WKBW was founded in 1926 as a religious station, operating at the frequency of 1380 kHz. As the story goes, founder Clinton Churchill applied to the Department of Commerce for a license to operate under the call sign WAY. That call sign, however, was being used for a ship at sea, so instead, Churchill chose the letters "WKBW," which were next in the random assignment pool. Churchill proclaimed the call letters stood for Well Known Bible Witness. Later usage referred to the middle letters "KB" standing for King of Buffalo (alluding to its 50,000-watt broadcast power).