KVNU began in 1938 as Cache Valley’s first radio station. Before KVNU, in 1935, Utah had three radio stations: KSL and KDYL in Salt Lake City and KLO in Ogden. KSL was the only radio station that could adequately transmit to Cache Valley; other stations could only transmit intermittent signals. The Great Western Broadcasting Company, Munn Q. Cannon, and The Cache Valley Broadcasting Service Company all submitted requests to create a radio station in Cache Valley, but the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rejected each one because they did not fulfill legal or financial requirements. The Cache Valley Broadcasting Service Company submitted a second proposal that satisfied the FCC requirements and created KVNU, which branded itself as “The Voice of Northern Utah.” Before KVNU began transmitting, Herschel Bullen, and his son, Reed Bullen purchased it. Reed Bullen became the station’s first general manager. After six months of preparation, KVNU began broadcasting on November 20, 1938.

At first, KVNU was limited in what it could broadcast. The station could not afford to subscribe to a network and could not simply broadcast phonograph records because the FCC prohibited the broadcasting of phonographic records. Instead, the station subscribed to the Standard Radio Music Service, a Hollywood recording company that only allowed the station to play songs from motion pictures. For the bulk of its program schedule, KVNU filled the time with local talent. Many local musicians and singers volunteered to produce music for the station, many of whom were involved with Utah State Agricultural College. The station also had timeslots allocated for newscasts. In the beginning, the station received newscasts through Morse Code. The station would translate the code, rewrite it in a radio broadcast format, and then present it.

During World War II, most of the KVNU staff left. As a result, the station moved from its location above the Logan Capitol Theater to the transmitter site then north end of Logan’s Main Street. This made it so that Reed Bullen could operate the station by himself, writing the scripts and commercials. He was also the station’s announcer, bookkeeper, and janitor in addition to being the manager. Starting in 1941, the station began allocating a time slot for Utah State Agricultural College, which the university would use to provide news of campus life as well as produce departmental special programs. These programs included classical music broadcasts, homemaking tips, and agricultural news.

KVNU remains in operation as of 2019, operating as a news and talk radio station.

(For a detailed history of KVNU’s early history, see James Kay Randall’s “Early History of KVNU Radio and Its early Involvement with Radio Broadcasting from Utah State University” in the Bullen Family Papers (USU COLL MSS 378, Series II, Box 9, Fd. 7)