As early as 1963, a year before KRWG (90.7 FM) began broadcasting,[1] New Mexico State University (NMSU) considered establishing a public television station using the channel 12 allotment at Hatch.

[11] While construction on the transmitter facility was completed by December 1972, a shortage of engineers and delays in equipment installation kept the station from debuting for several months.

[6] KRWG-TV began broadcasting on June 29, 1973; the first weekend on air featured a local talent marathon to dedicate the new station.

[12] It was the first UHF station on the air between Tucson, Arizona, and Lubbock, Texas,[7] and it was the closest public television station to El Paso until KCOS began in 1978; the cable system in El Paso continued to carry KRWG-TV but dropped KNME-TV from Albuquerque when KCOS debuted.

[14] Harvey Jacobs, head of the NMSU Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, envisioned KRWG-TV as a source of New Mexico–centric news and information for Las Cruces.

[18][19] When the newscast was threatened by budget cuts in 1997, students and professors expressed a willingness to donate time and money to keep the program on the air.

[19] Alumni of the NMSU journalism program that worked on News22 while students at the university include Gadi Schwartz, correspondent for NBC News.

[24] The Antelope Wells and Jacks Peak translators were authorized by the FCC in 2023 on a waiver to use money budgeted by the New Mexico state government.