About KWCH

On July 24, 1957, the station went on the air as KTVC. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) concluded in 1962 that central and western Kansas were included in the Wichita market. As a consequence, Cowles Communications of Des Moines purchased KTVC, KAYS-TV (now KBSH-DT) in Hays, and KLOE-TV (now KBSL-DT) in Goodland and converted them into semi-satellites of KTVH. The three stations, which constituted the Kansas Broadcasting System with flagship station KTVH, carried CBS programs throughout central and western Kansas.

The Cowles family began selling up their massive media interests in 1983. KTVH and its sister stations were sold to the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation, which was controlled by Ross Beach and Bob Schmidt, two Hays businessmen. Smith Broadcasting purchased the Kansas Broadcasting System Corporation in 1989; following the sale, the station changed its call letters to KBSD-TV, as part of an effort that saw KWCH's three semi-satellites change their call letters to help viewers think of the stations as part of one large network. In 1994, Smith sold the station to Spartan Communications of Spartanburg, South Carolina. In the year 2000, Spartan joined with Media General. KWCH began running a digital automation system from its Wichita studio facility in 2005, which managed advertisement scheduling and master control operations for all four KBS stations.

As a result of its purchase of four former NBC owned-and-operated stations, Media General stated on April 6, 2006, that it would sell KWCH, its satellites, and four additional stations (WVTM-TV in Birmingham, WCMH in Columbus, Ohio, WNCN in Goldsboro, North Carolina and WJAR-TV in Providence). Schurz, located in South Bend, Indiana, finally won and assumed possession of the stations on September 25, at which point Schurz founded a new corporation called "Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc.," which became the licensee for its Kansas broadcasting holdings.

On September 14, 2015, Schurz announced its intention to depart broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KWCH-DT and its satellites, to Gray Television for $442.5 million. Gray previously had KAKE and its satellites (including KUPK channel 13), but it sold it to Lockwood Broadcast Group while keeping the KBS stations. The transaction was finalized on February 16, 2016.