The station applied for its construction permit on September 22, 1995. The FCC approved it on October 4, 2004. It originally planned to use UHFanalog channel 61 but switched to channel 40 because channels 51-69 would not to be used for television after the DTV transition. In 2006, the station decided on the call lettersWCWF, sparking speculation that the station would be an affiliate of The CW. However, that affiliation went to Fox affiliate WFFF-TV, first as a replacement for its secondary WB affiliation and then on a new digital subchannel.. While it searched for its own affiliation, WCWF finally began broadcasting on September 11, 2007, as a repeater of Ion Television affiliate WWBI-LP, whose owners held a stake in the station. After a short time on-the-air, the station signed-off, telling the FCC it was preparing to switch to digital. In November 2008, Channel 61 Associates sold the station to Twin Valley Television, a broadcaster based in Burlington which also goes by Convergence Entertainment & Communications, or CEC. Twin Valley took control of the station while the sale was still pending FCC approval. As of 2011, however, the application for transfer of ownership no longer appears on the FCC website. At the end of 2008, it signed back on from a temporary low power analog transmitter, which was meant to last until its permanent digital transmitter was ready on June 12, 2009. However, there were delays in getting its new transmitter installed so the station switched its temporary transmitter to digital for the time being. In early 2009, the station became an affiliate of the Retro Television Network. On June 16, 2009, WCWF changed its call letters to WNMN. Meanwhile, Twin Valley also purchased WGMU-CA which was approved by the FCC in July 2009. That station and its translators were turned into repeaters of WNMN, which greatly expanded its coverage area into the greater Burlington and Plattsburgh areas. The owner announced that WNMN would air a mix of RTV and local programming on its main channel, while also carrying five digital subchannels, one of which would air MyNetworkTV. MyNetworkTV affiliate WNMN-DT3 also began offering Tuff TV on July 15, 2010. The subchannel was to be carried on Comcast channel 18, but was never made available. Cross Hill Communications, LLC was granted the license of WNMN by the FCC on October 30, 2013. At that time they became a TUFF TV affiliate. On March 9, 2016, the call sign was changed to WYCI. As of 2017, most likely as a direct result of this transition of station management, WYCI offered no subchannels other than its primary Retro TV channel, leaving the Burlington–Plattsburgh market without a MyNetworkTV affiliate. As of April 1, 2017, WYCI became a Heroes and Icons affiliate; sometime in 2018, they eventually resumed operations of their DT2 subchannel, this time offering the Decades service. WYCI is carried on Comcast and Spectrum systems throughout the market. By January 1, 2018, both Dish Network and DirecTV started carrying WYCI throughout the market. On September 3, 2018, MyNetworkTV programming returned to the Burlington–Plattsburgh market, this time on their primary channel as a secondary affiliation to Heroes & Icons, and filling in programming for all time slots outside of the MyNetworkTV programming schedule with the H&I schedule. On October 31, 2019, Gray Television announced plans to acquire WYCI from Cross Hill Communications. The sale was completed on January 31, 2020, forming a duopoly with WCAX-TV.
WGMU-LP, W19BR and WBVT-LP had their licenses cancelled by the FCC on March 12, 2015, for failure to broadcast for a year. WVMA-CD has since been sold to another ownership group.
