It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX (channel 59), also licensed to New Haven.

The station was founded by the Elm City Broadcasting Corporation, owners of WNHC radio (1340 AM, now WYBC; and 99.1 FM, now WPLR).

[8] In October 1948, the station added CBS programming to its schedule,[9] and additional secondary affiliations with NBC and ABC in 1949.

[citation needed] When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s Sixth Report and Order ended the four-year freeze on television construction permit awards in 1952, it also reorganized channel allocations to alleviate interference issues.

WNHC-TV shared some CBS programming with New Britain's WKNB-TV (channel 30, now NBC owned-and-operated station WVIT) until 1955, since WKNB's signal was not strong enough to cover New Haven at the time.

Under Triangle ownership the WNHC stations moved to a new studio facility, on College Street in downtown New Haven, around 1960.

Until the original WTIC-TV (channel 3, now WFSB) signed on from Hartford in September 1957, WNHC-TV was the only station on the VHF dial in Connecticut.

Many viewers northeast of Hartford used outdoor antennas to get spotty reception of CBS and NBC programs from Boston, while those southwest of Hartford with outdoor TV antennas got great to excellent reception from their respective New York City flagship stations; indeed, much of southwestern Connecticut is part of the New York City market.

Triangle was forced out of broadcasting in 1970 after then-Pennsylvania Governor Milton J. Shapp complained the company had used its Pennsylvania stations in a smear campaign against him.

[15][16] However, Capital Cities could not keep the radio stations because of the FCC's then-restrictions on ownership, resulting in WNHC-AM-FM being spun off to separate third parties.

On March 19, 1985, Capital Cities announced its intention to buy ABC in a deal that would stun the broadcast industry.

[18] As part of the deal, Capital Cities was required to sell WTNH due to a significant signal overlap with ABC's New York flagship station, WABC-TV.

[19] Like the other major stations in Connecticut, WTNH's city-grade signal reaches Fairfield County, which is part of the New York City market.

When a new UHF station in New Haven, WTVU (channel 59, now WCTX) signed on in April 1995 as a WB affiliate, WTNH began operating the station through a local marketing agreement (LMA);[22] prior to WTVU's launch, WTNH held a temporary secondary WB affiliation, airing its programming (which at the time consisted solely of a Wednesday prime time lineup) Saturdays in late night.

Nexstar was required to sell two of the stations (including one ranking in the top four in ratings) to a separate, unrelated company to comply with FCC ownership rules.