In 2011, the FCC awarded a
construction permit
for the station, with the
call sign
of K17KH-D. The current KSWL-LD calls were adopted on February 10, 2017. Five days later, the station went on the air as the Lake Charles area's CBS affiliate.
[2]
KSWL-LD is the area's first CBS affiliate since the
shutdown
of its original CBS affiliate,
KTAG-TV
(UHF channel 25), in August 1961.
[3]
Between that time,
KLFY-TV
in
Lafayette
served as the default CBS affiliate via cable for Southwestern Louisiana, while
Beaumont
affiliate
KFDM
was carried by a few cable providers in some areas of the market. Between KSWL-LD's sign-on as part of CBS, sister station
KWWE-LD
's sign on as a
MyNetworkTV
affiliate, and Fox affiliate
KVHP
launching
ABC
programming on its DT2 subchannel, the year 2017 marks the first time that the Lake Charles area has received over-the-air service from every major television network, having previously relied on
cable television
to supply network affiliates from Lafayette and Beaumont for CBS, ABC, MyNetworkTV, and until 2009,
The CW
.
[4]
[5]
The station is unusual among CBS affiliates in that it carries no local news. However, it airs local weather inserts during
CBS Mornings
as well as a five-minute weathercast at the conclusion of CBS' prime time programming. KSWL also produces and airs two sports programs focused on Southwest Louisiana-area sports:
Sound Off
, which is a call-in show about secondary and postsecondary sports, and
Poke Nation
, covering sports at
McNeese State University
.