The station began broadcasting in March 1994. For most of the 1990s, the station was a low-power independent outlet known as "Genesis TV7", mixing programs from the American Independent Network with local programs, some of them Christian, such as Morning Praise, Peninsula SportsCenter, and a community bulletin board. It originally broadcast from the former studio of WVEC in Hampton;[2] the signal was broadcast from its former tower.[3] In 1996, the station moved its studio to the Newmarket Fair shopping mall.[4]
In 1998, Cox Communications removed WGBS-LP from its lineup in Hampton as part of a move to consolidate lineups in different Hampton Roads municipalities. The removal forced Genesis TV7 to lay off 10 employees and scale back its local programming.[4][5]
The founders, Kenneth and Joan Wright, separated in 2017. In 2020, they signed an agreement whereby Kenneth transferred all of his interest in WGBS-LD to Joan Wright.[6]
