The station went on the air as KSWI (for "Southwest Iowa") in 1947. The station at the time was owned by the Council Bluffs Nonpareil newspaper and the studios were located in the Strand Theater in Council Bluffs. Around 1963 or 1964, the station was purchased by Abe Slusky, the studios were moved to a location at 546 Mynster Street, and the call letters were changed to KRCB ("Radio Council Bluffs"). In July 1967, Slusky sold KRCB to Michigan lawyer James J. Conroy. In March 1969, KRCB adopted a Top 40 format, and would add an FM sister station, KRCB-FM (98.5), that same year. The polka music programming that had been a popular feature on KSWI was given new life on KRCB in 1970 as "The Big Joe Polka Show"; hosted by Joe Siedlick and airing on Sunday mornings. On October 25, 1978, KRCB's callsign was changed to KQXV (the "XV" being the Roman numeral for 15, to represent the station's approximate position on the AM dial). On April 11, 1979, the callsign was changed again, this time to KLNG. The KLNG calls originally were assigned to 1490 AM, which had a news/talk format in the 1970s. In June 1988, KLNG would change to Christian programming."KLNG Brings Southern Gospel to Omaha," The Omaha World-Herald, June 4, 1988.
