It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to TBD outlet KXVO (channel 15) under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Mitts Telecasting Company.

Both stations share studios on Farnam Street in Omaha, while KPTM's transmitter is located on Pflug Road, south of Gretna and I-80.

While KPTM aired a 9 p.m. newscast for more than 30 years, a major attempt at expansion in the late 1990s was rolled back for economic reasons less than 18 months later, and for the last decade, the news programs were presented by talent outside the Omaha market.

Pappas Telecasting began conducting community surveys in February 1979 with an eye to establishing a station on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 15 in Omaha; the company also leased the building at 2615 Farnam Street, recently vacated by KMTV.

[5] Pappas was selected over Christian Broadcasting by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a construction permit in 1984 and announced its plans to put channel 42 on the air by October 1985.

At the time, The Tonight Show was hosted by Johnny Carson, a native of nearby Corning, Iowa, who spent his youth in Norfolk, Nebraska, and had begun his career at Omaha's WOW-TV in the early 1950s.

Station manager Gary Nielsen told the Lincoln Journal Star, "Why would you program Joan Rivers in Johnny Carson's hometown?

"[11] In the July 1986 Arbitron ratings, KPTM was the highest-rated independent station in the country in prime time and the third-highest in total-day audience share.

[12] Pappas expanded its programming in the Omaha market when it began operating the new KXVO (channel 15) in 1995; the station, owned by Cocola Broadcasting, was an affiliate of The WB.

[23] Protter was familiar with news on independent stations, having supervised newsrooms at KPLR-TV in St. Louis, KRBK-TV in Sacramento, and WVTV in Milwaukee.

[31] In a 2011 interview with Broadcasting & Cable, general manager Jeff Miller credited the outsourcing to INN with allowing KPTM to "stay in the news game".