stations WGMB and WBRL. On July 1, 2015, then-sister stations KADN and KLAF-LD launched NBC on 15.2 and 46.1 with a partial simulcast of WVLA. Cox Communications dropped WVLA from its Lafayette regional lineup and replaced it with KLAF as WVLA programming will be on the channel until January 2016. In June 2015, Nexstar relaunched WVLA and WGMB's website under one banner, www.brproud.com, and in September 2015, Nexstar upgraded the station's news set, hired additional talent, and began broadcasting newscasts in high definition. When the upgrades were completed, the station rebranded itself as Local 33 and adopted the news theme "Evolution" in place of "The Rock," similar to sister NBC affiliates KTAL-TV in Shreveport and KTVE in Monroe/El Dorado. In October 2016, WVLA celebrated their 45th anniversary of its original airdate. On December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets of Chicago-based Tribune Media for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. The deal—which would make Nexstar the largest television station operator by total number of stations upon its expected closure late in the third quarter of 2019—would give the WVLA/WGMB/WBRL/KZUP virtual quadropoly sister stations in Tribune's legal duopoly of ABC affiliate WGNO and CW affiliate WNOL-TV in New Orleans. Programming Syndicated programming on WVLA-TV includes Maury, Rachael Ray, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Drew Barrymore Show, Judge Judy and Entertainment Tonight. In mid-September 1983, the station received national attention when it pulled Late Night with David Letterman and replaced it with All in the Family reruns due to poor ratings. After 3,500 LSU students presented Vetter with a petition to bring the show back to Baton Rouge, Vetter told them he would only reinstate Letterman if every student maintained at least a C average for the fall semester. Other Baton Rougeans, including then-Secretary of State Jim Brown, lobbied WRBT to keep Letterman on the air, and this compelled Vetter to reinstate the program by late September. Eventually, many residents of New Orleans tuned to WRBT to watch Letterman when NBC affiliate WDSU preempted the show in favor of Thicke of the Night. Cox Cable also provided WRBT's feed of Late Night as an interim solution for their subscribers. In 1992, WVLA canceled Letterman for a second time, again citing poor ratings, and replaced it with Rush Limbaugh's talk show. The station, however, aired Late Night with Conan O'Brien when it premiered the next year. News operation WVLA used