KTAG-TV
KTAG-TV was the first television station in the Lake Charles area. It was owned by Charles W. Lamar of Baton Rouge and broadcast on UHF channel 25. Originally, the station was affiliated with CBS, ABC, and Dumont, but by 1957, it was solely a CBS affiliate, as Dumont folded and when KPLC-TV signed on in 1954, it took the ABC affiliation on a secondary basis.[1]
| Lake Charles, Louisiana | |
|---|---|
| City | Lake Charles, LA |
| Channels | Analog: 25 (UHF) |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | CBS (1953-1961) DuMont (secondary) (1953-1956) ABC (secondary) (1953-1954) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Charles W. Lamar Stations (KTAG Associates) |
| History | |
| First air date | November 15, 1953 |
| Last air date | August 3, 1961 |
| Technical information | |
| ERP | 20.4 kW |
| HAAT | 348m |
With the sign-on of KPLC, KTAG was at a major disadvantage being a UHF station in a small market competing with a VHF. In 1955, the Charles W. Lamar estate petitioned the FCC for VHF channel 3 to move the station to that spot, but it was not granted, as Acadian Television Corporation of Lafayette also lobbied (and was eventually granted) for the channel. By the early 1960s, KTAG operated only five hours a day with a staff of only three people, and on August 3, 1961, it signed off.[2] In 1962, KATC signed on as the ABC affiliate for Lafayette (and, by extension, Lake Charles) on KTAG's desired channel 3. CBS would not return to Lake Charles until KSWL-LD signed on February 15, 2017;[3] prior to this, Lafayette's KLFY-TV and Beaumont's KFDM served as the CBS affiliates for the area. It was not until the 1980s that another UHF station signed on to serve the Lake Charles area (KLTL-TV, a satellite of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, signed on in 1981, and KVHP, which is now a Fox affiliate, signed on in 1983).
References
- Telecasting Yearbook, 1954-1955
- Final Telecast Slated Tonight by KTAG, Lake Charles American Press, August 3, 1961
- Lake Charles gets a local CBS television station