KALONA

A new radio station is set to fill the airwaves this February, broadcasting from Kalona: KMHV 89.5 FM, Mary’s Holy Voice, talk radio for Catholic Living.

Boasting 5500 watts of allocated power, the station’s reach is expected to exceed that of the closest Catholic radio broadcaster in Coralville. Listeners in Wellman, Riverside, Hills, and Lone Tree are within range, as are those in northern Washington and southern Iowa City.

Given the FCC rules and regulations that govern the radio industry, KMHV has been three years in the making. Application windows for FM stations are very short – perhaps a week or two – and occur infrequently. When a window opened up a few years ago, KMHV director John Reyland and his partners jumped at the opportunity. Since then, it has taken time to secure a tower and operating space from KCTC, secure licenses and permits, and line up programming.

When they flip the switch, KMHV will broadcast programming content from EWTN Global Catholic Radio and Relevant Radio. Shows include Fathers Know Best, Morning Air, and Catholic Answers Live.

Although the programs aren’t produced locally, area callers will have the opportunity to call in and participate in them.

“There are six hours every day of call-in chat shows,” Reyland says. “They [answer] a lot of questions, mostly Catholic, religious questions, like, can I go to Holy Communion twice a day? Stuff like that [that] some people just don’t know.”

Other programs, he says, provide theoretical theology – “we’re not going to leave that out” – and will pray for listeners who face challenges.

The programming is relevant, Reyland says, and fills a need.

“It’s really a wonderful service, [especially] for people in a nursing home or people who can’t get out. I would much rather listen to this and learn something than some of the daytime TV,” he says.

Reyland became interested in starting and running a Catholic radio station after he retired a few years ago. A resident of Cedar Rapids, he’s getting to know the Kalona community as the one non-local board member; the other board members are all from the Kalona area as required by the FCC.

“Someone had to run it, and I had the most experience,” he says.

Running a radio station has lots of moving parts, and the system design Reyland does is just one part of it. Other members of the board have been excellent fund raisers, putting together enough money to support the 501(c)3 nonprofit.

“We’ve got some great people,” Reyland says. “They’ve raised most of the money to support it. They’ve done a great job. I wouldn’t know where to begin. That’s one thing I learned about radio broadcasting: it takes a lot of different people, a lot of dedicated people with different expertise.”

While future listeners wait for KMHV to receive final approval to go on air from the FCC, they can preview the station on kmhv-fm.org. A donation portal is also available on the website for those who would like to financially support the station.