The station was first licensed on October 4, 1949, as KIBE, owned and operated by Donald K. Deming and Millard Kibbe, founders of the D&K Broadcasting Company. KIBE signed on as a daytime only station operating with 250 watts. Among its early programming was Stanford Roundtable, a talk show featuring students from nearby Stanford University. In September 1950, Deming and Kibbe sold KIBE to J.B. Rhodes, then owner of Associated Grocers, for $45,000. KIBE increased its power to 1 kW in 1952.
