It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to MyNetworkTV affiliate WSTR-TV (channel 64) under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Deerfield Media.

The two stations share studios on Highland Avenue in the Mount Auburn section of Cincinnati, where WKRC-TV's transmitter is also located.

WKRC-TV first signed on the air on April 4, 1949, originally operating as a CBS affiliate on VHF channel 11; it is Cincinnati's second-oldest television station, but the first to receive an FCC license.

In 1958, the Tafts sold the Times-Star to the locally based rival E. W. Scripps Company, owner of The Cincinnati Post and WCPO-AM-FM-TV.

[3] Following the release of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s Sixth Report and Order, WKRC-TV moved to channel 12 on October 12, 1952.

On January 11, 1954, The Wendy Barrie Show premiered from the studios of WHIO-TV in Dayton, simulcast on Taft Broadcasting's WKRC-TV in Cincinnati and WTVN (now WSYX) in Columbus.

The upbeat, orchestrated "Channel 12" jingle was followed by children's show host Glenn Ryle announcing: "This is WKRC-TV Cincinnati".

[8][9] Electra's manufacturer, Zenith Electronics, marketed the service with a mobile demonstration van at locations around the city to promote sales of its decoder.

[9] David Klein, the media critic for The Cincinnati Post, wrote a negative review of the service, noting slow loading time, unengaging content, and primitive graphics.

[11] In 1987, Taft was dissolved in a hostile takeover of its board and all of its stations (except WTVN-TV in Columbus and WGHP-TV in High Point, North Carolina) were absorbed into Great American Broadcasting.

[citation needed] In September 1996, WKRC was acquired by Jacor after most of Citicasters' other television stations were sold to New World Communications, which had become involved in an affiliation deal with Fox that was announced in May 1994.

On November 16 of that year, the company announced that it would sell its entire television division, including WKRC,[14] after being bought by private equity firms in order to focus on its radio and event properties.

[15] Providence Equity teamed up with Sandy DiPasquale to form a new holding company, Newport Television, for the station group.

[17] WKRC-DT2, branded on-air as The CW Cincinnati, is the CW-affiliated second digital subchannel of WKRC-TV, broadcasting in high definition on channel 12.2.

Meanwhile, WB affiliate WSTR-TV joined another new network, News Corporation-owned MyNetworkTV (now owned by Fox Corporation) which launched on September 5.

With the affiliation, WKRC-DT2 became the largest subchannel-only CW affiliate by market size, and was one of the few such stations located in the top 100 markets (most CW-affiliated stations that carry the network via a subchannel are located in the 110 smallest U.S. television markets and carry The CW Plus, an automated feed featuring a pre-packaged schedule of syndicated programs outside CW programming hours; the few that are located among the top 100—such as WTVG-DT2 in Toledo—maintain an independently programmed schedule as their primary channel counterparts do).

In 1998, the station became the primary home market outlet for most Cincinnati Bengals games when CBS acquired the AFC broadcast rights.

Until 2023, WKRC also annually simulcast coverage of the Cincinnati Reds opening day game from what is now FanDuel Sports Network Ohio.

[24][25] Over the years, as an ABC affiliate, WKRC-TV preempted moderate amounts of weekday programming and the Sunday morning cartoon reruns from ABC; when an ABC game show hosted by WKRC-TV personality Nick Clooney, The Money Maze, aired from December 1974 to June 1975, WKRC opted to delay that program from the national scheduled time of 4 p.m. to 10:30 a.m. the following day, so it would be presented in tandem with their local talk program, The Nick Clooney Show, at 11 a.m. Other shows delayed by WKRC included Friday night sitcoms Here Come the Brides (delayed to nine days after their original ABC airing) and The Brady Bunch (delayed to the following afternoon).

It also briefly ran instrumental music over the closing credits of prime time network shows in lieu of program promos during the 1973-74 season.

With the arrival of chief meteorologist Tim Hedrick in 1988,[28] WKRC began using the top of the Chiquita Center as its Weather beacon.

[29] In 1994, WKRC refreshed its newscasts with the slogan "A New Generation of News", which referred to anchors Kit Andrews and Rob Braun,[30] along with new graphics, a green screen set,[31] and music originally composed by Rick Krizman for KRON-TV in San Francisco.

[32] WKRC made extensive use of "Texta", a graphics package that included a persistent on-screen banner with the current story's headline.

[36][37] Despite WKRC's initial hopes for a Today-like atmosphere,[38] the show failed to attract a regular crowd on Fountain Square.

[37] From March 2004 to 2008, WKRC aired Nuestro Rincón ("Our Corner"), a twice-weekly Spanish-language news program hosted by Sasha Rionda.

On April 26, 2006, WKRC entered into a news share agreement with WSTR to produce a nightly prime time newscast at 10 p.m., which began airing on August 21.

Newport Television released a statement in October 2008 stating that WKRC would eventually begin broadcasting its newscasts in 1080i high definition.