A
construction permit to construct a low-power television station on
UHF channel 26 in Casper was granted on June 15, 1995,[4] and issued the call sign K26ES.[5] Original owner Charles W. Swaner sold K26ES to Wyomedia Corporation on September 15, 1997;[6] the new owners applied for a license to cover on October 29, 1997, and was granted it on January 28, 1998.[7] Initially, K26ES served as a
translator of
KLWY in
Cheyenne; this brought
Fox programming to Casper, along with a secondary affiliation with
UPN. The station, by then referring to itself as "KWYF," began producing a 9 p.m. newscast on November 3, 2003.[8] On March 8, 2004, K26ES became a full-time UPN affiliate after Fox programming was moved to KFNB; for a time after this change, the station also carried some programming from
Pax.[9] Wyomedia also transferred K26ES' newscast to KFNB.[9] When UPN and
The WB closed to form The CW in 2006, K26ES became the new network's Casper affiliate.[10]
On March 27, 2012, Wyomedia was granted a construction permit[11] for a digital companion channel for K26ES to operate on channel 27;[12] this facility was issued the call sign K27LZ-D.[13] K27LZ-D filed for its license to cover on June 15, 2012[14] and was granted it on July 16;[15] on June 13, 2013, the call letters were changed to KWYF-LD.[13] The analog K26ES license remained active until September 12, 2014, when it was canceled by the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[16]
On January 26, 2015, KWYF became a
MeTV affiliate.[17] In addition to airing programing from MeTV, it also airs programing from
MyNetworkTV from 7pm-9pm weeknights.[18]
Wyomedia Corporation agreed to sell its stations, including KWYF-LD, to Legacy Broadcasting on February 8, 2018.[19] The sale was canceled on October 2, 2018.[20]
On October 8, 2019, Wyomedia announced that it would sell its stations to Front Range Television, a subsidiary of Coastal Television Broadcasting Company (run by Bill Fielder). This sale was concurrent with Coastal's purchase of KFNB, the sale of KTWO-TV to Vision Alaska, LLC, and the sale of KGWC-TV to Big Horn Television.[21] The sale was completed on June 1, 2020.[22]