Central Wyoming College, which already had a radio and television instruction program, moved forward with building its own station.

Over the succeeding decades, KCWC-TV's signal slowly expanded by way of translators in the rest of Wyoming, in conjunction with the state's cable providers; at times, more ambitious expansion plans were curtailed by budget cuts.

As early as 1951, the university was interested in filing to use the channel, but it had to wait for Wyoming's biennial legislature to convene in 1953 to give it permission.

That station's principal owner, Tracy McCraken, was one of the university's trustees, stifling any hope for a legislative appropriation.

[7] Hansen's successor, Stan Hathaway, signed a law in February 1967 establishing an educational television commission,[8] but legislators that year rejected a funding proposal.

[1]: 40  The head of the commission gave a 1971 target date for initiating broadcasts, contingent on approval of the governor and the 1969 Wyoming Legislature.

[13] Central Wyoming College (CWC) was formed at Riverton in 1968, and its initial curriculum included radio and television instruction, one of two such programs in the state.

[1]: 44  In spite of an earlier denial, the college received permission from the United States Forest Service to locate the transmitter on Limestone Mountain.

In 1981, Casper College had started a broadcast translator for KRMA-TV from Denver on channel 6,[24] which switched to rebroadcasting KCWC-TV in 1987.

[25] Even then, Casper's TCI cable system continued to carry KRMA-TV and did not add KCWC to its offerings until December 1992.

[29] After a 1993 effort to fund statewide expansion and build a full-power TV transmitter in southeast Wyoming was scrapped in light of a budget deficit, Wyoming Public Television increased its statewide coverage beginning in 1994 by way of agreements with TCI and KTWO-TV, appearing on cable systems in Cheyenne, Laramie, Green River, and Rock Springs.

[30] Wyoming Public Television survived an attempt to cut all state funding in 1999, which would have reduced its budget by a third.

[31][32] Wyoming PBS's endowment was created in 2008 and made permanent by state legislators in 2015, providing annual interest payments to fund local production.

[34] In November 2004, it began broadcasting higher-power analog signals over-the-air to Laramie and Cheyenne with the launch of KWYP on channel 8.

[21][40] In 2009, the station supported proposed legislation that would have modified rules to allow Wyoming PBS to be made available to in-state viewers in the other designated market areas.