WVLA
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Baton Rouge, Louisiana United States |
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| Branding | Local 33 (general) Local 33 News (newscasts) |
| Slogan |
Baton Rouge Proud Louisiana Proud (45th anniversary variant) |
| Channels |
Digital: 34 (UHF) Virtual: 33 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 33.1 NBC 33.2 Laff |
| Affiliations | NBC (since 1977) |
| Owner |
White Knight Broadcasting (Knight Broadcasting of Baton Rouge License Corporation) |
| Operator | Nexstar Media Group |
| First air date | October 16, 1971 |
| Call letters' meaning |
Vetter LouisianA (previous owner) or "A NeW Vision for Louisiana" (former slogan) |
| Sister station(s) | WGMB-TV, WBRL-CD, KZUP-CD |
| Former callsigns | WRBT (1971–1987) |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 33 (UHF, 1971–2009) |
| Former affiliations |
Primary: ABC (1971–1977) Secondary: Fox (1990–1991) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 522 m |
| Facility ID | 70021 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 30°19′34″N 91°16′36″W / 30.32611°N 91.27667°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | www |
WVLA-TV, virtual channel 33, is the NBC-affiliated television station for Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It transmits its digital signal on UHF channel 34. It is owned by White Knight Broadcasting, but it is operated by Nexstar Media Group. WVLA also shares facilities and staff with WGMB-TV, WBRL-CD, and KZUP-CD and all four stations broadcast from its studios at 10000 Perkins Road in Baton Rouge. WVLA's transmitter is located near Addis, Louisiana. On cable, the station is seen on channel 3 on most cable systems, and on AT&T U-verse channel 33. The station is also seen via satellite through DirecTV and Dish Network.
The station first signed on the air on October 16, 1971 as WRBT, an ABC affiliate. The station was founded by Romac Baton Rouge Corporation, a consortium of Southern Educators Life Insurance Company and local businessmen Richard O. Rush and Ramon V. Jarrell, with its call letters standing for Romac Broadcasting Television. The station temporarily operated from Florida Boulevard before moving to studios on Essen Lane, where it stayed until 2000. Before WRBT began, ABC was limited to off-hours clearances on then-NBC affiliate WBRZ-TV and CBS affiliate WAFB-TV. The station originally broadcast from 10:30 a.m. until midnight on Mondays thru Fridays; 7 a.m. until midnight on Saturdays; and 9 a.m. until midnight on Sundays. In March 1976, Rush Broadcasting Corporation, owned by Jules B. LeBlanc and Cyril Vetter, purchased the station. Although Baton Rouge had been large enough on paper to support three full network affiliates since the 1950s, only two VHF licenses were allocated to that market—channels 2 and 9, occupied by WBRZ and WAFB, respectively. There was an effort to move the transmitter of proposed Houma television station KHMA to the Greater Baton Rouge area in 1964 to serve as the city's ABC affiliate, with that management of that station going as far as to establish an advertising office in Baton rouge; however, the owners of WAFB and WBRZ successfully petitioned the FCC to block the transfer, citing the urge of UHF development in the area.
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Wikipedia