The station signed on the air on December 17, 1972 as WGVC-TV, owned by what was then Grand Valley State College. Channel 35 originally operated from the basement of Manitou Hall on GVSU's Allendale campus.

WGVC-TV's signal was somewhat marginal in the southern portion of the vast West Michigan market (Kalamazoo and Battle Creek) due to the presence of WNIT in South Bend, on adjacent channel 34. In much of this area, WGVC-TV could only be seen on cable. This was very similar to what the area's main ABC affiliate, WZZM-TV (channel 13), faced due to the presence of WTVG in Toledo, Ohio. To make up for this shortfall in coverage, Grand Valley State signed on WGVK as a satellite station in 1984. In 1986, the station relocated to its current studio facility at the Meijer Public Broadcast Center. The station's callsign was changed to WGVU in 1987, when Grand Valley State was elevated to university status.