Editing WWKB (section)

===Early years===
The station began operations, as WKBW, in late October 1926. It was originally licensed to Coatsworth & Diebold,<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112106763060&view=1up&seq=413 "New Stations"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', October 30, 1926, page 3.</ref> but ownership was soon changed to the Churchill Evangelistic Association.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112106763060&view=1up&seq=431 "Alterations and Corrections"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', November 30, 1926, page 7.</ref> Founder Clinton Churchill's application to the [[Department of Commerce]] for a station license reportedly requested assignment of the call letters "WAY"; however, this call sign was already in use by a ship, the ''Admiral Dewey'',<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b3221813&view=1up&seq=310 "Commercial Ship Radio Stations"], ''Commercial and Government Radio Stations of the United States'' (edition June 30, 1926), page 12.</ref> so the station was instead randomly assigned "WKBW" from a sequential list of available call signs. Churchill adopted a slogan of "Well Known Bible Witness" based on the call letters, and later usage referred to the middle letters "KB" as standing for "King of Buffalo", reflecting its 50,000-watt transmitting power.

WKBW was founded during a period when the U.S. government had temporarily lost its authority to assign transmitting frequencies.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015051148388&view=1up&seq=182 "Federal Regulation of Radio Broadcasting"] (July 8, 1926) by Acting Attorney General William J. Donovan, ''Official Opinions of the Attorneys General of the United States'', Volume 35, 1929, pages 126-132.</ref> There were immediate complaints from the region that WKBW, on its self-assigned frequency, was badly interfering with the reception of multiple other stations.<ref>"No Change in Tabernacle Radio", ''Buffalo Evening Times'', October 26, 1926, page 10.</ref> At the end of 1926 the station was reported transmitting on a non-standard frequency of 827&nbsp;kHz.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112106763060&view=1up&seq=460 "Broadcasting stations, alphabetically by call signals"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', December 31, 1926, page 18. The standard government practice was to assign stations to frequencies ending in zero.</ref>

The [[Federal Radio Commission]] (FRC) was formed in early 1927, which restored the U.S. government authority to assign station frequencies. This resulted in a series of frequency shifts that year for WKBW, including reassignments to 980, 1010 and finally 1380&nbsp;kHz. On November 11, 1928, as a result of the FRC's [[General Order 40]], WKBW changed to 1470&nbsp;kHz, a "high power regional" frequency,<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c021003683&view=1up&seq=249 "Revised list of broadcasting stations, by frequencies, effective 3 a.m., November 11, 1928, eastern standard time"], ''Annual Report of the Federal Radio Commission'' (for the year ended June 30, 1928), page 213.</ref> and raised its power to 5,000 watts—the first Buffalo station to increase to that level. In early 1930 WKBW, along with [[KOKC (AM)|KFJF]] in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was reassigned to 1480&nbsp;kHz, another "high power regional" frequency.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435066938374&view=1up&seq=217 "Alterations and Corrections"], ''Radio Service Bulletin'', February 28, 1930, page 23.</ref>

In March 1941 WKBW inaugurated a new transmitter plant south of Buffalo in the town of Hamburg, increased power to 50,000 watts around the clock and shifted to its current "clear channel" frequency of 1520&nbsp;kHz as a result of [[North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement]], with the provision that as "Class I-B" stations, it and its Oklahoma City counterpart, now KOMA, had to maintain directional antennas at night to mutually protect each other from interference.<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32437010939748&view=1up&seq=587 "Assignments of United States Standard Broadcast Stations Listed by Frequency"], page 1442.</ref>

During the 1930s, WKBW shared a CBS affiliation with then-sister station WGR, and in the 1940s, was affiliated with the [[NBC Blue]] network and its corporate successor [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]], running as a conventional full service network affiliated station also offering local news and music programming. The station later broadcast a wide variety of ethnic, [[country and western]] and religious programming when not carrying network offerings, including pioneer [[rock and roll]] and [[rhythm and blues]] shows launched in the 1950s by disk jockey George "Hounddog" Lorenz, later founder of pioneer FM urban station [[WBLK]]. [[Stan Barron]] served as the station's sports director in this era.