from Tyler, Texas. On July 5, 2010, WVLA began broadcasting their newscasts in 16:9 standard-definition widescreen. In August 2011, WVLA expanded its weekday morning newscast, now running from 5 to 7 a.m., then less than a month later on September 12, WVLA launched a half-hour weeknight newscast at 6:30 p.m. WVLA-TV's newscasts began to be simulcast on Lafayette sister station KLAF-LD when that station joined NBC on July 1, 2015; the arrangement lasted until KLAF launched its own newscasts on April 1, 2016. On September 8, 2015, on-air personality Derek Myers was fired from WVLA-TV after asking Senator David Vitter, who was running for governor, about an allegation that the elected official frequented prostitutes. After Myers asked the question, Vitter's campaign pulled hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in advertising from the NBC station in an attempt to silence the story. Vitter admitted to the prostitution allegations as part of the "DC Madam" scandal, and the scandal became a game-changer in the race for the Governor's mansion. The Senator went on to lose the run-off election by more than 12%, with the history of prostitution allegations being cited as the main reason for his downfall. On September 21, 2015, WVLA changed its branding to Local 33 News, matching the trend of several of its sister stations. The station also debuted a new set, graphics, and began broadcasting news in high definition and moved its 6:30 p.m. newscast back to 6:00 p.m. Notable former on-air staff Isiah Carey – news reporter, now at KRIV in Houston Fred Hickman – news anchor, most recently at Black News Channel Technical information Subchannels The station's digital signal is multiplexed: WVLA had carried NBC Weather Plus as channel 33.2, a digital subchannel, before that network ceased national operation on December 1, 2008. From 2008 until September 2012, the subchannel carried This TV before WVLA lost the affiliation to WBTR, a sister station to rival WBRZ. Channel 33.2 then began airing weather forecasts and rebroadcasts of NBC 33 News under the title "NBC 33 Always On," before going off the air in January 2015, shortly after Nexstar management took over. The subchannel remained dark until late August 2016 when it was reactivated to carry programming from Laff due to an extensive deal between Nexstar and Katz Broadcasting to carry its diginets. On October 28, 2017, WVLA added Ion Television to its third channel, bringing the network over the air