When the firm abandoned its plans to build the station in late August, it cited concerns that Tucson would not be a viable market for three commercial TV stations—KOPO-TV and KVOA having been constructed in the intervening months—and that it could not offer "minimum worthwhile public service to the viewers".

[10] KDWI-TV began telecasting June 3, 1956, from studios on North 6th Avenue; it originally lacked network affiliation, subsisting entirely on movies.

[14] The call letters were changed to KGUN-TV on March 14,[7] when the station joined ABC, bringing the full network lineup to southern Arizona for the first time.

[21] Garrett sold the station in 1961 to a group headed by Cincinnati meatpacker Henry S. Hilberg and Edwin G. Richter of Evansville, Indiana, who owned WEHT in that city.

[28] In 2005, Emmis began the liquidation of its television properties, selling KGUN to the Milwaukee-based Journal Broadcast Group, which already owned four radio stations in Tucson; the transfer was part of a $235 million transaction which included KMTV and WFTX-TV in Fort Myers, Florida.

[29] On March 18, 2008, Journal announced plans to buy CW affiliate KWBA-TV from Cascade Broadcasting Group on undisclosed terms, creating a duopoly with KGUN-TV.

To make the purchase, Journal had to apply for a failing station waiver; even though Tucson had too few commercial station owners to normally permit another duopoly, it presented financial statements showing it had lost money for three years straight, a situation exacerbated by the loss of Arizona Diamondbacks baseball rights, and pledged to start a local newscast from KGUN-TV for air on KWBA-TV.

[38] The station's reporting on an investigation into a sheriff's deputy resulted in threats being made to KGUN and Stevens;[39] after five years, she was hired as a producer at KABC-TV in Los Angeles.

[46] The station's signal is multiplexed: The main channel is also simulcast from the KWBA-TV transmitter as an aid to reception in parts of the market, particularly to the south of Tucson.

[52] Beginning with the 2024–25 NHL season, select Utah Hockey Club and Vegas Golden Knights games air on KGUN's Antenna TV subchannel—as with KNXV-TV in Phoenix—during conflicts with sister station KWBA-TV.

This facility, which originally operated on channel 77, was established for the benefit of viewers in the Catalina Foothills, who are shaded from the Mount Bigelow transmitter by terrain.