KHQA went on-the-air September 23, 1953. The station was originally owned by Lee Enterprises of Davenport, Iowa along with the "Hannibal Courier-Post" and WTAD radio (AM 930 and FM 99.5, now WCOY). Despite the common ownership, Lee was unable to use the WTAD-TV calls because Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules of the time did not allow stations to share common base callsigns if they were licensed in different cities. While licensed to Hannibal (hence accounting for the "H" in its callsign, as well as its callsign beginning with a "K"), its studios have long been located across the Mississippi River in Quincy; the station signed on after the FCC allowed a station to base its main studio outside its city of license.