by Mike Couchman
During the 6.5 years BOOST has been in St. Louis, the top question we get is some variation of “how come I can’t hear BOOST well in _____?” (Fill in the blank with St. Peters….Chesterfield….Florissant….Belleville….and many other places.) The TLDR version is: our current signals are either too weak, or too far away. That’s by law. If they were any closer to St. Louis, or any stronger, they’d illegally interfere with other radio stations. Then it would be bye bye BOOST forever!
For years, BOOST asked God to open a door to a bigger signal. A new home for Pop, Hip Hop, and Hope. GOD IS ANSWERING THAT PRAYER!
BOOST has the opportunity to buy one of the best signals in St. Louis: 95.5 FM. Unlike our current signals, this is one of the most powerful in the city, and it transmits from the heart of the metro (not far from the Delmar Loop).
Take a look at current reality, and what God is providing!
Currently: all three BOOST signals reach just over 1-million of the more than 2-million people in the St. Louis area. The new signal reaches 2.2-million! That’s a lot more people BOOST can impact for God’s kingdom.
North County. St. Charles County. Metro East. Three huge sections of the STL area who will finally hear Pop, Hip Hop, and Hope without suffering through static or punching between different presets.
If that’s all you need to see to be excited about the movement God is orchestrating, then click here to BOOST the CITY and be part of locking in the first payment for BOOST’s 95.5 signal.
Beyond the simple, powerful basics above, I’m nerding out over how I’ve seen God pull this together.
It actually started with Plan A not working out. Plan A for BOOST covering St. Louis was an additional fourth signal to serve the areas missed by 101.9, 94.1, and 97.7. Sadly (at the time), the fourth signal got erased from the dial by a more powerful station. (The government puts different kinds of radio signals into different classes, and the other station’s class trumped the class of the BOOST signal that never came on. Even if it had, the other station would have still been allowed to cause a lot of interference to us.)
By the time Plan A crumbled, BOOST had already launched. We adopted the mindset “be faithful with the little, and God will bring more.” We tried helping Him! 😉 We knocked on doors the doors of other radio stations to see if they wanted to sell. We had professional studies done on our existing signals to see if they could be improved. If nothing else, we learned what doors were unlikely to be opened.
Another super cool thing about BOOST moving to 95.5: we’ll own this spot on the dial outright. Currently, we lease 101.9 from another entity. Just like how people rent homes. Even if you have a great landlord (and we do!), you can never be certain if a day won’t come when you’ll have to move.
Our sister station, 99.1 JOY FM, has traveled a similar path. JOY FM used to be on BOOST’s 94.1 & 97.7 signals. They stepped out in faith when God opened the door to 99.1, and HE moved beyond anyone’s wildest expectations. They thought maybe their audience size would double. Instead, it quadrupled! To this day, stories of God changing lives through them come in nonstop! It seems God may be up to something similar at BOOST.
Possibly my most favorite thing about the new signal: 95.5’s transmitting tower sits right in the middle of the Delmar Divide. Godly unity has been the heartbeat of BOOST since Day One; to be situated in such a notorious spot has some powerful symbolism.
I could ramble on and on about how excited we are for God’s provision, but you have a life to live! If you have questions or something to say though, I’m clearly down to discuss. Email me any time!
