KHTZ (106.9 FM) is a radio station located in

Minot, North Dakota Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 2 ...

. It is owned by Joseph Goldade's RadioDifferently LLC. From 1992 until 2024, KHRT-FM was a

contemporary Christian music Contemporary Christian music (CCM), also known as Christian pop, and occasionally inspirational music, is a genre of modern popular music, and an aspect of Christian media, which is lyrically focused on matters related to the Christianity, Chri ...

station owned by Faith Broadcasting Inc.; it was one of two

Christian radio 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, ...

stations in Minot, along with co-owned

KHRT KHRT (1320 AM broadcasting, AM) was a Christian radio station located in Minot, North Dakota. It was one of two religious stations, along with KHRT-FM, owned and operated in Minot by Faith Broadcasting Inc. KHRT concentrated on a southern gospe ...

. The KHRT stations ceased operations in 2024 for financial reasons; KHRT-FM was sold to Goldade in 2025 and relaunched as KHTZ on April 1.

History

The initial application for the station was submitted by Richard B. Leavitt's Faith Broadcasting Inc., on February 24, 1987; the

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

was granted on December 13, 1990, and the call sign KHRT-FM was assigned on January 18, 1991. The station began regular broadcasting in June 1992 with a

format, operating from a tower south of Minot. KHRT-FM concentrated on a Christian

hot AC Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, ...

format, and also aired satellite-fed programming from

Salem Communications Salem Media Group, Inc. (formerly Salem Communications Corporation) is an American radio broadcaster, internet content provider, and magazine and book publisher based in Irving, Texas, targeting audiences interested in Christian values and wha ...

during overnights and weekends. Although classified as a

commercial radio Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship, for example. It was the United States' first model ...

station by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC), Faith Broadcasting acted as a nonprofit organization using commercial advertisements for funding, though it also took donations. On July 31, 2024, KHRT-FM, along with AM sister station

, ceased operations due to lack of funding and a downturn in advertising revenue; the licenses were put up for sale. The closure came four years after the death of Dick Leavitt, who had owned KHRT AM since 1982. By then, the stations were managed by his son Roy. In December 2024, Faith Broadcasting agreed to sell KHRT-FM to RadioDifferently LLC for $250,000; principal Joe Goldade, a Minot native, previously served as an on-air host for the Reiten Radio stations and a meteorologist for

KXMC-TV KXMC-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Minot, North Dakota, United States, serving as an affiliate of CBS and an owned-and-operated station of The CW Plus. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station has studios at the intersection of 2nd ...

before relocating to

Dayton, Minnesota Dayton is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin and Wright County, Minnesota, Wright counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 7,262 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. According to 2023 census estimates, t ...

, as a

Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic () is a Nonprofit organization, private American Academic health science centre, academic Medical centers in the United States, medical center focused on integrated health care, healthcare, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science ...

software engineer and solution architect. KHRT AM was not included in the sale and surrendered its license in February 2025. Goldade intends to relaunch KHRT-FM with an undisclosed new name and format that will include coverage of local news and high school and college sports. On March 26, 2025, the station's call sign will change to KHTZ. On April 1, 2025 at 8AM, following a brief tribute to the "Heart" format (in which Goldade played "

Place in This World "Place in This World" is a song by American musician Michael W. Smith, released in 1991 as the second single from his 1990 album '' Go West Young Man''. The song became his biggest success in mainstream music when it hit No. 6 on the ''Billboard ...

" by

Michael W. Smith Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) is an American musician who has charted in both contemporary Christian music, contemporary Christian and mainstream charts. His biggest success in mainstream music was in 1991 when "Place in This Worl ...

as a formal sign-off for the format), KHRT-FM returned to the air with a classic hits format, branded as "K-Hits 106" under new KHTZ call letters. The first songs on K-Hits were "

Start Me Up "Start Me Up" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones from their 1981 album '' Tattoo You''. Released as the album's lead single, it reached number one on Australian Kent Music Report, number two in Canada, number two on the ''B ...

" by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...

and "

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

" by

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

.K-Hits 106 Debuts in Minot
Radioinight - April 1, 2025

References

External links

KHTZ website
HTZ Radio stations established in 1992 1992 establishments in North Dakota HTZ {{NorthDakota-radio-station-stub