The station was first licensed to the Economy Light Company in Escanaba, Michigan on March 23, 1923.[3] The WRAK call sign was randomly assigned from a sequential roster of available call letters. The station was deleted on June 23, 1923,[4] relicensed on February 14, 1925,[5] deleted a second time on January 5, 1926,[6] then reauthorized on February 9, 1926.[7] In early 1928, the station was moved to Erie, Pennsylvania, now owned by C. R. Cummins.[8]
Following the establishment of the Federal Radio Commission (FRC), stations were initially issued a series of temporary authorizations starting on May 3, 1927.[9] In addition, they were notified that if they wanted to continue operating, they needed to file a formal license application by January 15, 1928, as the first step in determining whether they met the new "public interest, convenience, or necessity" standard.[10] On May 25, 1928, the FRC issued General Order 32, which notified 164 stations, including WRAK, that "From an examination of your application for future license it does not find that public interest, convenience, or necessity would be served by granting it."[11] However, the station successfully convinced the commission that it should remain licensed.
On November 11, 1928, the FRC implemented a major reallocation of station transmitting frequencies, as part of a reorganization resulting from its General Order 40. WRAK was assigned to 1370 kHz.[12]
