The station began in September 1984 as
MSTV, a
cable-exclusive student-access television station. Student-produced programming was the main staple for the channel. The channel began broadcasting city council meetings in Joplin, and those broadcasts still happen on the station in the present. Although the
construction permit for the
over-the-air signal was issued in January 1986, it was not on the air until sometime in 1988. In 1988, the station launched as
K57DR, operating on
analog UHF channel 57. The transmitter was erected just before the signal went on the air. In 1995, the station's callsign was changed to
KGCS-LP. The station's digital signal on UHF channel 22 has been on the air since 2008, and the station changed the call letters to the current
KGCS-LD in July 2009 after voluntarily shutting down their analog signal. ==References==