The station was launched on September 28, 1948, as WBAP-TV, the first television station in the state of Texas. It was owned by Amon G. Carter, publisher of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, along with WBAP radio. A year later, the two stations were joined by WBAP-FM (96.3 FM, now KSCS). On November 19, 2009 a fire at the Fort Worth studios of KXAS and KXTX knocked both KXAS and its sister station KXTX off the air. The fire was located in the electrical room of the studio. Fire alarms went off at 9:30 PM, which lead to the studio being evacuated, disrupting the 10 o'clock news broadcast.