Originally owned by the Sweeney Automobile School, the Cook Paint and Varnish Company purchased the station in 1930. The station jumped between 730 kHz and 850 kHz (860 kHz in 1938) before 1946, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized the station to broadcast at 710 kHz. The station published a quarterly magazine called "Swing", keeping readers up to date with the Kansas City music scene, which had waned in the wake of the Pendergast Machine's downfall and World War II. While owned by Cook, WHB expanded briefly into FM radio and television, operating on the frequency 102.1 MHz (now KCKC-FM) and sharing Channel 9 with KMBC-TV. Omaha entrepreneur Todd Storz and his Mid-Continent Broadcasting Company purchased WHB from Cook on June 10, 1954. Upon the sale, WHB-TV was absorbed by KMBC-TV, which Cook purchased the month before. Building on his successful attempts at increasing listenership at KOWH in Omaha (now KCRO) and WTIX-AM in New Orleans, Storz discontinued WHB's network programming and introduced a Top 40 format. WHB became the first station in the country to play Top 40 music 24 hours a day, and it became an instant hit in Kansas City, becoming the most popular station by the end of the year. With 10,000 watts in the daytime, WHB became one of the most powerful Top-40 stations in North America, attracting programming directors and station owners from across the country to observe Storz's operations. One observer was Gordon McLendon, who went back to Dallas and introduced his version of Top-40 radio at KLIF. Rick Sklar also heard WHB and adapted elements of its format to build the Top-40 format in New York City, at Musicradio 77 WABC, which became the most listened to radio station in North America during the 1970s. There is another New York connection. Ruth Meyer worked at WHB in the late 1950s, and went on to become the program director of 570 WMCA, leading that station to the position of #1 pop music station in New York between 1963 and 1966. Storz cultivated listenership numbers by one of his treasure hunts. One day in 1955, WHB broadcast clues telling listeners where they might find a prize worth $1000. After leading listeners throughout the metropolitan area, the final clue resulted in traffic tie-ups outside Loose Park as listeners tried to be the first to find the station's logo painted on the back of a turtle.