In 1963, the LAUSD began the application process to acquire a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and launch its own full-service television station on UHF channel 58.

In the summer of that year, advocates for the LAUSD testified before the FCC on the benefits of an instructional television station for students, staff and the local community.

Five years later, on March 3, 1972, the FCC granted the district a license to broadcast on channel 58, and the new station signed on the air on November 5, 1973, as KLCS, the call letters an apparent acronym for "Los Angeles City Schools".

[2] The station presently produces more than 700 hours of educational, informational, sports and entertainment programming a year, including live telecourse instruction from the California State University system.

However, its website lists special premiums and discounts given to subscribers who support the station at various levels, including recognition on-air and in KLCS' monthly viewer magazine.

Partnering with the Idea To Reality development team, Saul Davis and Joe Regis, KLCS debuted new station IDs in 2015 featuring Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Bill Nye, Mark Wahlberg, Moby, Flea, and Joaquin Phoenix, as well as new station taglines including "Live Learn Love LA" and "TV's Force For Good".

An FCC spokesperson stated that channel sharing would allow broadcasters to "[take] advantage of the incentive auction's once-in-a-lifetime financial opportunity", while still maintaining its ability to run over-the-air television programming.

[14][15] The experiment, which occurred in March 2014, was deemed successful, although certain scenarios (particularly two HD feeds on both channels) were found to affect video quality on more complex content.

[16][17] On September 10, 2014, KLCS announced that, following negotiations with KCETLink, the owner of educational independent and former PBS station KCET, it would partake in a channel-sharing arrangement and sell its existing spectrum during the incentive auction.