About WAFB 9

The station debuted on April 19, 1953, as the state of Louisiana's second television station. It debuted as a television companion to WAFB and WAFB-FM, both of which debuted in 1948 and were linked with MBS. The station was founded by Louis S. Prejean and companions (Modern Broadcasting of Baton Rouge), who sold it to Royal Street Corporation of New Orleans in 1956, which also owned WDSU-TV, Louisiana's first television station. They sold the radio stations in 1957, with the AM station switching to black music and the FM station falling off the air until it was reactivated in 1968. Royal Street owned the station until 1964, when it was sold to the local Guaranty Corporation. In 1965, the station relocated its transmission tower from Zachary to the south of LSU's campus, allowing viewers within a 90-mile (140-kilometer) radius to see its signal; the same year, the station began broadcasting in color.

WAFB began airing an analog signal on UHF channel 28 before switching to VHF channel 9 in 1960. To facilitate the transfer, WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, relocated to channel 7. The station has always been a CBS affiliate, however until WBRZ-TV joined on in 1955, it also aired some NBC programming. WAFB also carried some ABC programs with WBRZ until WRBT (now WVLA) signed on in 1971, as well as some DuMont programming until that network dissolved. During its early years on the air, the station also broadcast Time for Beany from the Paramount Television Network and was temporarily linked with the NTA Film Network, showing programs such as Sheriff of Cochise, How to Marry a Millionaire, and This is Alice.