KCWY signed on the air in February 2001 as an affiliate of the
Pax TV network. On September 1, 2003, KCWY became the new NBC affiliate in the Casper market after NBC severed its affiliation with longtime affiliate
KTWO-TV (channel 2). KCWY launched its first newscast (
News 13 First at Five) on October 1, 2003. at Casper Events Center in
Casper, Wyoming In 2008, 2011 and 2012, the Wyoming Association of Broadcasters named KCWY its
Television Station of the Year. In June 2013,
Intermountain West Communications Company filed to sell KCWY to Frontier Radio Management, through subsidiary Yellowstone Holdings; the deal made it a sister station with
KGWN-TV, which
SagamoreHill Broadcasting was also selling to Yellowstone through a separate deal. On November 4, 2013,
Gray Television announced a deal to acquire Yellowstone Holdings for $23 million. As a result of the acquisition, KCHY-LP was consolidated with KGWN-TV. The sale was completed on December 31. Gray launched
The CW Plus on a subchannel of KCWY on January 26, 2015. KCWY was also seen in
Sheridan on KSWY-LP, analog channel 29, and then as a subchannel of
KOTA-TV satellite KSGW-TV when Gray bought KOTA and its network in 2016. Sheridan is located in the
Rapid City, South Dakota, television market. As a result of
KNBN, that market's NBC affiliate, asserting its exclusive rights to NBC programming in Sheridan, and the network's support of KNBN in this endeavor, Gray removed the KCWY subchannel from KSGW-TV on January 1, 2019. On January 24, 2019, Gray announced that KCWY-DT would merge its news operation with KGWN-TV by April 9, under the
Wyoming News Now banner. Under this arrangement, KCWY's 5 p.m. newscast would be the only Casper-specific newscast, with
Jeopardy! replacing the 6 p.m. newscast, and all other newscasts being simulcast from KGWN in Cheyenne and covering both markets. Four of KCWY's 15 news staffers were retained in Casper following the merger, with the remainder being offered positions at other Gray stations. The consolidation came after the
Department of Justice (DOJ) blocked Gray's acquisition of the
CBS affiliation of
KGWC-TV (channel 14), which would have given Gray a second revenue stream to cover KCWY's financial losses. On February 1, 2024, Gray Television announced it would swap KCWY-DT and KGWN-TV to
Marquee Broadcasting in exchange for Marquee's
construction permit for KCBU in
Salt Lake City, Utah. The transaction was completed on July 1, 2024. ==Technical information==