WTAQ was originally licensed to Osseo, Wisconsin, on September 4, 1923 on the 1180 frequency to Mr. C.S. Van Gorden. In February 1926, he announced intentions to move the station from Osseo to Eau Claire and place it inside the plant of the Gillette Safety Tire Company (Gilette Rubber Company) in that city. The studio was located in the plant's cafeteria. The new station, a part-timer, went online from inside the plant on March 1, 1926; Van Gorden stayed on as station manager. The Norbertine Fathers of St. Norbert College in De Pere, then-owners of WHBY, bought the station in January 1935, and changed its city of license to Green Bay. The FCC granted the Green Bay-based WTAQ unlimited broadcast hours, which the Gillette company was never able to acquire in Eau Claire, and this was a major reason quoted by the company for its sale to St. Norbert's. WTAQ was off the air for several months as new facilities were built. The opening of the Green Bay station, on 1330 kHz, occurred on February 9, 1936. Its frequency was later moved to 1360 on March 29, 1941, as part of a massive set of AM station frequency shifts mandated by the FCC and contemporarily called "Radio Movin' Day". On June 20, 1949, the call letters were changed to WBAY, corresponding with their television station and FM station, with the WTAQ calls moving to a station launched in 1950 in La Grange, Illinois. WBAY was an early affiliate of the CBS Radio Network, as was WBAY-TV with the CBS Television Network.