The station signed on the air in 1999 as a WZUP-13, a UPN affiliate available only on cable. It was the second UPN affiliate in the Baton Rouge area. When the station went over the air on November 26, 2002, it changed its call sign to KZUP-19—originally it was going to air on channel 21 and WB affiliate WBRL-CA was on channel 19, but this assignment was short-lived. Channel 19 was once used as a translator station for local station and original UPN affiliate WBTR, and when KZUP went on the air, WBTR moved to previously-unused channel 41. It became an independent station after losing UPN to Raycom Media's WBXH-CA in 2003. As an independent, it called itself "Z-19," and it primarily aired African-American-oriented programming like Good Times, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and The Jeffersons. For brief periods in 2005, KZUP was used to air WVLA and WGMB programming when those two stations were converting to high-definition programming. KZUP became an affiliate of the Retro Television Network on September 15, 2008. In 2012 White Knight Broadcasting dropped RTN and resumed carrying syndicated programming. On April 24, 2013, Communications Corporation of America announced the sale of its entire group to Nexstar Broadcasting Group. WVLA and KZUP were to be sold to Mission Broadcasting, but on August 13, 2014, Mission withdrew its application. The sale was completed on January 1, 2015. Nexstar would continue to operate WVLA and KZUP under a shared services agreement, with sister stations WGMB and WBRL. KZUP was the official station of the Southern University athletic department. On January 4, 2016, Nexstar agreed to exercise its option to purchase KZUP-CD. Nexstar also decided to enter KZUP-CD into the FCC's broadcast incentive auction, but the station's spectrum was never sold. The sale was approved by the FCC on February 19 and completed on March 17. 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 KZUP/WBRL/WGMB/WVLA virtual quadropoly sister stations in Tribune's legal duopoly of ABC affiliate WGNO and CW affiliate WNOL-TV in New Orleans.
Digital channel
Programming
Syndicated programming on KZUP-CD includes Family Guy, Seinfeld, America's Court with Judge Ross, Supreme Justice with Judge Karen, The Simpsons and Cheaters, among others. The station is known for its afternoon court block, which airs from 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. each weekday. KZUP also reairs WVLA's 10 p.m. newscast at 11 p.m.
