitive battle was fought between Shenandoah Life, WROV (now WGMN), and WDBJ (now WFIR). Originally set to fully launch on December 10, 1952, WSLS-TV was taken off the air an hour into a test pattern on the evening of the 10th, when a storm shattered a window in the studio and blew a control panel's fuse, while a lightning bolt also struck near the station's transmitter. The station successfully launched a day later. The inaugural anchor team was composed of Tom Wright, Joe Moffatt, and Ed Thomas, with Moffatt becoming the state's first television editorialist when he began his daily editorials in 1961.