When KNCT signed on in 1970, it was the sole PBS station for the western portion of the market, with the eastern portion served by Texas A&M's KAMU-TV. In 1978, KNCT set up a low-powered translator in Waco. The main KNCT signal barely covered Waco, while KAMU's signal just missed it. In 1989, it was upgraded to a full-fledged station, KCTF, which was spun off as a separate station in 1994 and ultimately taken over by Baylor University in 2000 as KWBU-TV. However, in July 2010 KWBU-TV began winding down operations and dropped all PBS programming prior to going off the air entirely on July 31 (it would later become KDYW, whose license was voluntarily cancelled in 2012 following a failed attempt to sell the station to the Daystar Television Network).[1] This left KNCT, once again, as the sole PBS station for the western side of the market. On July 1, KNCT took over KWBU's cable slots on Time Warner and Grande, and became available on DirecTV.

KNCT added Create to 46.3 in July 2010, after the imminent closedown of KWBU-TV. However, KNCT does not offer the Spanish-language V-me network, which was seen on KWBU until that station's closedown.