The station was operated by a company known as Missionary Radio Evangelism, Inc. (MRE), led by Pete Warren and Alex Blomerth, and began to telecast seven days a week on cable channel 8 in 1974.

[5] On May 24, 1976, Missionary Radio Evangelism filed a formal application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a channel 14 construction permit, which was granted on December 23.

In March 1978, the station signed a lease for a tower in the Franklin Mountains owned by John Walton, who had recently sold off KELP-TV (renamed KVIA-TV) without the transmitter site.

[8] After dealing with a six-week setback due to an antenna that, once installed, was found to be damaged and had to be sent back to the factory for repairs,[9] construction was complete by July 1979,[10] and ICT's cable channel 8 was officially subsumed by the new KCIK ("Christ is King") on August 1, 1979.

By 1981, Missionary Radio Evangelism was facing financial troubles, citing poor local support, and courting buyers for the television station.

Rock Church, a ministry based in Virginia which had a national program on the Christian Broadcasting Network, entered into negotiations to purchase channel 14.

It sought to run the station with a bilingual Christian lineup to reach viewers in El Paso and across the Mexican border in Ciudad Juárez.

[14] However, KCIK's board soon realized this was a mistake because it represented a premature transfer of control to Rock Church without an application, forbidden by the FCC, and he resigned within hours of his appointment.

[15] Missionary Radio Evangelism, still facing indebtedness and what it termed as "cash flow difficulties", continued to find a buyer,[16] and the De Rance Foundation, a Catholic organization from Milwaukee, acquired 20 percent of KCIK in 1982 with an option to purchase the rest.

[19] After a shift in strategy to further deemphasize religious programs,[20] in 1986, KCIK-TV signed up as a charter affiliate of Fox,[21] an arrangement its general manager called a "no-lose situation".

[30] As part of the SAFER Act, KFOX-TV kept its analog signal on the air until July 12 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.

[38] Work occurred through 1997 on ordering new equipment, building a newsroom, and hiring talent;[39] KFOX News at Nine, an hour long on weeknights and 30 minutes on weekends, debuted on September 15, 1997, as the market's first prime time local newscast.