CKND's predecessor, KCND-TV, began broadcasting from Pembina, North Dakota, in November 1960. Although a U.S. station, it depended almost entirely on advertising from the media market of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. In February 1973, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) announced that it had received two applications for new television stations in Winnipeg. One had been submitted by Western Manitoba Broadcasters Ltd., the parent company of CKX-TV in Brandon, Manitoba. The other application had been received from Continental Communications Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia, represented by Ray Peters, the president of Vancouver CTV affiliate CHAN-TV.