baton rouge branding 9 news wbxh channel 16 on dt3 slogan louisiana s news channel channels digital 9 vhf virtual 9 psip subchannels 9.1 cbs 9.2 bounce tv 9.3 mynetworktv affiliations cbs secondary through 1971 owner raycom media inc. wafb license subsidiary llc first air date april 19 1953 ; 63 years ago 1953 04 19 call letters meaning derived from former sister radio station wafb and wafb fm sister station s wbxh cd kplc lake charles ksla tv shreveport former callsigns wafb tv 1953 1988 former channel number s analog 28 uhf 1953 1960 9 vhf 1960 2009 digital 46 uhf former affiliations all secondary nbc 1953 1955 dumont 1953 1955 abc 1953 1971 dt3 the tube transmitter power 5.57 kw height 511 m facility id 589 transmitter coordinates 30 21 58 n 91 12 47 w 30.36611 n 91.21306 w 30.36611 ; 91.21306 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wafb.com wafb is the cbs affiliated television station for baton rouge louisiana . it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on vhf channel 9 from a transmitter southwest of arlington . owned by raycom media wafb is sister to class a mynetworktv affiliate wbxh cd . the two share studios on government street in downtown baton rouge . syndicated programming on wafb includes access hollywood friends family feud and the dr. oz show . the station is seen via satellite through directv dish network and at & t u verse and on cable cox communications . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable current on air staff 4.2 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit the station began broadcasting on april 19 1953 as the second television station in the state of louisiana . it launched as a television counterpart to local radio stations wafb and wafb fm which both signed on in 1948 and were affiliated with mbs . louis s. prejean and associates modern broadcasting of baton rouge were the first owners of the station and they sold it to royal street corporation of new orleans in 1956 which owned wdsu tv the first television station in louisiana . in 1957 they sold the radio stations with the am station changing its format to black music and the fm station going off the air until being relaunched in 1968 . royal street owned the station until 1964 when it sold the station to locally based guaranty corporation . 1 in 1965 the station moved its transmission tower from zachary to south of lsu s campus allowing viewers in a 90 mile radius to receive its signal ; it was also in that year that the station started broadcasting in color . originally broadcasting an analog signal on uhf channel 28 wafb moved to vhf channel 9 in 1960 . wdam tv in hattiesburg mississippi moved to channel 7 to accommodate this switch . the station has always been a cbs affiliate but carried some nbc programming until wbrz tv signed on in 1955 . wafb also carried some abc programming with wbrz until wrbt now wvla signed on in 1971 and some programming from dumont until that network folded . the station also aired time for beany during its early years on the air from the paramount television network and was briefly affiliated with the nta film network airing programs sheriff of cochise how to marry a millionaire and this is alice . in 1988 guaranty sold the station to aflac . under new ownership the station underwent many changes . during 1988 aflac invested 2 million in redesigning the studio dropped the tv suffix from its call letters and began branding itself as louisiana s news channel a slogan the station continues to use today . in addition the new owners cancelled the station s beloved 33 year old half hour local weekday program storyland then the longest running children s program hosted by buckskin bill black and rechristened it as buckskin and friends an hour long show that aired on saturday mornings until it was cancelled in september 1990 . it was also in 1988 that the owners petitioned cbs to air the network s daytime programs in a different order airing syndicated programming at 10 a.m. the price is right at 11 a.m. and the young and the restless at 3 p.m. later 4 p.m. as a way to boost ratings as a lead in to the noon and 5 p.m. newscasts . wafb began broadcasting 24 hours a day on september 12 1990 . in 1997 aflac sold its entire broadcasting division including wafb to current owner raycom media . in 2003 raycom acquired former the box affiliate wbxh ca which became a sister station to wafb when the channel became baton rouge s third upn affiliate and later mynetworktv affiliate in 2006 . it originally aired a digital signal on uhf channel 46 from a transmitter at its studios . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 2 9.1 1080i 16 9 wafb dt main wafb programming cbs 9.2 480i 4 3 bounce bounce tv 9.4 wbxh dt simulcast of wbxh cd analog to digital conversion edit wafb shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 9 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 46 to vhf channel 9 . 3 with the new digital channel wafb rebroadcasts wbxh on channel 9.4 and before the launch of bounce tv affiliate september 2011 weather on channel 9.2 . programming edit wafb is one of a handful of stations that shifts the air times of various cbs programming . the price is right airs at 11 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. when the doctors can be seen and the young and the restless airs at 4 p.m. instead of 11 a.m. the station made this change in 1988 to give its noon and 5 p.m. newscasts a strong lead in . 4 the station aired jeopardy and wheel of fortune until 1995 when the shows moved to wbrz . live with regis and kelly and the oprah winfrey show was seen until the late 1990s . oprah moved to wbrz but since then has aired on wvla while regis & kelly continues to air on wbrz . the people s court also once aired on wafb before going to wbrz and later wgmb . the station currently airs the syndicated version of family feud hosted by steve harvey and aired the versions hosted by louie anderson richard karn and john o hurley with the exception of karn s first season which aired on kzup and harvey s second through fifth seasons which aired on wvla . until 2015 wafb aired the syndicated version of who wants to be a millionaire ; the show now airs on sister station wbxh . it used to also air the phil donahue show hard copy the rosie o donnell show baywatch pensacola wings of gold the montel williams show cheers married ... with children taxi the untouchables the martha stewart show relic hunter friends soul train the montel williams show er the new price is right with doug davidson and sally jesse raphael among other syndicated fare . 5 one locally produced show that brought years of enjoyment to children was hosted by buckskin bill black william black that ran from 1955 until 1990 . there were several characters that were regulars on the show including senor puppet a marionette voiced by sid crocker and whatsyourname another puppet voiced by mary hillen . the show had a way of educating young children while making it fun to learn . two games many adults can remember buckskin playing were called hully gully which helped to teach counting numbers and the monday morning march . the two shows he hosted were called storyland for younger children during a.m. broadcasting and the buckskin bill show for older children during the afternoons . buckskin was also one of the first shows in the united states to have a sign language interpreter for hearing impaired viewers prior to closed captioning . through two gracious campaigns from his show buckskin bill helped to start the baton rouge zoo . during this campaign he asked children to bring in their pennies to buy an elephant . the penny campaign was successful enough to purchase two . he is now involved with the east baton rouge parish public schools board . wafb also airs the sunday services from the first united methodist church in the city . wafb currently airs all of cbs network programming in high definition and most of its syndicated programming such as the dr. oz show in hd . news operation edit former 9 news newscast title card ; seen nightly at 10 its newscasts have had the second highest ratings at 10 p.m. in any of the country s biggest television markets according to the des moines register in iowa . nielsen media research ratings showed that 16.2 % of all households in the baton rouge area watched the show . the only station to get a bigger share of the local audience was kcci the cbs affiliate in des moines which was watched by 17.9 % of area households . for most of its history wafb trailed wbrz in the ratings given wbrz s consistent history on the vhf band and former roots to the baton rouge advocate . in the mid 1990s wbrz experienced significant staff turnover and several news format changes while aflac and raycom invested heavily in improving wafb s news product by maintaining low turnover in its news staff and presentation wafb used the newschannel theme by gari media from 1990 until raycom switched its news music client to stephen arnold music in late 2014 leading wafb to overtake wbrz s news ratings in 1994 . in the recent ratings period it beat the others stations combined weeknights at 5 6 and 10 . in total the station s news department produces 25 hours of news programming each week . this includes two newscasts on sister station wbxh cd weeknights at 9 which began on january 8 2007 and saturday mornings . wafb s weekday morning news is repeated on that station . wafb also has a cox cable channel devoted to airing simulcasts and rebroadcasts of its news broadcasts . on march 3 2008 wafb became the first in baton rouge and the third in louisiana to broadcast its local broadcasts in high definition . the wbxh broadcasts were included in the upgrade . despite becoming rarer among other television news stations wafb occasionally broadcasts an editorial that is usually delivered by the station manager . notable current on air staff edit donna britt anchor andr moreau anchor notable former on air staff edit tim brando sports now broadcasts for various sports outlets including fox sports and jefferson pilot sports isiah carey now at kriv in houston jay young former 6 and 10 pm news anchor in the late 1970s later served as one of the first anchors of cnn and at wbrz references edit 1967 radio and television yearbook rabbitears tv query for wafb dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . http www.businessreport.com news 2001 dec 31 ron winders heads back to savannah http www.youtube.com watch v fg592twvrry external links edit louisiana portal television portal wafb.com official wafb tv website wbxh.tv official wbxh tv website query the fcc s tv station database for wafb tv v t e television stations in eastern acadiana and the florida parishes including baton rouge and morgan city reception may vary