KWWT signed on the air on December 5, 2001, as KPXK. It was a Pax TV affiliate until late 2005, when KWWT moved its cable-only The WB 100+ feed (which was established on September 21, 1998) to UHF channel 30.
On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner announced the shutdown of both UPN and The WB effective that fall. In place of these two networks, a new "fifth" network—"The CW Television Network" (its name representing the first initials of parent companies CBS and Warner Bros.), jointly owned by both companies, would launch, with a lineup primarily featuring the most popular programs from both networks. In March 2006 it was announced that KWWT would be a CW affiliate through The CW Plus.
In 2011, KWWT signed on to carry college football and basketball games from the Southland Conference Television Network.[2] The contract lasted 4 seasons. For the first 3 seasons the games usually aired on 30.2 because CW Plus wouldn't let their programs be preempted. In 2014, the final season of the network, they aired on 30.1. Additionally KWWT aired ACC Network basketball games during the 2011–12 basketball season.
KWWT remained a CW affiliate until December 29, 2013. On that date, KWES-TV (channel 9) took over CW rights and KWWT moved MeTV to 30.1 while adding Movies! on 30.2.
On July 24, 2020, it was announced that Gray Television (owner of CBS affiliate KOSA-TV and CW affiliate KCWO-TV) would purchase KWWT and sister low-power station KMDF-LD for $1.84 million, pending approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).[3] Gray sought a failing station waiver as the Odessa–Midland market would not have at least eight independent voices after the transaction (KCWO-TV is licensed as a satellite of KOSA-TV despite airing different programming).[4] In addition, Gray also announced that after the sale, KWWT would move its operations to the shared KOSA/KCWO facility in Odessa. The FCC granted the waiver on September 14.[5] The sale was completed on September 30.[6][7]
KWWT shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 30, on June 12, 2009, and "flash-cut" its digital signal into operation on its analog-era UHF channel 30.[9][10] Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the digital television transition in the United States (DTV) allotment plan on April 21, 1997, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station.
