The station signed on October 18, 1981, airing an analog signal on VHF channel 12. It was the first independent station in Idaho, and featured programming offerings consisting primarily of syndicated talk and children's shows in the day and movies in the evenings. It was originally owned by Peyton Broadcasting. Peyton sold the station to Block Communications in 1985. The station became a Fox affiliate when the network launched on October 9, 1986. It added the -TV suffix to its calls on July 10, 2006. On February 6, 2009, KTRV added MyNetworkTV and This TV to a new second and third digital subchannels. Until this point, there were no affiliates of either network in Boise. KTRV-DT2 was not added to Cable One systems until almost a year later on January 11, 2010.