Kaltio was started in Spring 1945 by two journalists and war veterans Atte Kalajoki and Reino Rinne in Oulu.[4][5][6] The purpose in establishing the magazine was to reconstruct the culture of Northern Finland or Lapland following World War II.[4][3] Atte Kalajoki is also founding editor-in-chief of the magazine which he held until 1963.[4] The first issue appeared in April 1945.[3] Between 1953 and 1954, Kaltio published articles in German, English and Danish.[4] The magazine covered the text-based articles published in black-and-white until 1999 when it was redesigned as a full colour publication.[2] Since then the covers of Kaltio have featured Northern Finnish artists and their work.[2]
Kaltio is published six times per year.[1][7] The tone and style of the magazine have varied based on the approaches of its editors-in-chief.[8] The magazine has attempted to remain neutral in terms of politics, but during the editorship of Turo Manninen between 1967 and 1972 Kaltio was close to left-wing movements.[4] The other editors-in-chief of the magazine include Tuomo Jämsä (1984–1986), Tuure Holopainen (1988–1995) and Martti T. Asunmaa (1973–1983).[4] Another editor-in-chief was Jussi Vilkun who served in the post during the early 2000s.[8] He was removed from the post in February 2006 when he allowed to publish a cartoon featuring the Prophet Muhammad in the website of Kaltio.[9] Following the publication of this caricature some companies ended their advertisement contracts with the magazine.[9] As of 2020 Paavo J. Heinonen was the editor-in-chief of the magazine since 2010.[5]
As of 2006 Kaltio had nearly 2,000 subscribers in Finland.[9]