The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios on McDonald Court in the unincorporated community of Socastee (but with a Myrtle Beach postal address); its transmitter is located near Dillon, South Carolina (across from the tower of ABC affiliate WPDE-TV, channel 15).

The station went on the air on October 18, 1954, on VHF channel 8 from a transmitter at its original studios on TV Road in the Back Swamp section north of the town of Quinby (though with a Florence address).

It was owned by Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company (later becoming Jefferson-Pilot, now part of Lincoln Financial Group).

During WBTW ownership by the Shott family, the station often used local radio personalities to deliver news, sports and weather.

The station has always been a CBS affiliate, but carried some ABC shows until WPDE-TV (channel 15) signed-on in 1980.

The Shotts sold most of their media holdings in 1984, with their two remaining television stations, WBTW and KIMT in Mason City, Iowa, going to Spartanburg-based Spartan Radiocasting Corporation (later Spartan Communications), the founding owners of fellow CBS affiliate WSPA-TV.

However, WBTW still served some parts of the Wilmington area that did not receive the low-powered WILM signal over-the-air or on cable.

On January 27, 2016, Media General announced that it had entered into a definite agreement to be acquired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group for $4.6 billion.

The combined company would be called Nexstar Media Group and own 171 stations (including WBTW).

This is in part because it was the only station in the market for a quarter-century; until WPDE signed on in 1980, viewers had to rely on cable to get programming from the other networks.

It is the only station that covers the entire market equally; WPDE and NBC affiliate WMBF-TV have largely focused on the Grand Strand in recent years.

During August 2007, WBTW became the second station in the market to move most of its operations to new studios in Myrtle Beach.

In 2013, WBTW became the second station in the market (after NBC affiliate WMBF, which signed on in HD) to broadcast its newscasts in high definition.

This left ABC affiliate WPDE as the last local news station to still broadcast in enhanced digital widescreen (until 2015).