Signing on the air on November 2, 1956, it originally had the call letters WJBL (standing for the initials of owner-partners John, Bud and Len). Sister station WJBL-FM had a frequency of 94.5 MHz (currently WKLQ).
WJBL became WWJQ in January 1982 when purchased by Lanser Broadcasting. In the mid-1980s, WWJQ was a Beautiful Music station. When it was paired with FM sister station WJQK, it was known as WJQ AM and FM. In January 2003, WWJQ became WPNW ("praise and worship").