WGBA-TV
WLRE, which stood for station co-founder Lyle R. Evans, sought to be operational as early as December 1977. It delayed so that it could put its transmission tower on Scray's Hill near De Pere, the location of other Green Bay market transmitter towers. Ultimately the location was approved, but it meant ground was not broken on the studio and antenna location until June 1980. The station signed on the air on December 31, 1980, broadcasting an analog signal on UHF channel 26. It was the Green Bay market's second independent station, after the short-lived KFIZ-TV (channel 34) in Fond du Lac from 1968 to 1972. It was also the first new commercial station to sign-on in Green Bay itself since WFRV-TV (channel 5) signed on in May 1955. On November 12, 1982, WLRE was able to power up a new transmitter and had plans for further antenna power boosts.
WGNT
With WYAH's growth and profitability, CBN began expanding to other markets. The ministry launched WHAE-TV (now WGCL-TV) in Atlanta in 1971; purchased KXTX-TV in Dallas in 1972; and signed-on WXNE-TV (now WFXT) in Boston in 1977. These stations formed the Continental Broadcasting Network, a wholly owned subsidiary of CBN, with WYAH-TV as the flagship station. Locally, channel 27 faced competition for the first time in 1979 when WTVZ (channel 33) was signed-on by TVX Broadcast Group. The new, locally owned independent purchased general-entertainment programming–many of which was passed over by CBN, having been deemed too racy for the ministry's liking. The impact was near-immediate as WTVZ equalled, then surpassed WYAH (the station officially dropped the "-TV" suffix from its call sign in June 1983) in viewership.