wnki 578 was first formed by the emergency radio committee and coordinated resources management and planning group in 1978 in an effort to create a needed am emergency broadcast station to serve the local mountain communities of the san jacinto mountains. the operating organization, the mile high radio club, was formed around the same time and used volunteers to maintain the operations. in 2014, the mile high radio club signed an agreement with the idyllwild fire protection district, the station licensee, for the operations and oversight of the station through the joint coordination and cooperation of the organizations.