The station signed on the air in 1994 on analog channel 38 as K38DM, a translator of KMGH-TV, then a CBS affiliate. It moved to channel 23 in 2003, changing its call sign to K23GJ. It assumed the KZCS-LP call sign in 2005, and became an Azteca América affiliate in 2013, relaying KMGH-TV's second digital subchannel. It switched to Escape (which later rebranded to Court TV Mystery, now Ion Mystery since 2022) in 2019, and flash-cut to digital in 2020.