KHRT (1320 AM) was a

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, ...

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 was one of two religious stations, along with

KHRT-FM KHTZ (106.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is a radio station located in Minot, North Dakota. It is owned by Joseph Goldade's RadioDifferently LLC. From 1992 until 2024, KHRT-FM was a contemporary Christian music station owned by Faith Broadcasting Inc. ...

, owned and operated in Minot by Faith Broadcasting Inc. KHRT concentrated on a southern gospel 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. The station went on the air in 1957 as KQDY, became KHRT in 1964, and closed down in 2024. 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, Inc. acted as a nonprofit organization using commercial advertisements for funding, though it also took donations.

History

Early years

Walter N. Nelskog, Paul Crain, Delbert Bertholf, and D. Gene Williams,

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is fictitious business name. Registering the fictitious name with ...

Dakota Broadcasters, applied for a new 1,000-watt daytime-only station on 1320 kHz in Minot in late 1956. The principals owned stations in Washington, Oregon, and Montana, and concurrently applied for a station on 1350 kHz at Bismarck. The Minot

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 in June 1957, issued the

call sign In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally as ...

KQDY, and went on the air November 17. Nelskog sold his 25-percent interest in the station to Crain for $12,000 in 1959, giving Crain a 50 percent stake; concurrently, Crain also bought Nelskog's stake in KUDI in

Great Falls, Montana Great Falls is the List of cities and towns in Montana, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Cascade County, Montana, Cascade County. The population was 60,442 according to the 2020 United States census, 2 ...

, and Nelskog bought Crain's interest in KQTY in

Everett, Washington Everett (; ) is the county seat and most populous city of Snohomish County, Washington, United States. It is north of Seattle and is one of the main cities in the Seattle metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the Puget Sound region. Everett ...

. Later that year, station manager H.T. Searle acquired a 25-percent stake in Dakota Broadcasters, with Crain's stake returning to 25 percent. Jack W. Birchill, a KUDI employee, took a stake in KQDY in 1960.

Christian radio

Dakota Broadcasters sold KQDY to the non-profit People's Radio Association for $92,500 in 1964. Three of the new owners' principals—Gordon L. Beck, Gerald M. Swanson, and A. Orville Helgeson—were associated with religious groups, with Swanson and Helgeson having respectively served as the program director and general manager of

KGDN KSPO (1050 kHz) is an AM radio station licensed to Dishman, Washington and serves the greater Spokane media market. The station is owned by Thomas R. Read, through licensee Liberty Broadcasting System, LLC, and is the flagship for the American ...

in Seattle; the fourth, J. Merrill Tannehill, was a farmer. The new owners changed the call sign to KHRT on September 17, 1964. In late 1966, the station's license was transferred to a

trustee in bankruptcy A trustee in bankruptcy is an entity, often an individual, in charge of administering a bankruptcy estate. Canada In Canada, a licensed insolvency trustee (LIT) is an individual or a corporation licensed by the official superintendent to hold ...

, R. P. Kephart; the following year, KHRT manager Harold R. Christensen bought the station via KHRT Broadcasting Corporation for $108,000. Richard B. Leavitt's Faith Broadcasting Inc. bought KHRT for $188,248 in 1982. Leavitt, a former salesman for the station, acquired it after Christensen told him during a Sunday school class that KHRT was for sale and was considering dropping its

format. Leavitt added an FM sister station,

, in 1992.

Expanded Band assignment

On March 17, 1997, the

(FCC) announced that 88 stations had been given permission to move to newly available " Expanded Band" transmitting frequencies, ranging from 1610 to 1700 kHz, with KHRT authorized to move from 1320 to 1620 kHz."FCC Public Notice: Mass Media Bureau Announces Revised AM Expanded Band Allotment Plan and Filing Window for Eligible Stations"
(FCC DA 97-537), March 17, 1997. However, the construction permit needed to implement the authorization was cancelled on December 22, 2000, so the expanded band assignment was never built.

Closure

On July 31, 2024, both KHRT and KHRT-FM signed off the air 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; the stations by this point were managed by his son Roy. While Faith Broadcasting would sell KHRT-FM to RadioDifferently LLC, no buyer was found for the AM station. On February 24, 2025, coinciding with the planned completion of KHRT-FM's sale, Faith Broadcasting requested the cancellation of the KHRT AM license, which occurred on February 27. Faith Broadcasting continued to seek buyers for the station's equipment and office furniture.

References

External links

*
FCC History Cards for KHRT
(covering 1958-1980 as KQDY / KHRT) 1957 establishments in North Dakota 2025 disestablishments in North Dakota HRT Defunct religious radio stations in the United States HRT Radio stations disestablished in 2025 Radio stations established in 1957 HRT {{Christian-radio-station-stub