Coral's earlier attempts to build the transmitter on one of the upper Florida Keys failed to materialize, and the station began broadcasting in September 1967 from a tower in Homestead.

Even though over-the-air reception proved difficult in much of Broward County, WCIX-TV largely thrived as an independent station, and later the market's first Fox affiliate, under General Cinema Corporation and Taft Broadcasting ownership and featured a nightly 10 p.m. newscast.

[11] A tentative decision was recommended by a hearing examiner in September 1960 and announced in March 1961, favoring South Florida Amusement on the grounds that it had greater experience in broadcasting.

[14] While the FCC initially did not admit the evidence, the uncovering of new data led the commission to reopen the record in the first week of 1962, with new charges that letters from Buffalo civic leaders supporting the addition of VHF stations there had been forged.

[15] Despite the initial nod and after being cleared of allegations of wrongdoing, Grossman was allowed to withdraw from contention in November 1963, paving the way for the other applicant, Coral Television Company, to receive the construction permit on May 1, 1964.

[19][18] The Florida Cabinet agreed in December 1964 to lend Coral the land to erect a 1,546-foot (471 m) tower, with the company hoping that the site 214.8 miles (345.7 km) from WDBO-TV would receive an FCC waiver.

[30] In March 1967, the station began moving into its first studio facility: a round, midcentury structure at 1111 Brickell Avenue which had previously been built as a law office.

[46][47] The channel 33 translator was shut down in early 1984 to allow WBFS-TV to sign on;[48] as a result, WCIX lost significant circulation in Palm Beach County.

[69] However, the station's first attempt to locate in West Dade was rebuffed because of its proximity to a nearby elementary school, and county officials also rejected a proposal to add height to the tower as a possible safety risk.

[70] A studio site at NW 18th Terrace was selected, and WCIX moved to the West Dade facility in September 1985;[71] the 1111 Brickell building was then demolished in July 1988.

[72] WCIX also upgraded its transmissions, becoming South Florida's first commercial TV station to broadcast in stereo in June 1985[73] and one of the first in the United States to offer Spanish-language audio for selected programs (including newscasts) later that year.

Wometco Enterprises, parent of CBS affiliate WTVJ, was taken private in a 1983 leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR),[77][78] which also purchased Storer Communications in 1985.

[76] WTVJ general manager Alan Perris later claimed that Tisch objected to Lorimar—who produced Dallas, Knots Landing, and Falcon Crest for the network[86]—wanting to purchase a significant portion of the affiliate base and threatened to disaffiliate all of the CBS stations in the deal.

[88] KKR then offered WTVJ to both Capital Cities/ABC Inc. and NBC parent company General Electric[76] under the belief a competing network would not have their bids affected by a CBS disaffiliation threat,[87] internally referred to as "that Channel 6 card".

[88] ABC declined the offer, but rumblings of interest in the station by NBC quickly emerged;[84] negotiations were purposefully kept hidden over the next few weeks in an effort to prevent Laurence Tisch from knowing anything in advance.

[99] Ed Ansin, president of WSVN owner Sunbeam Television, contested NBC's purchase of WTVJ up to the point it was approved by the FCC in September 1987.

[106] Ansin made arrangements to fly to New York City on April 26 to sign a CBS contract at Black Rock when Malara called off the meeting, citing that they were reaching out to other parties regarding a purchase or affiliation.

[108] The company was to pay Salomon Brothers $200 million on January 1, 1988, and missed the first payment deadline, having been unable to lure investors to its junk bonds even before Black Monday.

To resolve the problem that had discouraged CBS in its first look at WCIX-TV, the network began analyzing executing a second affiliation switch in the West Palm Beach market to ensure continued coverage in Broward.

[124][125] While the affiliation switches officially took effect at 3 a.m. on January 1, 1989,[126] WCIX carried CBS's Happy New Year, America directly after their final night of Fox programming.

CBS continued to operate a local telephone number for any home reception issues into the summer of 1989, employed a director of cable and viewer relations for WCIX, and offered installation of dual-pointed antennas for $90 through a marketing tie-in with Sears.

[140] While this incidentally improved reception in Broward, the FCC would not permit a permanent relocation of channel 6 to this site because of short-spacing to Orlando, forcing CBS to begin planning to rebuild at Homestead even though some homeowners there feared the tower could fall on homes in another storm.

[141] The Homestead tower was rebuilt and reactivated in June 1994;[142][143] the new mast cost $5 million and was designed to handle winds of 145 miles per hour (233 km/h), greater than Andrew's maximum velocity.

[179] Klaas was replaced by Barbara Sloan, who had been anchoring on WFBC-TV in Greenville, South Carolina, and was spotted by news director Dick Descutner on someone else's audition tape.

[204] In the station's final two years as WCIX, a highly touted approach to news coverage garnered national attention and was copied in other markets but failed to attract ratings.

[210] News director Sue Kawalerski, who implemented the idea, unexpectedly left in June 1995,[211][212] and the format was dropped alongside the move to channel 4 that September.

[216] The station also received a news helicopter, "Chopper 4"; its zoom camera, one of only a handful in the United States, provided unique images of the recovery of the black box of ValuJet Flight 592 from the Florida Everglades in May 1996, and it was also used in police rescue efforts.

[219] As part of an overhaul that included a new news director (formerly of WSVN) and a new main anchor team, the station got a new look with more tropical colors—Mauldin derided the last look as one that could have been used in Dayton, Ohio—and newscast music with a salsa beat.

[223] In 2010, WFOR-TV began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition as part of an overhaul of the station's on-air news presentation, including a new logo.

[230] WFOR continues to be a solid performer in a close market; in February 2022, it led all English-language TV stations in 11 p.m. news ratings (though far behind WLTV and WSCV).