About Heaven 88.7

Heaven 88.7 FM is a 100,000 watt FM Christian broadcaster with the call sign KFBN.

We are licensed and operated under the Master’s Baptist College of Fargo and are a commercial free- listener supported radio station. The station has kept a format consisting of sacred music and brief Bible instructional programs.

Heaven 88.7 FM is broadcasted at a height of 930′ from a tower site near Amenia, ND. The studio is in Fargo. Currently the signal is being received 100 miles away in most of eastern North Dakota and North Western Minnesota. Broadcasting is 24 hours a day.

Our hope is for people within a certain listening area who are not receiving our signal very strongly, to perhaps get together and pool their resources to bring a translator into their area. Our station will gladly consent to allowing our signal to be used; but due to substantial expenses on our end, we would not be able to underwrite the cost. If you know of a group of people in your area who may be interested in this project, please contact our station.

Our History

Back around 1990 Fargo Baptist Church became burdened for a non-contemporary Christian radio station in the upper Midwest. We spent years praying and talking about it. In the mid-90s we began to inquire into getting a frequency and hired a radio engineer in Peoria, IL.
The original intent was to get a small 6000-watt station that would reach most of Fargo-Moorhead. The engineer got back to us to let us know that he could actually make it a 50,000-watt station, to which we agreed. A few days laterhe called again and said he could actually design us a 100,000- watt FM station which is the highest power available. He determined the FM frequency would need to be 88.7. Heaven 88.7 was born.
We then filed for a construction permit with the FCC and received one shortly after. 1997 was spent getting educated on how to put an FM radio station together. We found a retired ‘radio man’ in Wisconsin who was happy to advise us. He had heard about a transmitter that was in a snowstorm in Nebraska and had some water damage and was totaled out by the insurance company. A new transmitter was over $50,000. We salvaged the damaged one for free, refurbished it for $25 and used it for the next 19 years of broadcasting.
Back to 1997. After spending hundreds of hours on the phone getting advice from helpful people in the broadcasting industry we determined to purchase a 100-foot Shively brand antenna. We also purchased a 1000 foot roll of three-inch coaxial cable, saving $9,500 (long story).

One by one we put all the pieces of equipment together. In the meantime we found a local radio technician who was able to convert the salvaged transmitter from a frequency of 107.9 to our own beloved 88.7 FM.
In September of 1997 we secured an office on the top floor of the Black Building in downtown Fargo. A crew of church men welded two satellite dish stands together. The only way to get them on the rooftop of the Black Building was to rig up a lift to pull them up the side of the building from the back alley. It was quite an endeavor.
In October of 1997 the pastor and two other men in the church assisted the tower crew out at the tower site near Amenia, North Dakota climbing the tower with them to help rig the tower with the 3-inch coaxial cable. The 100-foot antenna and radomes (ice-shields) were mounted to the north side of the tower with the top of the antenna at 930 feet. The next few weeks were spent hooking up the rest of the equipment.
It was mid-November when the ‘moment of truth’ came. It was a Friday night around 10:00 PM when the technician who was working out at the tower site flipped the switch.

Back in town we turned on our radios to the frequency of 88.7FM and Heaven 88.7 was on the air! We spent that Thanks-giving thanking the Lord and testing everything out. With clearance from the FCC we officially flipped the switch at 6:00 AM on Monday morning December 1st and have been on the air ever since over the past twenty years. To God be the glory!

-Pastor Tony Scheving, General Manager, Heaven 88.7FM

Message from the Station Manager

The last two decades have been some of the most changing years for radio. From reel-to-reel, to CD’s, to full computer automation, the means of bringing music and programs to the listeners has improved. Unfortunately, in the same time, many of the stations that brought God-honoring music to communities across the United States have declined, and many cities have no good options.
We praise the Lord that he’s allowed us to continue to broadcast, through the faithful support of our listeners. Thank you for your part in keeping the Gospel in front of the Fargo-Moorhead area through your support and prayers. The station has been instrumental in the salvation, growth, and encouragement of many people. We’ll never know until Heaven how many have been affected. I’m looking forward to the decades ahead!

-Joshua Lindsey, Station Manager, Heaven 88.7FM

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