On January 19, 1961, Big Bend Broadcasters, owners of KVLF, obtained a construction permit to build a new television station on channel 12 in Alpine.[2] The station signed on December 30, 1961, with the 1961 Sun Bowl as its inaugural program.[3] Channel 12 was a limited facility; its effective radiated power was a mere 170 watts.[1]
In its early months, KVLF broadcast a half-hour local news and weather report at 7 p.m., divided into five segments, leading into the ABC network lineup and signing off at 11 p.m.[4] By December 1963, however, KVLF-TV's program schedule had been reduced. The station signed on weekdays at 6 p.m. with a test pattern and proceeded to air 15 minutes of news at 6:15, followed by the ABC network lineup, signing off at 10 p.m.; it did not air any local programming on weekends.[5]
Annuals such as the Television Factbook listed KVLF-TV as a satellite of KVKM-TV;[6] however, KVLF-TV's broadcast day was shorter than that of KVKM-TV, which at the time did not produce any local news programming but did telecast daytime shows.[7]
KVLF-TV suspended operations at some point near the end of 1963. A 2015 article on KVLF radio stated that channel 12 lasted "about two years".[8] Reasons for KVLF's closure are not stated, though owner Gene Hendryx had been elected in 1962 as a state representative, taking time from his broadcasting ventures,[8] and KVKM-TV was already available on the Alpine TV Cable service in town.[9]