The station first signed on the air on March 28, 1988 as W27AR, broadcasting on UHFchannel 27. Operating first as a repeater of WTHR, and then as an independent station known as "27 Alive." Its programming consisted of live and pre-recorded newscasts, replays of daytime talk shows such as Sally Jessy Raphael and Donahue, and conservative political programming including Rush Limbaugh and shows from National Empowerment Television. The station changed its call letters to WALV-LP on December 1, 1995 to reflect its name. It has been owned by Dispatch Broadcast Group as a sister station to WTHR since its inception. In 2000, WALV was converted into a local weather service operated by WTHR—branded as the "SkyTrak Weather Network". The station moved to UHF channel 50 in 2002, at which time, it was granted permission by the Federal Communications Commission to upgrade its license to Class A status as WALV-CA. WALV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 50, in 2012. The station flash-cut its digital signal into operation on UHF channel 46. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its physical UHF digital channel 46, instead of its former analog-era UHF channel 50; with the switch, Dispatch Broadcast Group received FCC permission to modify the station's call letters to WALV-CD.
In March 2013, WALV-CD affiliated with the classic television and lifestyle network Cozi TV, dropping most of the ancillary programming from its schedule as a result–although it retained the second hour of Weekend Today on Saturday mornings. The station also began airing a nightly rebroadcast of WTHR's 11:00 p.m. newscast at midnight, a prime time rebroadcast of the syndicated talk show Dr. Phil each weeknight, as well as a limited number of infomercials preempting Cozi TV programming in select timeslots. On February 24, 2014, when WTHR expanded its 13 Eyewitness News Sunrise weekday morning newscast to 4:00 a.m., the station moved NBC's early morning newscast Early Today to WALV-CD in the former timeslot that the program had aired on channel 13; this continued until Early Today moved to 3:30 a.m. in July 2017. Occasionally as time permits, WALV-CD may air other NBC network programs whenever WTHR is unable to in the event of extended breaking news or severe weather coverage. During the 2016 Summer Olympics, some of WTHR's syndicated programming was moved to WALV and its other subchannel.
By May 26, 2017, WALV-CD began simulcasting MeTV along with WTHR 13.3, dropping Cozi TV programming. However, Cozi was retained by 13.2. With the 2018 Winter Olympics, WTHR again shifted programming to different times or channels, with Wheel of Fortune moving to WALV. In the spectrum reallocation's repack, the station will move to physical channel 17 from 46. On June 11, 2019, Dispatch announced it would sell its broadcasting assets, including WALV-CD and WTHR, to Tegna Inc. for $535 million in cash. It would make WALV-CD and WTHR sister stations to ABC affiliate WHAS-TV in adjacent Louisville and would also mark a reentry into the state of Indiana for Tegna; its predecessor company, Gannett, owned WPTA in Fort Wayne from 1979 to 1983. The sale was approved by the FCC on July 29, and was completed on August 8.
Under its format as the "SkyTrak Weather Network," the station aired local and regional weather information for much of the day, along with replays of WTHR's noon and 6:00 p.m. newscasts and five-minute news updates that aired throughout the day; WALV also aired the second hour of the Saturday edition of Today in lieu of WTHR, as well as a variety of programs that are designed to meet the FCC's educational programming guidelines, including replays of WTHR's long-running quizbowl program Brain Game. After ending its news share agreement with WNDY-TV in 2005 upon that station's purchase by LIN TV Corporation—owners of then CBS affiliate WISH-TV —WTHR began producing First Forecast for WALV, a nightly eight-minute weather segment that aired at 10:00 p.m. seven nights a week.
Newscasts
WALV rebroadcasts the weeknight editions of WTHR's 11 p.m. newscasts at 12:30 a.m. and simulcasts the 6–7 a.m. hour of WTHR's weekend morning news.
