In 1980, it began regional expansion to the rest of southern Minnesota; with a profusion of cable systems adding the station on different channel numbers, it changed its call sign to KSMQ-TV in 1984.

[3] The station was connected to PBS in 1974 and began year-round and evening operation to comply with new requirements from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting stipulating minimum output.

In addition to educational television for local schools,[4] the station began offering University of Minnesota Extension telecourses.

[7] In 1980, the Austin school board approved the construction of a new, 428-foot (130 m) tower near the institute to expand KAVT-TV's coverage to areas including Rochester and Blue Earth, receiving a federal grant to pay for part of the project.

[23] On the early morning of September 5, 2012, the tower housing the studio transmitter link connecting the KSMQ-TV studio to the Ostrander tower collapsed due to straight-line winds as severe thunderstorms moved through the Austin area, partially falling onto a building that housed the station's power equipment.

[24] The station set up alternate facilities the following evening by installing a microwave dish atop its studios and manually redirecting it at its transmitter near Grand Meadow.

[25] After a two-year dispute, KSMQ and Hanover Insurance—which had maintained the tower collapse was caused by a loose anchor and not the winds and thus denied the claim—reached a settlement in 2014.

This would enable it to move out of Riverland Community College, where it had been occupying a former woodworking shop in a low-visibility location; props were being stored in trailers for lack of room; and staffers had to exit the KSMQ area to access restrooms.

Olson departed the station in 2023, after which an audit found that he had spent $49,000 on a KSMQ credit card between 2021 and 2022 but mostly lacked receipts to verify the purchases.