T-R PHOTO BY SARA JORDAN-HEINTZ Tuesday afternoon, Chamber ambassadors held a ribbon cutting at St. Henry Catholic Church’s parish center to honor Catholic radio returning to the airwaves. Deacon Roger Polt cuts the ribbon while Bob Dick holds the Chamber’s Certificate of Appreciation.

After the July 2018 tornado tore through the city, the sound of silence was heard over the airwaves of the two local Catholic radio stations — 96.7-KCRM FM (English) and 101.5-KDNH FM (Spanish). Now, the stations are back over the airwaves, working out of a studio located inside the St. Henry Catholic Church parish office, 221 W. Olive St.

When the roof fell in on its previous site, 207 E. Main St., the volunteers who run the radio stations looked for ways to get the programming back on the air. Nearly all its studio, broadcasting equipment, satellite receivers, transmitters and tower paraphernalia were lost.

“We had one computer that was saved so we figured out a way to broadcast and stream online within a few weeks after the tornado, but we hadn’t had an FM brodcast until now,” said Deacon Roger Polt, general manager.

Finding new office space and a place in which to set up a tower proved challenging.

“It took so long because office space became a premium in town because of the damaged buildings,” Bob Dick, president of Marshalltown Catholic Radio said. “Because we’re low budget, we had to look for a place for our studio and a close tower with it. Those just didn’t exist. To put up a new tower would have required going through the city council, and we couldn’t put one at the church because it’s a residential area.”

The solution was to put transmitters and antennas up at a tower site on Iowa Avenue East.

“We thought if we don’t have our own tower, we don’t have to pay for putting it up, the upkeep and insurance coverage, so we decided to go that route,” Dick said.

However, this requires the technology of sending the signal over the Internet from the parish office out to Iowa Avenue. The stations’ signal travels about a 10-mile radius.

Chamber Ambassadors visited the studio Tuesday afternoon for an official ribbon cutting ceremony.

“Roger and the crew at KCRM have been working on getting back on the air for the last year — it’s exciting to be celebrating with them just after the one-year anniversary (of the tornado),” Lynn Olberding, president and CEO of the Marshalltown Area Chamber of Commerce said.

Dick said the stations both focus on prayer and talk radio. However, the Spanish one does incorporate some music into its programming.

“Everything is programmed from two sources: EWTN and Relevant Radio,” Dick said. “But the last four to five minutes of the hour is available to put in local content. Mass from Saint Henry’s is broadcast at 9 p.m. every Sunday night.”

Polt hosts a half hour program called “Central Iowa Catholics” which airs Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 p.m.

The stations want to continue to grow.

“We hope to add more local programming on both stations as we go forward,” Polt said. “All of the talk, Q&A, devotional and discussion from the two Catholic networks is great, but we want to offer more local programming to be a greater part of the community.”

Dick said volunteers LeRoy Jero and Bob Cook were essential in helping the stations rebuild.

The 96.7-KCRM FM station was established in 2003, and 101.5-KDNH FM started in 2015. For more information, Dick may be reached at rjdmd1@msn.com.

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Contact Sara Jordan-Heintz

at 641-753-6611 or

sjordan@timesrepublican.com