KSLA - History

History

KSLA went on the air on January 1, 1954, airing programming from all four networks—CBS, ABC, NBC and DuMont. However, it has always been a primary CBS affiliate. It lost NBC a year later when KTBS entered the Shreveport market. The two stations shared limited ABC programming until 1960, when Texarkana's KTAL-TV took the NBC affiliation after Texarkana was collapsed into the Shreveport market. KTBS then became an exclusive ABC affiliate, leaving KSLA as a sole CBS affiliate. It, along with KMSS, is one of two stations in the area to not change their primary affiliation. The station's studios were originally housed inside the Washington Youree Hotel in downtown Shreveport. William Carter Henderson, a son of KWKH Radio founder William Kennon Henderson, Jr., was among the original owners of KSLA-TV.

On March 5, 1955, Elvis Presley made his television debut on KSLA on Louisiana Hayride from the Municipal Auditorium. That same year, D. L. Dykes, Jr., who launched a 30-year career as the pastor of the First Methodist Church at the Head of Texas Street in downtown Shreveport, began having his sermons televised on KSLA. Over the years, other churches followed Dykes's lead.

In 1966, Douglas F. Attaway, the publisher of the since defunct Shreveport Journal became the majority owner of the station. During the second half of the 1960s and the early 1970s, KSLA was hence called "The Journal Station." In 1983, Attaway sold to the original Viacom, which later owned CBS. He had previously sold the Shreveport Journal to Shreveport businessman and philanthropist Charles T. Beaird. In the early 1970s, the station moved to its current Fairfield Avenue studios near Schumpert Medical Center. The station added the -TV suffix in 1979, only to become the only Raycom-owned station to drop the suffix shortly after the 2009 digital transition.

KSLA was the first in the market to broadcast in color, to broadcast in stereo sound, and to employ the use of satellites. The station claims to have the highest rated newscast in the entire state of Louisiana. Its first real anchorman and news director, Don Owen, established the operations of the newsroom and later served on the elected Louisiana Public Service Commission from 1985 to 2002. KSLA was once the home of the Shreveport Captains, the defunct Canadian Football League team, the Shreveport Pirates, and Southeastern Conference sports. Among its most popular local programming were Al's Coral, a western-themed children's show hosted by Al Bolton, who was station meteorologist for many years; Bob & His Buddies, a children's show hosted by longtime sports reporter Bob Griffin; and Hallelujah Train, a Sunday morning program many consider a religious version of Soul Train.

On October 8, 1977, the KSLA 1709' tower in Mooringsport, LA collapsed. No official cause was ever determined, but speculation centered upon a failure in the guy lines. Prior to 1978, Shreveport did not have a PBS member station. During some of this time, KSLA aired Sesame Street on weekday mornings. This arrangement ended when Louisiana Public Broadcasting began full time PBS programming on KLTS. For a brief time in 1995, channel 12 aired UPN programming late at night until KSHV-TV (channel 45, now a MyNetworkTV affiliate) picked up the affiliation later in the year.

KSLA was among the first 50 television stations in the country to air a local/national lifestyle newsmagazine program cooperative concept called PM Magazine from 1979 to 1984. This program franchise license was owned and guided by Group W (the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Corporation) and was also known as Evening Magazine at the five Group W owned-and-operated television stations. PM Magazine at KSLA in Shreveport was a cutting-edge program hosted by program producer Chuck Smith and Becky Strickland as it became one of the consistently highest rated versions in the country, beating popular syndicated programs M*A*S*H, The Newlywed Game and People's Court as it averaged high audience shares, sometimes higher than 30% throughout its 4+ years on KSLA. Despite its local success with high viewer ratings and sponsors alike, PM Magazine was canceled on KSLA in early 1984 after the station was bought by Viacom. The last rating period for 1984 revealed the program had a 25 rating/39 share (Arbitron 2/'84). Despite a huge fan protest, the show was replaced by Three's Company reruns as this was a syndicated property owned by Viacom and cost nothing to air but it did cost KSLA as the 6:30 p.m. timeslot audience share performance guarantees to long-term national advertisers dropped almost immediately to 1/10th of what ratings/shares were previously, thereby cancelling many 6 month upfront ad buys for what was the previous PM Magazine timeslot. Many television analysts agree that the PM Magazine concept was the forerunner to other magazine programs such as Real People, That's Incredible!, and Entertainment Tonight; as well as several other reality-based television spin-off programs and cable network show themes.

Another programming gaffe made by the Viacom management was the temporary cancellation of CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt in favor of running infomercials in the same timeslot. Cancellation of this long-term CBS signature program resulted in considerable outrage from local viewers, resulting in a strong letter campaign to Viacom, CBS and local newspapers. The station was even subjected to picketing by some upset viewers who took their disgust to the streets in an effort to get the show reinstated. CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt was reinstated to the original timeslot after a few short weeks.

On September 1, 1995, Ellis Communications bought KSLA from Viacom; at the time, Viacom was in the process of selling off all of its television stations that did not have UPN as their primary affiliation, with KSLA being the first to be divested. Ellis was folded into Raycom Media in 1997. On September 26, 2011, KSLA became a charter affiliate for the African-American centric digital broadcast network Bounce TV, through an affiliation agreement with Raycom.