MANASSAS, VA (March 21, 2011) – The National Religious Broadcasters Association (NRB) presented its Milestone Award to KICY-AM radio during the international organization’s Convention & Exposition earlier this month. The Evangelical Covenant Church of Alaska operates station.
“I was certainly surprised when notified that KICY-AM had been chosen to receive an NRB Milestone Award,” said Dennis Weidler, station manager. “It is a real honor to be recognized for 50 years of Christian broadcasting.”
The award honors industry pioneers. In his remarks during a special banquet March 1, NRB President and CEO Frank Wright said, “Just a year after Alaska become admitted into the union, forward-thinking pastors founded KICY in the regional hub of Nome. More than five decades later, KICY’s signal still reaches Alaska and the Russian Far East with the life-giving words of the gospel.”
He recounted that on Easter Sunday 1960, KICY AM-850 signed on with the words, ‘Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.’ This fulfilled the dream of connecting the many villages of arctic, Western Alaska, with a radio station signal.
Today, KICY is a commercial, clear-channel 50,000-watt facility with the only international license ever granted by the Federal Communications Commission, which provides KICY and the Covenant Church a powerful tool to share the gospel in Russia.
Weidler said the evening was even more meaningful to him because radio station WDAC in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, also received a Milestone Award. “I grew up practically living under their tower, which is located just north of The Buck, Pennsylvania, where I spent my elementary and high school years. My family listened to WDAC for hours each day at home and in our dairy barn.”
The NRB Association is a non-partisan international association of Christian communicators, representing millions of listeners, viewers, and readers.
