Communications Corporation of America brought WB programming to Baton Rouge cable subscribers on February 1, 1999, as WBBR, a cable-only station on Cox Communications channel 10 (WBBR's call sign was used in a fictitious manner).[2] Previously, WB programming was available on WTVK-11, a low-power station owned by Gulf Atlantic Communications also affiliated with America One. While the station was carried by several smaller cable providers in the greater Baton Rouge area, including those in Clinton, Jackson, and Watson, as well as on LSU's cable system, TCI, then Baton Rouge's cable company, did not carry the station, and it only had a broadcasting range of six miles (9.7 km).[3] TCI, however, did carry WGN irregularly between 1995 and 1999, making WB programming available to subscribers. Eventually, WTVK signed off, and channel 11 became occupied by KPBN-LP, an America One affiliate.
The station now known as WBRL signed on the air March 30, 1989, as K65EF on channel 65. It was founded by Woody Jenkins of Great Oaks Broadcasting Corporation and initially served as a translator for independent station WBTR, as that station initially had trouble getting picked up on local cable systems in the greater Baton Rouge area. In 1995, it became KANC-LP, channel 21 and served as Baton Rouge's first all-news station affiliated with the All News Channel. On November 13, 2002, WTNC was purchased by ComCorp with the objective of bringing WBBR/WB programming over-the air. The call sign was changed to WBRL and was initially supposed to be on channel 19 before Communications Corporation decided to put it on channel 21 (sister station KZUP-CD was on channel 19, but is now on channel 20; some station ids from 2002 erroneously branded the station as WB 19 instead of WB 21).[4][5] WBRL was previously used as the call letters to the FM counterpart to WJBO-AM from 1941 to 1958—this station is now WYNK-FM and is unrelated to WBRL-CD.
On March 7, 2006, Baton Rouge's UPN affiliate, WBXH, announced that they would take affiliation with MyNetworkTV in September. On March 9, 2006, it was announced that WBRL would affiliate with The CW.
In June 2006, owner ComCorp filed for Chapter 11bankruptcy protection. ComCorp said in a press release viewers and staff would see no changes at the station.[6][7][8][9]
On April 24, 2013, ComCorp announced the sale of its entire group, including WGMB and WBRL-CD, to the Nexstar Broadcasting Group.[10] The local marketing agreement for WVLA and KZUP-CD (which is retaining ownership with White Knight Broadcasting) is included in the deal. The sale was completed on January 1, 2015.[11]
On July 1, 2020, WBRL relocated its digital channel from channel 21 to channel 20 to prevent co-interference from WHNO in New Orleans, sharing channel space with its sister station, KZUP. On November 1, 2021, WBRL's simulcast on WGMB-DT2 was upgraded to 720p high definition.
1These stations are owned by Mission Broadcasting but operated by Nexstar under an LMA. 2These stations are owned by Vaughan Media but operated by Nexstar under an LMA. 3TelevisaUnivision USA owns the licenses to these stations but the stations themselves are operated by Entravision Communications under an LMA.
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