WAFB - Programming

Programming

WAFB is one of a handful of stations that shifts the air times of various CBS programming. The Price Is Right airs at 11 a.m. instead of 10 a.m. when The Doctors can be seen and The Young and The Restless airs at 4 p.m. instead of 11 a.m. The station made this change in the early 1990s to give its noon and 5 p.m. newscasts a strong lead-in. The station aired Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune until 1995 when the shows moved to WBRZ. Live with Regis and Kelly and The Oprah Winfrey Show was seen until the late 1990s. Oprah moved to WBRZ but since then has aired on WVLA while Regis & Kelly was the other way around. The People's Court also once aired on WAFB before going to WBRZ and later WGMB. From 2000 to 2011, the station aired Family Feud at 10 a.m., with the exception of 2002-2003 when it aired on KZUP; that show currently airs on WVLA at 11 a.m. It used to also air The Phil Donahue Show, Hard Copy The Rosie O'Donnell Show, Baywatch, Pensacola: Wings of Gold, The Montel Williams Show, and Sally Jesse Raphael among other syndicated fare. One locally produced show that brought years of enjoyment to children was hosted by Buckskin Bill Black ("William Black") that ran from 1955 until 1990. There were several characters that were regulars on the show including "Senor Puppet" (a marionette voiced by Sid Crocker) and "Whatsyourname" (another puppet voiced by Mary Hillen).

The show had a way of educating young children while making it fun to learn. Two games many adults can remember Buckskin playing were called "Hully Gully" which helped to teach counting numbers and the "Monday Morning March". The two shows he hosted were called Storyland (for younger children during a.m. broadcasting) and The Buckskin Bill Show (for older children during the afternoons). Buckskin was also one of the first shows in the United States to have a sign-language interpreter for hearing-impaired viewers prior to closed-captioning. Through two gracious campaigns from his show, Buckskin Bill helped to start the Baton Rouge Zoo. During this campaign, he asked children to bring in their pennies to buy an elephant. The penny campaign was successful enough to purchase two. He is now involved with the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools Board. WAFB also airs the Sunday services from the First United Methodist Church in the city.

WAFB currently airs most of CBS network programming in High Definition (except for the tape-delayed episodes of "The Price is Right" and "The Young and the Restless") and most of its syndicated programming such as The Dr. Oz Show in HD.