K-LIFE FM
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April 2, 2007 We're on the air at full power! Saturday around noon, one of our engineers, Chris Hill, turned up the power to full blast and the new transmitter was cranking out the tunes. Here he is with engineer Tom King watching closely. |
It has been a long road, full of bumps and turns, but now K-LIFE 89.3 FM is at its best. In fact, we're better off than we were with our old transmitter, even when it was performing at its full potential. That's because 40 years of engineering advancements have done a lot for transmitters. What this means to our Central Coast listeners is that you can hear K-LIFE in some spots that were shaky, such as on the edges of our signal area, inside thick-walled buildings and on your modest clock radio. Actually, the signal is stronger and fuller everywhere that 89.3 FM is heard on the Central Coast. Thank you for your prayers and gifts of financial support. Let's shout out a big "AMEN!" March 30, 2007 The day we’ve been waiting for is here. Bright and early, our three faithful project engineers (Chris, Tom and Robert) made their way up the hill to do the final work on our 89.3 FM transmitter. The unit has been sitting in place for three weeks now, but we’ve been awaiting the arrival of the much-needed filter.
Chris says that they may have the transmitter on the air by the end of the day. Please pray for these guys. This is not a simple installation. There are technical tasks that most of us can’t even begin to understand. Once the transmitter is on the air, we will have graduated from a 1960s dinosaur that fried to a state-of-the-art solid state unit in less than four months. We trust that we will be able to serve our listeners more consistently and with higher quality as a result. Thank you to all who have made gifts of support to fund this project, which will cost over $50,000 when all is said and done. We hope to post some pictures of the final installation after Chris, Tom and Robert come down off the hill. Our hearts are filled with praise and thanksgiving to God for taking a bad situation and turning it around to something grand.
March 13, 2007 We're almost there! Our technical experts have been on the hill once or twice a week to get the final work done on the installation. Here's engineer Chris Hill working on the transmitter Saturday. We are awaiting one last piece that will complete the project. In fact, this has been a "hurry up and wait" scenario for a couple weeks. The piece was shipped yesterday from the East Coast and is expected to arrive by early next week. The new date for final hook-up is scheduled for March 23. Hang in there Central Coast. 89.3 FM will be fully operational before you know it. Thanks to everyone for your prayers. Please keep it up. We need them.
February 23, 2007 It's on the hill! Chris Hill continues to volunteer his time, even taking time off from work today to be there. He has been a Godsend to coordinate this project as a skilled engineer. He just called me with the news that the transmitter has been dropped off and is in the building. We couldn't have asked for better weather, especially with all the rain we have been having. The last piece of the puzzle is the band-pass filter (which keeps other stations from interfering with our station), which will arrive March 7, so tentatively, the final work will be done on March 9. Chris says there is about a day of work to do to assemble the transmitter and do the wiring. Praise God for Pete Timm, a licensed electrician, who rewired the entire room, which was sorely needed. And Craig Hughes, who built the platform for the transmitter, to keep it safely off the floor. The Lord continues to put things and people together.
February 5, 2007 The transmitter is ready to be shipped from Illinois! We received word late last week that it is built and ready to go. We are planning on a February 19 arrival. Our engineer, Chris Hill, decided to skip the Super Bowl yesterday and do some site prep. He worked into the evening getting some wiring done and all those other things that engineers do. Bless you, Chris, for volunteering your valuable services. A friend of the ministry, Pete Timm, an electrical contractor, will be traveling two hours to do the "big stuff" when it comes to getting the electrical work done. We have to overhaul the electrical set-up there to bring things up to speed. And thanks to another friend of the ministry, Craig Hughes, for building a massive wooden platform to rest the transmitter on when it arrives. We feel that we should keep the unit off the ground in case of water leakage into the old transmitter building. A lot is going on behind the scenes to prepare for the installation. Please pray for all the details. Thanks!
January 17, 2007 It’s ordered! Yesterday, we were able to send off payment in full for a new transmitter for 89.3 FM. After weeks of research, prayer, discussions and counsel from engineers, we made a decision we feel so good about. We will soon have a transmitter in place that will serve us for years to come. When Digital Radio comes around, this transmitter is easily upgradeable, and already comes with some digital components. Above right is a picture of the new transmitter that should be installed by the end of February. To God be the glory for His provision!
January 9, 2007 Decisions, decisions. A transmitter ranks up there as one of the biggest purchases a radio station can make, so we do it with much research, prayer and discussion. We were almost certain last week which one we were going to order, but new information has come out way and we are reconsidering. Our Board of Directors will be meeting by conference call later this week to discuss the new information and the options before us. By the end of the meeting, we hope to have a final decision made. Yes, it is a few days delay, but it is a decision we will have to live with for the next decade or two. We want God’s assurance and wisdom as we move forward. So, you can pray for our Board as they seek God and make the choice on which transmitter to purchase. We are still looking at a February installation.
January 2, 2007 It hardly seems like it was just over three weeks ago that our 89.3 FM transmitter died in that power surge. What started as a disaster has turned out to be one of the biggest blessings we have ever seen at K-LIFE. The outpouring of support and care by listeners, and even those outside our listening area, has been amazing.
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December 26, 2006 God moved in a dramatic way over Christmas weekend at K-LIFE. Never before had anyone given $5,000 in cash to K-LIFE-- until it happened right before Christmas. It was anonymous, with a note, "May God bless your work, and a new transmitter."
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December 19, 2006 Here’s the latest news on the K-LIFE transmitter situation. As you may know, on December 9, our 89.3 FM transmitter, which serves the Central Coast area, was hit by a power surge and damaged beyond repair. However...
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December 12, 2006 On Saturday, December 9, the K-LIFE 89.3 FM transmitter was hit by a power surge during a storm. We were knocked off the air and the transmitter has been destroyed. Our engineer has been able to get us back on the air at low power, using our pre-amp and a borrowed amplifier. We are at 25% power and have limited coverage on the Central Coast. We had already been raising funds for a new transmitter for the past few months, as we knew that our aging transmitter was on its last legs. The power surge finished off the old faithful transmitter. Here are our plans
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Donations from $20 to $7,000 were made. Individuals, churches and even another radio station responded to the urgent need. In the final days of the year, online gifts poured in, too. On Friday, the last day of the year our office was open, people walked in with their checks. $50, $200, $2,000. It was like Christmas all over again. Everyone wanted to be part of meeting the need. 
Our board and staff shouted praises to God as the news spread to us in different locations over the long Christmas weekend. We hadn’t even come down from that one, but God wasn’t done yet.On Christmas Day itself, one of our Board members was handed a check for $7,000 for the transmitter. There aren’t enough words to express the kind of joy, thanksgiving and praise we can give to God over this. In fact, it leaves us speechless. 
God is working. First of all, we’ve been able to stay on the air at 25% power with a borrowed transmitter. Secondly, technicians from all over the West have volunteered their expertise as we’re researching and choosing a new transmitter. This is a decision we’ll have to live with for a decade or two, so it’s big. Third, we’ve had an engineering team volunteer their time to install the new transmitter when it arrives, saving us hundreds of dollars. And fourth, gifts of financial support have come in just about every day, including a $5,000 gift from another Christian station out of the area.
