About KADN 15

KLNI-TV, which began broadcasting as an NBC affiliate on September 16, 1968, was initially housed on Channel 15 in Lafayette. Southern Louisiana Communications Inc. controlled it, and it was the first TV station in southwestern Louisiana to transmit in full color. From 1970 to 1972, it, like other NBC affiliates in the region, offered PBS programs, notably Sesame Street, to the Acadiana area. With ABC affiliate KATC-TV (channel 3) and CBS station KLFY-TV (channel 10) already on the air, the Lafayette market was deemed too small to support three TV stations at the time. KLNI went off the air on February 21, 1975, after experiencing financial difficulties for the few years it was on the air, leaving WBRZ (and later WRBT, now WVLA) in Baton Rouge and KPLC in Lake Charles as the region's de facto NBC affiliates; the latter was carried by most cable providers in South Central Louisiana. The channel 15 allocation in Lafayette as a commercial TV station survived following KLNI's dissolution, however the frequency remained black for the next five years.

KADN-TV, the present form of channel 15, began airing as an independent station on February 29, 1980, mostly offering movies, classic comedies, children's programs, and local sports. Charles Chatelain and his firm, Delta Media Corporation, owned it. The station's on-air motto was "Acadiana's Alternative," and it also referred to itself as "The Movie Station."