The two stations share studios on Shawnee Mission Parkway in Fairway, Kansas; KSMO-TV's transmitter is located in Independence, Missouri.

Originally owned by Media Central of Chattanooga, Tennessee, it suffered for most of its first decade on air from a management style more suited to stations in smaller markets, inferior programming, and a poor reputation.

The relaunched channel 62 cemented itself as the primary sports and children's station in Kansas City; from 1990 to 1995, viewership tripled and advertising revenue quadrupled.

The station affiliated with MyNetworkTV upon the merger of UPN and The WB into The CW in 2006, and it also added newscasts from KCTV and other local programming to its lineup.

After reaching a settlement with Buford that gave it the right to buy stock in SelecTV of Kansas City,[5] that company was granted the construction permit on April 8, 1981, but channel 62 continued to sit unbuilt for more than two years.

[7] Choice Channel of Kansas City then took on a new majority investor: Media Central Inc. of Chattanooga, Tennessee, which purchased a 60 percent interest in the station in February 1983.

[8] With Media Central on board, consideration of STV service was dropped and an agreement reached to co-locate its transmitting facility with public television station KCPT.

[10] However, its construction methods ultimately resulted in subpar equipment and poorer reception; at one time, the station volunteered to send repairmen to homes experiencing difficulty tuning it in.

Programming consisted primarily of classic reruns, as well as a handful of first-run and new shows in the Kansas City area and Big Eight Conference college basketball.

[19] The new call sign did attract attention—from KCTV, the Kansas City CBS affiliate, which sued channel 62 a month after it made the change, citing a potential likelihood of confusion.

[24] One way the station tried to attract interest was its policy to only edit films where there were explicit sexual acts, leading to occasional shots of nudity.

[29][30] Media Central chairman Morton Kent called the fine "outrageous" and declared to Dennis McDougal of the Los Angeles Times that he would not pay.

[34] The station's front office urged general manager Friedheim to barter advertising for goods and services wherever possible to save money.

[37] While that went on, Steve Engles—who then left when his bid to purchase Media Central-owned KBSI in Cape Girardeau was approved—improved KZKC's programming, signal, and on-air look.

[38] On February 7, 1990, a subsidiary of First American National Bank received KZKC's license,[39] with Act III taking over management duties.

[42] Even before the sale closed, the station aimed to prepare for a major overhaul and to capitalize on KSHB-TV, its primary competitor, having an increasing obligation to Fox programs.

[47][48] The outgoing KZKC call sign was labeled by Jim McDonald as "probably the worst call letters that any station in America could have chosen", being tough to say and hard to remember to the point that some people noted in Nielsen Media Research ratings diaries that they had watched programs which channel 62 carried but ascribed them to other local stations.

[49] In its last year, WDAF-TV had especially strained to juggle the Royals and NBC programming: Johnny Carson's final nights of The Tonight Show and several NBA playoff games in 1992 were seen on a tape-delayed basis to accommodate baseball telecasts.

[51] The changes paid off: in 1993, twice as many Kansas City TV viewers watched KSMO-TV for more than 15 minutes per month than had done so just three years prior.

[55] This also left syndicators of children's TV shows desperate for their programs to air in Kansas City to have to accept less-than-ideal time slots for their programs: general manager Jim McDonald was offered $100,000 in advertising support to place a children's show on KSMO-TV's schedule before 6 a.m., and he described the challenge of accommodating Fox Kids, The Disney Afternoon, and the forthcoming UPN Kids as "fit[ting] so many ten-pound turnips into a five-pound sack".

[70] In the early 2000s, Sinclair laid the groundwork to introduce what would have been KSMO-TV's first local newscast, utilizing its News Central hybrid format.

[78] On the grounds that KSMO-TV's revenue and market share had steadily declined in the preceding five years,[77] the commission granted the waiver in September 2005, approving the transaction.

[85] In the late 2000s and early 2010s, KSMO experimented with a variety of local programs, including TeenStar, a weekly teen show co-produced with The Kansas City Star; weekly public affairs show Your Kansas City; bilingual Hispanic program Qué Pasa KC; film showcase CinemaKC; and high school football and Missouri Valley Conference and Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association college sports.

[87] On May 3, 2021, Gray Television announced its intent to purchase the Meredith Local Media division, including KSMO and KCTV, for $2.7 billion.

[72] Meredith, however, pledged to extend KCTV's newsroom to KSMO-TV as part of its proposal to win the FCC waiver it needed to purchase the station.