The station first signed on the air on August 27, 1990, as KCMY; it originally operated as the area's Home Shopping Club affiliate[2] before joining the InfoMall TV network in 1995.
In 1995, then-CBS affiliate KXTV agreed to provide some programming to KCMY in order to give it more of a competitive edge in the Sacramento market. KCMY began airing the tabloid show Geraldo at 10 p.m. as well as the KXTV-produced health magazine show Pulse.
Paxson Communications (now Ion Media) purchased the station in 1998, changing its call sign to KSPX. The station became a charter owned-and-operated station of its new Pax TV network (later i: Independent Television and now Ion) on August 31, 1998. KSPX became the second English-language station and third overall station in the Sacramento market to be owned and operated by its affiliated network.
On August 30, 2019, the station temporarily reduced power, per special temporary authority (STA), from 1,000 kW to 4.3 kW to accommodate relocation of its transmitter site.
Power was increased to 48 kW on November 16, 2019. Another increase to 388 kW took place on April 29, 2020. The completion of the main facility and subsequent increase to 1,000 kW took place later in 2020.[when?]
^Vierria, Dan (August 31, 1998). "Pax TV Debuts as a Network for Families: New Programing Bumps Shopping Off Channel 29". The Sacramento Bee (via NewsBank).