In the late 1960s well-known local newspaperman, Al McIntosh, became aware of an application pending at the FCC to locate an AM radio station in Luverne.

This application was initiated by the owner of a radio station in York, Nebraska, so McIntosh convinced four other local businessmen, Mort Skewes, Warren Schoon, Rollie Swanson, and Dominic Lippi, to join forces and submit a competing application to the FCC.

These two applications were mutually exclusive, and sat in the hands of the FCC for upwards of two years before local stakeholders accelerated the process.

[3] In the spring of 1968, Paul Hedberg, an experienced owner of another radio station in southern Minnesota, joined the five businessmen from Luverne, and together they entered negotiations with their competitor to withdraw his application with the FCC.

Soon thereafter the FCC granted the six-member ownership group, now organized as Siouxland Broadcasting, the construction permit for KQAD.