(Jan. 31, 2014 - by Harold Goerzen and Bonnie Lafitte) Since the late 1970s missionary broadcasters have had a vision to blanket the entire U.S.-Mexico border with Spanish Christian radio programs. That dream came a step closer to reality earlier this month with the launch of a station in Del Rio, Texas.
With the completion of KVFE, Inspiracom (formerly World Radio Network, one of Reach Beyond’s partner ministries) operates stations at ”every major border crossing except San Diego/Tijuana,” says Inspiracom CEO Glenn Lafitte.
“On the afternoon of Thursday, Jan. 2, I had the privilege of being at the KVFE tower and transmitter building when the transmitter was turned on,” said Florence Tingle at Inspiracom’s headquarters in McAllen, Texas.
The next day she was among those who heard the first live broadcasts, reaching a potential audience of 200,000 within the signal’s 75-mile radius in both Del Rio and across the border in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.
“What an exciting and blessed time that was,” Tingle added. The 50,000-watt, 24-hour, Spanish-language station can be heard at 88.5 FM. “The delay at the end was the need for one more connecting part that we needed to order. It arrived after the electricity had been hooked up, and we went on the air.” Kitty Stinson, Inspiracom’s chief operating officer, said the first sound to go on the air was a broadcast test to meet Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules. Then came music, followed by “Cantos de Mi Tierra” (Songs of My Land), a program by Mariana Romero of Inspiracom station KNOG in Nogales, Ariz.
The new station, about 150 miles west of San Antonio, culminated 15 years of prayer and planning as Inspiracom first applied for a construction permit in 1999. For years that application sat on a desk, partly because the FCC had put a lid on all radio station applications for several years.
“Permission was finally granted on Feb. 4, 2011, and the station has been built from the ground up since that time,” Lafitte explained. “It would take several books to describe all it took to get KVFE up and running. People worked together for years.”
Inspiracom, which includes 14 border stations and a satellite network, was started by HCJB Global (now Reach Beyond) with a single English-language station, KVMV, in 1978. Between 1984 and 2000 another dozen (mostly Spanish-language) stations were added in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
“Pray that many would come to know Christ and that those who already know Him would be strengthened in their faith by listening to KVFE,” Lafitte said. “What a joy it is to be on the air.”
Source: Inspiracom
Colorado Springs, CO 80949-9800
800.873.4859