KTAG-TV
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting |
| Founded | 1953 |
| Founder | Charles W. Lamar |
| Defunct | 1961-08-03 |
| Headquarters | Lake Charles, Louisiana , United States |
Area served | Lake Charles, Louisiana |
| Owner | Charles W. Lamar |
KTAG-TV (channel 25) was a television broadcaster located in Lake Charles, Louisiana, owned by Charles W. Lamar from Baton Rouge. It holds the distinction of being the first TV station in that city.
History
At its inception, KTAG-TV held primary affiliation with CBS and secondary affiliations with ABC (from 1953 to 1954) and Dumont (from 1953 to 1956). Following the discontinuation of Dumont and the introduction of KPLC-TV in 1954—which adopted ABC as a secondary network—KTAG-TV became solely affiliated with CBS by 1957.
Operating as a UHF station in a limited market, KTAG faced challenges competing against the VHF-based KPLC. In response, the Lamar estate petitioned the FCC in 1955 to reassign KTAG to VHF channel 3. However, this request was declined because Acadian Television Corporation from Lafayette, Louisiana also sought that channel and ultimately secured it. By the early 1960s, KTAG-TV was broadcasting for only five hours each day with a minimal team of three employees before ceasing operations on August 3, 1961.
The following year, in 1962, KATC (TV) began transmissions on channel 3 as the ABC affiliate serving both Lafayette and Lake Charles. Local CBS programming did not resume until KSWL-LD started broadcasting on February 15, 2017; until then, viewers in the area depended on Lafayette’s KLFY-TV and Beaumont’s KFDM for CBS content. The Lake Charles television landscape expanded during the 1980s with new UHF stations: KLTL-TV (channel 18), a satellite of Louisiana Public Broadcasting, launched in 1981, followed by KVHP (channel 29), which currently operates as a Fox affiliate, beginning in 1983.