WKJG began broadcasting November 15, 1947 under the ownership of Northeastern Indiana Broadcasting, itself controlled by William Kunkel. Kunkel was also the publisher of "The Journal Gazette"; the call letters are derived from both entities. Initially a Mutual affiliate, WKJG joined NBC Radio in 1956, after WOWO dropped NBC to go independent; this brought the station in line with sister station WKJG-TV (channel 33), which had been an NBC-TV affiliate since going on the air in 1953. The WKJG stations were sold to the Truth Publishing Company of Elkhart in 1957; in 1963, the stations came under the Communicana banner.