The station first signed on the air on January 29, 1988 as W11BV, broadcasting on VHF channel 11. Its original owner, White River Corporation, sold the station to Indiana Broadcasting Corporation, the subsidiary of LIN Broadcasting Corporation (predecessor to LIN Media) that held the license for WISH-TV, on December 21, 1992. The station changed its call letters to WIIH-LP in 1995. In 2002, WIIH moved its allocation to UHF channel 17 and received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reclassify its license to Class A status, modifying its calls to WIIH-CA in the process. In 2003, the station became the market's Univision affiliate, branding as "Univision Indiana". Soon afterward, WISH-TV began producing a nightly Spanish-language newscast for WIIH-CA (titled "WIIH Noticias"), which was cancelled in 2008. On May 18, 2007, LIN TV announced that it was exploring strategic alternatives that could result in the sale of the company.