The station first signed on the air on July 1, 1953 as KTVH. It is the oldest surviving television station in Kansas (the first station to sign on in the state was KCTY (channel 25) in Kansas City, which operated a transmitter in Overland Park, which signed on one month before channel 12 debuted, in June 1953 and shut down in 1954). Channel 12 originally operated from studio facilities located in Hutchinson. It has been a primary CBS affiliate since its sign-on, although the station originally also carried programming from the three other major networks of the time (NBC, ABC and the DuMont Television Network). Also in 1954, KTVH opened a satellite studio on 37th Street North in Wichita.