WDPN-TV's origins lie in a construction permit granted to Ambassador Media in 1988 for a Jackson, Wyoming satellite station of its ABC affiliate in Pocatello, Idaho, KPVI. The new station, which signed on January 9, 1991 as KJVI, served as a semi-satellite of KPVI for the Wyoming side of the Idaho Falls–Pocatello market, airing separate commercials. KPVI and KJVI were sold to Sunbelt Communications Company in November 1995, who switched the stations to NBC in January 1996. Channel 2's call letters were changed to KJWY that June. While KJWY was technically a satellite of KPVI, it later began to carry Wyoming news from another Sunbelt-owned NBC affiliate, KCWY in Casper, after that station began a news operation.