KUHM-TV's transmitter is located on Hogback Mountain; master control and internal operations are based at the network's headquarters in the Visual Communications Building on the MSU campus in Bozeman.

The station was originally granted its construction permit on July 23, 1996;[2] on September 16, it was assigned the call letters KAQR.

[13] From October 13, 1999, until August 15, 2005, Sunbelt Communications Company (now known as Intermountain West Communications Company), owner of NBC affiliate KTVH (channel 12), programmed KMTF under a time brokerage agreement;[14][15] the agreement had been assigned to Sunbelt by Meridian, who had operated KMTF since its 1998 launch.

[17] On July 1, 2015, Gray announced that it would sell KTVH to Cordillera Communications, which owns CBS affiliate KXLH-LD (channel 9).

[18] Montana State University changed the station's call letters to KUHM-TV on September 1, 2015, after the donation was completed.