On October 20, 1988, it moved to UHF channel 19. From the start, the station had trouble getting added to the Baton Rouge cable lineup due to its low-power status. To improve its reach, it retransmitted its signal on various translator stations; namely, K07UJ, K13VE, W19AW, W39AT, and K65EF. On May 15, 1989, Cablevision added the station to its lineup. The station changed its call letters to KBTR-CA on February 1, 1991 in order to emphasize its local programming and started branding itself using the melody of the Steely Dan song "Hey Nineteen" for its station ids. In January 1995, it became Baton Rouge's first UPN affiliate; it also carried programming from the All News Channel overnight in the early-to-mid 1990s. While affiliated with UPN, KBTR continued to use W39AT and K65EF as translators, while K07UJ and K13VE were used as translators for Jenkins's other station in Baton Rouge: WTNC, which was a short-lived 24-hour news channel serving the capital city.