WINR was founded by the Southern Tier Radio Service, Inc., a firm owned by Donald W. Kramer (1907–1986), a Binghamton attorney who later served as that city's mayor from 1950 until 1957.

In April 1951 the Federal Communications Commission granted WINR permission to relocate from 1490 to its present dial location at 680 AM; the move occurred in early 1952.

[10][11] In August 1954 WINR was awarded a construction permit to build Binghamton's second television station, which became WINR-TV (channel 40) when it went on the air in November 1957.

[12][13] Several months earlier in January 1957, Southern Tier Radio Service sold WINR and its channel 40 permit to the Binghamton Press, an arm of the then-Rochester-based Gannett Company newspaper chain.

[14][15][16][17] Gannett split up the stations through separate sales in 1971: WINR radio was sold to a Mobile, Alabama-based broadcaster, while WINR-TV went to tower manufacturer Stainless, Inc., who changed that outlet's callsign to WICZ-TV.