KARI (550 kHz, "Word Radio") is a commercial AM

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

Blaine, Washington Blaine is a city in Whatcom County, Washington, Whatcom County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The city's northern boundary is the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. border; the Peace Arch international monument straddl ...

, United States, and serving

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

, and Northwest

Washington state Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

. It broadcasts a

Christian talk and teaching Christian radio refers to Christian media radio formats that focus on Christian religious broadcasting or various forms of Christian music. Many such formats and programs include contemporary Christian music, gospel music, sermons, radio dramas, ...

radio format A radio format or programming format (not to be confused with broadcast programming) describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. The radio format emerged mainly in the United States in the 1950s, at a time when Radio broadcasting, ...

and is owned by

Multicultural Broadcasting Multicultural Broadcasting is a media company based in New York City founded by Chinese-American businessman Arthur Liu. It caters mostly to the Asian American community and owns television and radio stations in several of the top markets in mu ...

. The

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter (often abbreviated as XMTR or TX in technical documents) is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna with the purpose of sig ...

is on Tracy Lane in Blaine, only a few miles from the

Canada–United States border The international border between Canada and the United States is the longest in the world by total length. The boundary (including boundaries in the Great Lakes, Atlantic, and Pacific coasts) is long. The land border has two sections: Canada' ...

. KARI broadcasts with 5,000

watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of Power (physics), power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantification (science), quantify the rate of Work ...

s by day and 2,500 watts at night, using a

directional antenna A directional antenna or beam antenna is an antenna that radiates or receives greater radio wave power in specific directions. Directional antennas can radiate radio waves in beams, when greater concentration of radiation in a certain directio ...

pointed at the

Greater Vancouver Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term ''Greater Vancouver'' describes an area that is roughly coterminous with the r ...

radio market. For listeners in Blaine, the station has a 45-watt

FM translator A broadcast relay station, also known as a satellite station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator (U.S.), re-broadcaster (Canada), repeater ( two-way radio) or complementary station (Mexico), is a broadcast transmitter which repeats (or tr ...

at 95.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

, K239CY. The station has a brokered programming plan, where national and local preachers buy time on the station and may seek donations to their ministries during their shows. Programs include "Let the Bible Speak" with Ian Goligher,

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is an American Christian fundamentalism, Evangelical Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of Evangel ...

, Grace to You, In Touch Ministries, Turning Point and Thru the Bible Radio.

History

On October 1, 1956, George A. Wilson and L. N. Ostrander, doing business as the Birch Bay Broadcasting Company, filed an application for a construction permit to build a new 500-watt, daytime-only radio station in Blaine, originally specifying 930 kHz. ( Guide to reading History Cards) It was dismissed, amended to specify 550 kHz, and reinstated in late 1957; a hearing examiner recommended its approval in 1958 as the first radio service for Blaine despite causing some minor interference to KVI, and the FCC granted the permit on June 18, 1959. From a site on a field near Birch Bay, overlooking Drayton Harbor and White Rock, British Columbia, KARI debuted on February 12, 1960. Soon after starting up, KARI filed to go full-time and increase power to 5,000 watts daytime and 1,000 watts nighttime. This was approved by the FCC in two steps: the daytime authorization in May 1963 and nighttime service in January 1964. On August 1, the improved facility was activated. Birch Bay Broadcasting was also busy expanding its service. In 1962, it obtained a construction permit to build an FM station on

Orcas Island Orcas Island () is the largest of the San Juan Islands of the Pacific Northwest, in northwestern Washington, United States. History and naming of the island The name "Orcas" is a shortened form of ''Horcasitas,'' from Juan Vicente de Güemes P ...

, which went on the air as KERI in July 1965. From its first day on air, KARI (pronounced "carry") carried "an abundance of religious programs". This made it a new offering to the vast majority of the listeners in its service area, across the border on Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia; Canada did not permit religious radio stations until the mid-1990s. Within a year of starting up, KARI was a full-time religious station, a format it continues to maintain. In addition to U.S. public affairs programming, it catered to the Canadian listener base by airing Canadian newscasts. In 2000, after 40 years of ownership, Birch Bay sold KARI to Way Broadcasting, a subsidiary of

, for $3 million. The sale also included an unbuilt construction permit for a station at 1600 kHz.

References

External links

* * {{Religious Radio Stations in Washington ARI (AM) Radio stations established in 1960 1960 establishments in Washington (state) Multicultural Broadcasting stations