On June 27, 1952, one week before the FCC released a Report and Order reallocation memorandum that lifted a four-year moratorium on new television broadcast license applications, two Shreveport-based groups filed respective applications for the permit: Radio Station KRMD Inc. (then-parent of radio station KRMD (1340 AM) and principally owned by T. B. Lanford, who owned radio stations in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi), and the Shreveport Television Co. (owned by movie theater operator Don George, Ben Beckham and William Carter Henderson, the latter being the son of KWKH founder William Kennon Henderson, Jr).

KSLA temporarily transmitted its signal from a 277-foot (84 m) broadcast tower located near the intersection of Lake and Market Streets in downtown Shreveport.

[18] Both competitors filed exception petitions to the FCC examiner's initial decision favoring Shreveport Television on the grounds Litvin cited in the 73-page order.

[19][20][21] The FCC reaffirmed its prior decision on November 17, 1955, denying the Southland petition for rehearing and reconsideration of the grant and formally dismissing the competing bids.

[22] On March 5, 1955, Elvis Presley made his television debut on KSLA on the local music program Louisiana Hayride, which was produced from the Municipal Auditorium.

[25] KSLA and KTBS-TV continued to share limited amounts of ABC programming until 1961, when Texarkana, Texas–licensed KTAL-TV (channel 6) assumed the local rights to the NBC affiliation after KTAL owner Palmer Newspapers received FCC permission to relocate that station's transmitter closer to Shreveport, effectively folding the Texarkana area into the Shreveport television market.

In January 1960, the Shreveport Television Company to KSLA-TV Inc.—a local group headed by the Journal Publishing Company (owned by Douglas F. Attaway, owner and publisher of the now-defunct Shreveport Journal), Eugenie B. George, Dolores George LaVigne and various additional stockholders that included Winston B. Linam (who remained KSLA's station manager)—for $3.396 million; the sale received FCC approval on May 25.

In January 1965, the Journal Publishing Company filed a petition asking to deny a construction permit application by Television Broadcasters Inc. to build a new 1,000-foot (305 m)-tall transmission tower for ABC affiliate KBMT (which also transmitted on channel 12) in Beaumont, Texas, at a site two miles (3.2 km) west of Mauriceville.

Journal Publishing charged that the new KBMT transmitter—which was proposed to be placed 33.5 miles (53.9 km) north of its existing transmitter location—would be short-spaced 18 miles (29 km) closer to the KSLA transmitter than permitted by standard mileage separation rules to prevent signal interference and that the FCC's order granting the application had not afforded KSLA "equivalent protection" that Television Broadcasters stated that it would in the original application.

On October 29, 1966, the FCC granted construction permits to KSLA and KBMT to install precise frequency control systems to limit signal interference between the two stations.

In 1972, the station relocated its operations into its current studio facilities on Fairfield Avenue and Dashiel Street (near Schumpert Medical Center).

[32] After Attaway sold the Shreveport Journal to local businessman and philanthropist Charles T. Beaird, in February 1976, the Journal Publishing Company announced it would sell the station to KSLA-TV Inc. (a local consortium owned by Attaway, Delores La Vigne and Winston B. Linam) for $2.823 million; the transfer received FCC approval on May 27.

[34] Speculation centered upon a failure in a guy wire cable attached to the tower at the 800-foot (240 m) level that swayed significantly in winds sustained at 35 to 40 mph (56 to 64 km/h), with the rippling to be so great that it caused to the wire to snap and the tower broke at the aforementioned level and fell on the reinforced concrete transmitter building below, which was undamaged; however, no official cause was ever determined.

In March 1989, the station began preempting CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt in favor of running religious programming and infomercials in its timeslot.

This sparked outrage from viewers, resulting in a letter-writing campaign to Viacom, CBS and local newspapers to push for Sunday Morning's return to channel 12.

[48][49][50][51] On May 16, 1996, Ellis Communications announced it would sell its fifteen television and two radio stations and sports production/syndication firm Raycom Sports to Atlanta-based Ellis Acquisitions Inc. (founded by Boston-based M&A lawyer Stephen Burr, with financing from Montgomery, Alabama-based pension fund administrator Retirement Systems of Alabama) in an all-cash deal worth $732 million; the Ellis Communications stations as well as subsequent purchases of television stations owned by AFLAC and Detroit-based Federal Enterprises Inc. served as the charter properties of Raycom Media.

The cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion—in which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycom—resulted in KSLA gaining new sister stations in nearby markets, including primary CBS/subchannel-only Fox and MyNetworkTV affiliate KXII in Sherman, Texas, primary CBS/subchannel-only ABC affiliate KNOE-TV in Monroe and primary NBC/subchannel-only CBS affiliate KALB-TV in Alexandria, in addition to its current sister stations under Raycom ownership; as a result, the combined company will have broadcast properties in six of the seven television markets serving Louisiana (with Lafayette as the lone exception).

By 2023, these two stations became translators of KSLA for the northern and western parts of the Shreveport market, respectively; while K14NR-D is licensed to Tyler, its signal only covers the immediate Longview area.

The Raycom-produced game telecasts consisted of events involving teams in the SEC (including those involving the Louisiana State University Tigers, the Texas A&M Aggies, the Ole Miss Rebels and the Mississippi State Bulldogs), airing between ten and twelve regular season games from each sport per year, with most college football and basketball telecasts airing on Saturday afternoons.

On December 30, 2023, KSLA parent company Gray Television announced it had reached an agreement with the New Orleans Pelicans to air 10 games on the station during the 2023–24 season.