The station signed on the air on August 31, 1956; 68 years ago (1956-08-31). The original call sign was KAIM, broadcasting on 870 kilocycles with 5,000 watts. It was owned by the Christian Broadcasting Association and had a Christian radio format.
Salem Media bought KAIM in 2000 and wanted to take the station off the air. That would allow its sister station in Los Angeles, KRLA870 AM, to increase its nighttime power. At the last minute, Salem management decided to reduce KHCM's power, shift its frequency to 880 kHz and let the Honolulu station continue broadcasting.
In 2004, Salem bought Modern Rock outlet 97.5 KPOI (FM) and flipped it to a Talk radio format, the first FM talk station in Hawaii. KAIM 880 became its simulcast after the switch was made. On September 3, 2007, Country music outlet KHCM, also owned by Salem Media, switched from 690 AM to both 880 AM to 97.5 FM, keeping its format intact. Salem, in turn, moved the talk radio format and the callsign KHNR to 690 AM.
On July 1, 2009, after nearly 3 years of simulcasting, KHCM 880 split from KHCM-FM 97.5. The AM station adopted a Chinese-language format, calling itself "Radio China International." The format targets Honolulu's growing Chinese-American population in both Mandarin Chinese and English. In addition to the Chinese programming, KHCM also broadcasts some Japanese-language and Korean-language shows.
