KITE (Kansas City)

[4] First National already operated a radio engineering school with 600 students and held an experimental television license, W9XAL, which by 1934 was broadcasting for three and a half hours each day.

Also seeking a high-fidelity station was the Unity School of Christianity, which was in the midst of a license renewal fight for its station at 1300 kHz, WOQ; the year before, the commission had denied a renewal to WOQ and ordered its time turned over to KFH at Wichita, and the decision was being appealed as the FRC reviewed the applications for the new frequencies.

[4] After being approved on April 20 (with the Unity School application denied),[5] First National Television's station went on the air December 31, 1934,[1][6] using the experimental call sign W9XBY.

[3] Everett L. Dillard, who had founded WLBF and would later start KOZY, the first FM station in the city, served as continuity director and later chief engineer.

Founders had included Arthur M. Church, the chief owner of KMBC; Sam Pickard, a former FRC commissioner; Leslie Herman, an attorney in New York; Richard K. Phelps, an assistant district attorney in Kansas City; and Sidney Q. Noel, operator of the First National television school.

[14] Church withdrew from the company and sued the others, leading to a "highly involved and confused" corporate structure and the introduction of several new stockholders.

[18] However, the United States's entry into World War II threw operations into disarray, with Heitmeyer being drafted and reporting for active duty at Fort Leavenworth in January 1942.