Radio station JOQK made its test broadcasts on October 25, 1931, and started regular broadcasts on November 11 the same year.[1] It was the thirteenth NHK station and radio station overall in Japan to start broadcasts.[2] Initially broadcasting on 625kc, the frequency changed to 800kc on March 7, 1932, later on June 7, 920kc.[1] NHK Radio 2 (initially sharing the JOQK calls) made its first broadcast in 1946; the station adopted the JOQB calls in 1948.[1]
Television broadcasts from Mount Yahiko started on December 1, 1958, on VHF channel 2.[1] To prevent Sporadic E propagation from the Utsukushigahara transmitter in Nagano Prefecture, the station moved to channel 8 on April 1, 1962. NHK Educational Television (JOQB-TV) started broadcasting on November 1, 1962, on channel 12.[1]
A snowstorm hit the prefecture in January 1963, forcing NHK to build an emergency reporting facility in Sanjo.[1] TV color broadcasts started on December 16, 1963, with NTT's eastern circuit achieving colorization of television stations at this time. NHK Educational TV followed on April 1, 1964.[1]
Niigata programming was added to NHK+ in October 2022.[3]