WLWC began broadcasting April 14, 1997 as an affiliate of The WB. It was owned by Fant Broadcasting and operated by NBC-owned WJAR (channel 10) under a local marketing agreement (LMA). For the first 27 months of The WB's existence, Boston's WLVI-TV, which had been carried on cable in Rhode Island for decades, served as the default WB affiliate for the Providence–New Bedford market. The station launched with various syndicated shows as well as a WJAR-produced 10 p.m. newscast, known as "TV 28 News at 10", which began airing a few months after the WPRI-TV (channel 12)-produced effort on Fox affiliate WNAC-TV (channel 64).