Master control and most internal operations are based at the studios of sister station KWSU-TV (channel 10) in the Murrow Communications Center on WSU's main campus in Pullman.
Except for local cable viewers, who received KCTS-TV from Seattle,[2] the Tri-Cities area was unserved by educational television, though plans first emerged for a translator service in 1962.
[10] The construction permit for KTNW was granted in January 1986, though the university dropped full studio plans in favor of relocating its mobile production unit from Pullman to Richland.
[12] KWSU hoped that the new market would also assist the Pullman station by providing a major increase in viewership; at the time, it could not afford to air some PBS programs or produce many local shows.
[14] After major grants totaling $75,000 from Battelle Northwest and Kaiser Engineers Hanford helped push the campaign to its goal,[15] construction began that summer.