In 1927, the Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was created to take over the regulation of U.S. radio stations, and it began a series of frequency shifts to coordinate station assignments. Effective November 11, 1928, the FRC divided the AM band transmitting frequencies into three classification: Local, Regional, and Clear Channel. KQW's assignment, 1010 kHz, which it had been using since the previous year, was designated a regional frequency. By 1940, KQW had increased its daytime power to the maximum permitted for regional stations, 5,000 watts. In March, 1941, under the provisions of the North American Regional Broadcasting Agreement (NARBA), most U.S. radio stations were shifted to new dial positions, so KQW moved to 740.