"This is K-Life radio. Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life.’ KLYF low-power, Coquille.”
At 2:19 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 5, a nearly four-year project for the Coquille (Ore.) Church came to fulfillment when KLYF-FM officially went on the air broadcasting the Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) programs throughout the Coquille Valley. The 100-watt signal reaches all of Coquille plus neighboring towns of Myrtle Point, Fairview, Coaledo, Greenacres and parts of Bandon and Powers.
This project actually began in January 2000 as the dream of a church member, Fred Anderson. Broadcasting God’s word to the people in the surrounding communities was his goal. It didn’t look feasible, but Anderson was insistent that we should do this as a church.
The church started to catch Anderson's vision. Don Gladden, pastor, commented, “We can do this! This would be an awesome outreach for our church. There’s a lot of people in our community who will never walk in the doors of the church voluntarily, but they can hear our messages driving in their cars and hear it in their homes. There are people who can’t sleep at night, and they can turn on the radio and there’s 3ABN. We can touch their lives 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
The church board and church business meeting approved the idea. At last, on June 15, 2001, the application for the low-power FM radio station was filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Nearly a year later, FCC approval of the application was received. The Coquille Church could begin broadcasting to the local area.
Next, all the preliminary work began. A radio board was selected and had its first meeting in October 2002. Coquille Christian Radio, Inc. was chosen as the official name of the radio company. Concrete for the radio tower foundation and guy wire supports was poured that December. Next was an eight-month wait for the construction permit.
Finally, on July 30, 2003, Gladden received a phone call that the FCC had approved the construction permit. The order was placed for the 190-foot transmission tower and it arrived in Coquille six weeks later.
Choosing a call sign was difficult because many of the call letters selected were already in use. In August, the congregation chose KLYF. In addition, (541) 396-KLYF was obtained for the station’s telephone number.
Installation of the 10-section radio tower began on Sept. 28. The project was completed on Oct. 5 with the attaching of the antenna and transmission cable. During this time, church members volunteered many hours to complete the final tasks of the project.
Future plans include rebroadcasting the Sabbath worship service, a weekly gospel music program hosted by Charlie Roesel, a Bible story-hour and interviews with church members in the mission field.
This is a project that the entire church has completed through the guidance of God. Gladden said, “Unless God blesses KLYF, it will be just another radio station.” With this in mind, the radio station was dedicated for God’s use on Oct. 11.
