Founded August 19, 1998 | ||
Owner Touch Family Broadcasting(Bethany World Prayer Center, Inc.) | ||
WLFT-CD is a low-power UHF television outlet, located on channel 30. It is locally owned via Touch Family Broadcasting and affiliated with MeTV. It broadcasts local sports, The 700 Club, and other Christian ministry programming, from a 500-foot (150 m) tower in the greater Baton Rouge area. The tower is located on Interstate 10 near Siegen Lane across from Tinseltown.
Contents
The station originates at its studios at 13567 Plank Road in Baker, Louisiana.
The flagship program of the station, Lifeline with Larry Stockstill, is broadcast three times daily, at 6:30 a.m., 10 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The station carries a unique combination of programming ministry programs like Enjoying Every Day Life with Joyce Meyer, Lakewood (with Joel Osteen), Life Today with James Robison and others.
History
WLFT started as Cox cable channel 4, with programming from the Pax network in 1998. It also broadcast local religious programming on cable channel 17 and over the air on channel 52, as "WLFT/2". The call sign LFT originally stood for Lifeline Family Television after Bethany's flagship program and was later extended to mean Louisiana Family Television.
In 2002, WLFT converted to all-religious programming and Pax was moved to cable channel 14 (now on 70), as a direct network feed.
In November 2002, WLFT-CA launched its new 500-foot (150 m) tower, allowing the station to increase its signal strength and reach more homes in communities like Hammond, Gonzales, New Roads and St. Francisville. In fall 2005, WLFT-CA would relocate from channel 52 (where the signal wasn't as strong) to channel 30.
In July 2011, the station converted to digital and began to carry programming from MeTV during the late-afternoon through early morning hours. During daytime hours the station broadcast religious programming. In the fall of 2011, the station launched a second HD subchannel, 30.2, which carried MeTV's entire lineup. WLFT launched a third subchannel on October 3, 2012, which carried The Country Network (present-day Zuus Country). One year later, on October 2, 2013, Zuus Country was removed in favor of TV Scout. TV Scout was removed in July 2014 in favor of GetTV. In August 2013, the station added the African-American centered Soul of the South Network to its fourth subchannel. On September 14, 2016, WLFT brought Antenna TV programming to Baton Rouge on channel 30.4.
Cox cable only carries channel 30.1 in its digital cable lineup; the additional subchannels (including MeTV's full feed) are not available on cable.
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed: