KHNC began broadcasting in January 1993. It was originally owned by Donald and Sharon Wiedeman, broadcasting the same conservative talk format it has carried since.[2] The station first gained notoriety in 1996 when the Montana Freemen called into the station during their 81-day standoff with the FBI,[3] though the station was already airing programming that espoused conspiracy theories and railed against the "New World Order".[4] Known initially as the "USA Patriot Network", KHNC rebranded as the "American Freedom Network" after the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.[5] Some of its programming also aired over shortwave station WWCR.[5]
On November 29, 1997, a fire broke out at KHNC's studio base, destroying the former farm store, which also housed a magazine known as American Freedom.[6] The blaze was started by a faulty hot plate[3] inside the residence of Suzanne Harris and Peter Ludwell, who hosted a show on the station and lived in the building; the transmitter, located on Wiedeman's 600-acre (240 ha) farm, was not damaged.[7]
Wiedeman died in 2015. In 2019, Joe Jaquint, who already hosted the "Patriot Radio News Hour" which aired on the station, acquired KHNC for $250,000, through his wholly-owned Patriot Trading Metals Group.[8] Effective February 28, 2020, Jaquint transferred the station's license to Excursion Broadcasting Network, LLC, of which he is two-thirds owner.
