Owned by Allen Media Broadcasting, the station maintains studios on Country Aire Drive (near the IL 13–Wolf Creek Road interchange) in Carterville and a transmitter near Creal Springs, Illinois.

WSIL-TV was the first television station in southern Illinois, debuting on ultra high frequency (UHF) channel 22 on December 6, 1953.

When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted its four-year freeze on new television station allocations in 1952, channel 22 in the then-new ultra high frequency (UHF) band was assigned to Harrisburg.

[3] The Turner-Farrar Association, whose partners owned movie theaters in Southern Illinois, applied for the channel on June 23, 1952, and received a construction permit on March 11, 1953.

[4][5] With the permit in hand, Turner-Farrar began construction on the station's studio facility in what was known as the Lockwood building on Poplar Street in Harrisburg, absorbing a former billiards hall in the process.

Two days later, an open house was held at the studios,[8] and regular programming from Southern Illinois's first TV station began on December 6.

During this time, WSIL attempted to sell KPOB-TV to the Hernreich Group, which would have switched it to rebroadcasting KAIT in Jonesboro, Arkansas, but negotiations proved unfruitful.

A feature in The Southern Illinoisan noted that under Turner-Farrar's stewardship, channel 3 had equipment dating back to the 1950s and operated on a very low budget, resulting in an on-air look that was primitive even by small-market standards.

For example, the station was not above "illustrat[ing] a flood by showing its audience a hand-drawn picture of a lake in the corner of the screen, rather than sending a film crew to the scene".

However, FCC-imposed restrictions on the channel 3 allotment denied the new owners any hope of increasing WSIL's over-the-air footprint to a size comparable to those of KFVS and WPSD.

[30] In 1981, for the first fall season under the new owners, the station revamped its evening lineup; it ceased the practice of tape-delaying World News Tonight.

[47] Steve Wheeler appeared on Good Morning America to explain his decision; he announced during the interview that if the program was successful, WSIL would reconsider.

[48] Citing his feeling that the show's content had been toned down since its pilot episode, Wheeler approved the program for air on WSIL-TV beginning in September 1994.

[59] As part of the SAFER Act, WSIL kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.