Jennifer didn’t want to live anymore. Plagued for years, blaming herself for her baby’s death, she felt that if she hadn’t slept in on her day off, her baby wouldn’t have died in her sleep. Ten years of shame led to a dark night; drunk and ready to kill herself, she stumbled out of her home and heard someone listening to an Adventist radio station, 89.5 KTSY in Boise, playing a song that started out, “Hello, my name is regret. I’m pretty sure we have met … . These are the voices, these are the lies, and I have believed them for the very last time … .”
The words broke through the darkness, and she heard the still small voice saying, “This family, they can help. Listen.” Jennifer is alive today and a follower of Jesus because of someone playing a song in their car one night that saved her life.
That is just one story God has created in a 25-year legacy of this little Adventist radio station, 89.5 KTSY-FM. It all began in 1990 with a dream and a group of high school students.
KTSY was originally going to be just a low-power, on-campus radio station at a high school, but through the leadership of a pastor, Roger Johnson, the station obtained a full-power license and transmitter, and through the early fundraising of Leon Cornforth and Al McDowell, the station was given just enough to get started.
Mike Agee was found as the first general manager. When he was being interviewed, he asked that famous question, “Do you want a radio station for the church or one that will impact culture?” It was that question that determined the course of KTSY.
On Oct. 18, 2015, KTSY threw a party celebrating God’s legacy of the past 25 years. Mike Agee, now Southwestern Adventist University (Keene, Texas) communication department chairman and station manager of The Journey, along with early KTSY staffers Ty McFarland and Jerry Woods, came back to celebrate and remember.
This frontline ministry has expanded its reach be the number 2 radio station for women ages 25–54 in the Treasure Valley (the greater Boise metro), launched another radio station in Twin Falls, Idaho, as well as repeating stations across eastern Oregon and southern Idaho. It has won multiple national awards and received local recognition.
It’s the lives changed that matter. It’s the community that has been impacted, the open doors that lead to open conversations about Adventism and its key beliefs, the church it helped plant, and, most importantly, the souls that have been saved that are the greatest parts of God’s 25-year legacy. Find KTSY online at ktsy.org, thebridgeinteractive.org, Facebook.com/895KTSY and Facebook.com/TheBridgeTwinFalls.
The longest-serving staff members had a chance to connect. (From left) Ty McFarland, one of the first two high school students hired at KTSY, who has since helped launch the new station in Twin Falls, served at WGTS on the campus of Washington Adventist University in Takoma Park, Md., and is now at KSBJ in Houston, Texas; Mike Agee, KTSY's first general manager, who now is shaping new minds as communication department chairman at Southwestern Adventist University in Texas; Michelle Yeager, current morning show co-host, who started at KTSY in 2002; and Jerry Woods, longtime KTSY morning show host who is now at WGTS.
Don Klinger, longtime board chairman of KTSY, now retired; David and Ellen Prest, Idaho Conference president and his wife (respectively); and Bob Lang, KTSY business manager, celebrate 25 years of God’s legacy.
Steve and Sharon McPherson, Idaho Conference president during KTSY’s first 20 years, remembers the early days of KTSY with Mike Agee, the station's first general manager. Steve said, “Did you see all these people tonight? I’ve always said, if at the end of time people from all denominations and groups will come to this message, we better start talking to them now.”
Brian Yeager, KTSY general manager, facilitates a time of memories of the early days with former morning show host, Jerry Woods, one of the first high school students to help at KTSY; Ty McFarland; and Make Agee, the station's first general manager.
