The station was running a combination format of news, sports and business news (as KDOW, KCCO, then KSNB) when it was sold by previous owner CBS Radio in 2004. The company that purchased KTNF was founded by Minnesota attorney Janet Robert and former Minnesota Congressman Bill Luther in November 2003, as a result of their concern about the impact right wing talk radio had in the 2002 elections and inspired by Sydney Blumenthal's book The Rise of the Counter-Establishment: The Conservative Ascent to Political Power. When Air America Radio made its debut on March 31, 2004, WMNN, where the group leased airtime, became one of the new network's original affiliates with Al Franken's show, as well as Democracy Radio's Ed Schultz. Eventually, more syndicated and local shows were added. After the sale of WMNN six months later, the format split to broadcasting on both 740 AM and 1530 AM. In October 2004, 950 AM was purchased, and became the permanent home of "Air America Minnesota".