KWHE first signed on the air on August 23, 1986. From its sign-on, the station has offered a mix of secular general entertainment programs, with religious programming filling most of its schedule. The station would later expand its reach across the state with the launch of two satellite stations: KWHD signed on the air on October 1, 1989 as KWHH, KWHM later signed on June 15, 1993. On January 11, 1995, KWHE became the market's charter affiliate of The WB. As with other LeSEA-owned stations that affiliated with the network, KWHE only carried family-oriented programs from the network as well as programming from Kids' WB when the network's children's programming block launched in September 1995; WB programs that contained sexual or violent content were not carried by the station due to content restrictions outlined by LeSEA for its stations. Partly due to these preemptions, KWHE lost its WB affiliation on December 28, 1998, when then-UPN affiliate KFVE began carrying the network's entire programming schedule as a secondary affiliation. KWHE, whose secular programming is usually family-friendly, was one of three stations in Honolulu that carried reruns of the crime drama Hawaii Five-O, which was filmed in Honolulu. The show remains popular among viewers in the state and has continued to be syndicated since it ended its run on CBS in 1980. KWHE dropped the program in 2013, allowing KITV's digital sub channel MeTV Hawaii to clear the program for Hawaii from the MeTV national schedule in 2014. Cozi TV, which airs a mix of classic television series from the 1950s through the 1980s, movies, and first-run lifestyle programming; was added to KWHE's digital subchannel sometime around 2015; in 2017, it was replaced with Light TV. Since September 2017, KWHE began following the mandate of its sister stations in expanding its secular programming, adding more syndicated shows and off-network fare, starting at 12 noon Monday through Friday, all day on Saturdays, and from 12 noon to 7 p.m. and after 10 p.m. on Sundays. Religious programs are shown on Sunday through Friday mornings and from 7 to 10 p.m. on Sunday nights. Some of the secular shows are also seen on co-owned cable channelFamily Entertainment Television.
KWHE-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 14, on January 15, 2009, the date in which full-power television stations in Hawaii transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 31, using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 14. After Hawaii's switch to DTV on January 15, 2009, KWHE and KWHD remained at their current digital frequencies, using PSIP to display both stations' virtual channels as 14, while KWHM moved to channel 21.
Programming
, syndicated secular programs broadcast on KWHE include America's Court with Judge Ross, Judge Faith, The Steve Harvey Show, Who's the Boss?, Just Shoot Me, M*A*S*H, Heartland, Celebrity Page, Cops, and The Andy Griffith Show. On Saturdays, the station airs a local bowling program, along with repeats of Murdoch Mysteries, The Lone Ranger, and Sergeant Preston of the Yukon on both Saturday and Sundays. Syndicated religious programs broadcast by KWHE include the Believer's Voice of Victory, Life Today, The Gospel Truth with Andrew Wommack, Manna-Fest With Perry Stone and In Touch with Dr. Charles Stanley.
