Our Story Started…
In the summer of 1987, Bob Dick read an article about Mother Angelica, a Poor Clare nun who had started a television ministry in 1981 from her monastery in Alabama. They were broadcasting Catholic programming to satellite and cable systems 4 hours a day and were gearing up to go 24 hours a day in preparation for the visit to America by Pope John Paul II. The article encouraged people to contact their cable system managers to carry this network, Eternal Word Television Network..
Bob was encouraged by this opportunity and began contacting Heritage Cablevision in Des Moines who was supplying cable television in Marshalltown. The manager was not open to carrying EWTN and so in 1990 Bob bought a satellite dish and began taping programs from EWTN and making them available at St Henry Church.
In 1997 Bob joined a city committee to renegotiate the cable television contract between Marshalltown and the cable company, which was now TCI, out of Colorado. Bob wanted to represent the Catholic interest in EWTN and helped bring in a consultant to represent the city in the negotiations. This proved successful and EWTN was added to the new cable lineup which was begun in the Jubilee Year 2000.
In 2001 a representative from EWTN contacted Bob about a new media opportunity. The FCC was going to begin taking applications for low power FM radio stations. The EWTN representative explained how with computer technology, a station of this type could be started and operated on a very low budget and staff. Bob agreed to give this new opportunity a try, first asking Deacons Irv Vaske and Roger Polt to join him and they formed a tax exempt corporation, Marshalltown Association for Catholic Education and Evangelization. While waiting for the FCC to grant their license, a site was located for their studio, satellite dish and antenna. Then the group informed the two local pastors and received the blessing of the Archbishop of Dubuque, Jerome Hanus. Next they began raising enough funds to begin the station, which were donated by parishioners by St Henry and St Mary Churches. The Board of Directors decided that the programming would come from EWTN so that the new station could supply both English and Spanish programs.
On December 23, 2003, KCRM 96.7 FM went on the air broadcasting Catholic programs - 18 hours a day of English and 6 hours a day in Spanish. Local public service announcements were also broadcast throughout the day to serve the local Catholic community. Sponsorships from local Catholic businesses were secured which provided funding for ongoing expenses.
In order to expand the programming choices on KCRM, in 2008, Catholic Radio of Marshalltown installed another satellite dish and added programs from Relevant Radio throughout the day. This allowed KCRM to carry the best programs from each Network and incorporate them into the daily schedule. Hourly local announcements from both churches, Catholic School, pro-life committee and Knights of Columbus also help give the KCRM a local flavor to complement the Catholic network programming.
As local programming is always important, to better serve the local Catholic community, KCRM began broadcasting the weekend Mass from St Henry Church in Marshalltown. Volunteers record, edit and set up the recorded Mass to play each Sunday evening at 9:00. More local programming was added in 2013, when KCRM began producing and airing a weekly program, “Central Iowa Catholics,” a half hour interview with a Catholic leader from the area.
In 2013, when the FCC took another round of applications for low power FM stations, the local Knights of Columbus organization applied for a license, which was granted in 2014. On November 18, 2015, Radio Catolica de Marshalltown was begun with the Spanish station KDNH, 101.5FM. So two separate FM Catholic stations now existed, KCRM (English) and KDNH (Spanish)
When the July 19, 2018 tornado struck Marshalltown, much of Marshalltown Catholic Radio’s infrastructure was lost, as the tower with the antennas, all of KCRM studio including equipment and much of the building where the operation was housed, was destroyed. The KDNH studio survived its equipment was used to set up an internet stream for the two stations, providing some on air presence while the stations recovered.
Finding a new site proved to be difficult as office space became a premium in Marshalltown after the tornado, especially with close proximity of a tower to hold the antennas. General Manager Deacon Roger Polt, searched out number of potential sites which didn’t work out. But then in Spring of 2019, the group learned of space which would be opening up at the St Henry Parish Center for a new studio. New technology was now available to send a signal from the studio over the internet to a tower, and an available tower site was located which could be used for the antennas.
With those three developments, the group could proceed with setting up a new operation and began ordering equipment to gear up for resuming broadcast operations with the goal of beating the one year off-air period deadline of July 19. The group moved into the new studio, equipment was set up, tested and a broadcast signal from both stations resumed on July 15!
New enhancements for both stations include internet streaming and Facebook pages.
So God’s on…Tune in!
Here is the article written by Sara Jordan-Heintz of the Marshalltown Times Republican:
HEADLINES: Local Catholic radio stations return to the airwaves
TODAYS NEWS
JUL 24, 2019
SARA JORDAN-HEINTZ
Staff Writer
Tuesday Afternoon,
Chamber ambassadors held a ribbon cutting at St. Henry Catholic Church’s parish center to honor Catholic radio returning to the airwaves. Deacon Roger Polt cuts the ribbon while Bob Dick holds the Chamber’s Certificate of Appreciation.
After the July 2018 tornado tore through the city, the sound of silence was heard over the airwaves of the two local Catholic radio stations — 96.7-KCRM FM (English) and 101.5-KDNH FM (Spanish). Now, the stations are back over the airwaves, working out of a studio located inside the St. Henry Catholic Church parish office, 221 W. Olive St.
When the roof fell in on its previous site, 207 E. Main St., the volunteers who run the radio stations looked for ways to get the programming back on the air. Nearly all its studio, broadcasting equipment, satellite receivers, transmitters and tower paraphernalia were lost.
“We had one computer that was saved so we figured out a way to broadcast and stream online within a few weeks after the tornado, but we hadn’t had an FM brodcast until now,” said Deacon Roger Polt, general manager.
Finding new office space and a place in which to set up a tower proved challenging.
“It took so long because office space became a premium in town because of the damaged buildings,” Bob Dick, president of Marshalltown Catholic Radio said. “Because we’re low budget, we had to look for a place for our studio and a close tower with it. Those just didn’t exist. To put up a new tower would have required going through the city council, and we couldn’t put one at the church because it’s a residential area.”
The solution was to put transmitters and antennas up at a tower site on Iowa Avenue East.
“We thought if we don’t have our own tower, we don’t have to pay for putting it up, the upkeep and insurance coverage, so we decided to go that route,” Dick said.
However, this requires the technology of sending the signal over the Internet from the parish office out to Iowa Avenue. The stations’ signal travels about a 10-mile radius.
Chamber Ambassadors visited the studio Tuesday afternoon for an official ribbon cutting ceremony.
“Roger and the crew at KCRM have been working on getting back on the air for the last year — it’s exciting to be celebrating with them just after the one-year anniversary (of the tornado),” Lynn Olberding, president and CEO of the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce said.
Dick said the stations both focus on prayer and talk radio. However, the Spanish one does incorporate some music into its programming.
“Everything is programmed from two sources: EWTN and Relevant Radio,”Dick said. “But the last four to five minutes of the hour is available to put in local content. Mass from Saint Henry’s is broadcast at 9 p.m. every Sunday night.”
Polt hosts a half hour program called “Central Iowa Catholics” which airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 p.m.
The stations want to continue to grow.
“We hope to add more local programming on both stations as we go forward,” Polt said. “All of the talk, Q&A, devotional and discussion from the two Catholic networks is great, but we want to offer more local programming to be a greater part of the community.”
Dick said volunteers LeRoy Jero and Bob Cook were essential in helping the stations rebuild.
The 96.7-KCRM FM station was established in 2003, and 101.5-KDNH FM started in 2015. For more information, Dick may be reached at ridmd1@msn.com.
Our Mission
To glorify God, Catholic Radio of Marshalltown strives to bring quality orthodox Catholic programming to the local community in the Marshalltown area via the radio airwaves, and to send that same programming around the world via the Internet.
What We've Achieved
Since 2003 we have broadcast English and Spanish programming from EWTN and Relevant Radio along with local announcements. In 2012 we introduced local programming with a broadcast of the recorded edition of the weekend Mass from St Henry Church and in 2013 we began a half hour weekly program entitled “Central Iowa Catholics.” A Spanish station, KDNH, was started in November, 2015. Internet streaming for both stations began in July, 2019.