The start of student radio at the University of Oregon began with the operation of KWAX, which was operated out of the UO Department of Speech. It served as an academic laboratory providing daily services for the campus and community from studios in Villard Hall. In the 1970s, KWAX affiliated with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, hired a staff and affiliated with NPR. Two years later, the university cut its academic ties with the station and by the early 1980s there were no students involved at KWAX. KWAX moved off campus and turned into the classical music station that it continues to be today.

In the late 1980s, a group of students decided to start a new student radio station. Students Gary Rosenstein and James January spent months collecting the necessary 1,800 signatures to get the student government to bring the student station up for a vote. During this time KWAX was applying for a construction permit for a new facility broadcasting at 88.1FM on an existing antenna at Blanton Heights in South Eugene. January struck a deal with KWAX. KWAX would operate children's programming from 9 am – 2 pm and UO students would broadcast for the remainder of the day.

The new student station was to be called KRMA, for Real Music Alternative. Studio equipment was donated, thus reducing the start-up costs and allowing on other costs such as construction, production equipment and a microwave link to the Blanton Heights tower. Estimated cost was to be $25,000.

On April 27, 1990, following a student body vote, the ASUO Senate granted funding for a new mixed format student radio station, a total of $25,861 to cover the costs of construction and first year of operation. The measure was passed by more than four to one and students anticipated tuning into the station when they returned to campus the next fall. Due to FCC objections, namely interference due to antenna position, KWAX reconsidered its second service, thus allowing KRMA to move ahead independent of KWAX, with university approval. An amended application was submitted in April 1992 proposing a name change to KWVA and a relocation of the antenna to the roof of Prince Lucien Campbell Hall, the highest building on the University of Oregon campus. On May 27, 1993 at 1:32 pm, KWVA broadcast its first song, "Hey Mr. DJ" by They Might Be Giants.

January and Rosenstein graduated and in June 1992, Michael Lovelady became station manager. Then in the summer of 1993 Alyssa Jenson became Station Manager. A few months later, Jay Pierson became Station Manager and stayed in that position for several years. Pierson led KWVA through it's formative years as a station. In 2006, KWVA transitioned away from ASUO oversight to EMU oversight and KWVA hired full-time professional station manager Charlotte Nisser. Nisser had been a student volunteer at KWVA while in undergraduate studies at the UO and similarly to Pierson, accepted the position while in grad school.

In February 2008, KWVA received FCC approval for a construction permit to relocate the KWVA transmitter from the top of Prince Lucien Campbell Hall to Goodpasture Island Road and increase signal strength from 500 watts to 1,000 watts. KWVA requested funding from the ASUO/EMU to pay for the one-time installation and equipment expense to make this upgrade and relocation. Funding was approved and installation was successful, upgrading KWVA with modern broadcasting capabilities and vastly increasing its potential listenership to include all of Eugene/Springfield and surrounding areas.

On June 20, 2016, KWVA moved from the EMU Suite M-112 (a former women's restroom which served as the on-air studio) to the renovated EMU Basement Suite 45. A special on air program was compiled by then current and alumni volunteers and staff. From 8am-9:30am a Goodbye show was broadcast, followed by symbolic dead air from 9:30am-10am, and a return to the air with a Hello and New Beginnings show from 10am-noon. The same first song, 'Hey Mr DJ' by They Might Be Giants, was broadcast upon return to the air. Staff and volunteers spent the day relocating the contents of Studio A (the women's restroom on-air studio) to the new radio station, most of the contents of the station (main office, equipment, student office) had been moved the week prior when professional moving help was provided by the EMU. The move to new space was part of an overall EMU renovation and new construction, coming in at $95 million for the entire building. The new radio facility was designed specifically for KWVA by General Manager Charlotte Nisser and KWVA Engineer Ali Abdul-Sater, with input from and many students and volunteers, and consultation with other stations across the country, over a several-year period. Suite 45 is about 3x the size of the original KWVA in Suite M-112.

For KWVA's 30th anniversary, in May 2023, KWVA hosted alumni on the air for 30+ hours of specialty programming. KWVA Alumni from all over the world participated in live and pre-recorded programming to celebrate the anniversary.