Station Spotlight

Tell us about your station:

LIFE 96.5 is sharing the Hope of Jesus Christ everyday through the music and messages.

We seek to encourage and empower our listeners to reach out in faith and be the Hands and Feet of Jesus in their communities. Each month we partner with a non-profit organization and give them the opportunity to share a need and then we invite our listeners to help meet the need. The LIFE 96.5 staff also serves alongside our listeners several times each year.

LIEF 96.5 seeks to build relationships with listeners through our Hands and Feet projects, Girls Night Out, Summer Sticker stops, and concerts.

We bring in 3 concerts to Sioux Falls with LIFE 96.5 artists each year as well as promoting other concerts in the region.

Your station’s most successful promotion:

For the last 15 years we have hosted the “Sioux Empire’s Largest Baby Shower.” We partner with the Sioux Falls Alpha Center, and ask our listeners to buy baby items to fill up their Baby Closet.

The Alpha Center clients earn points by attending birth and parenting classes and meeting with counselors. They use the points to purchase items from the Baby Closet.

The baby shower is in January which is Sanctity of Human Life Month. We also partner with Lewis Stores as a drop-off location throughout the month.

This Hands and Feet project continues to grow each year with over 1300 items donated this past year. Several Sioux Falls churches have come on board and encourage their congregations to donate.

The Alpha Center tells us. “This is what “pro life” looks like! By giving from your heart you are showing the love of Jesus and bringing hope to the hopeless through Alpha Center, including everything from the initial pregnancy test to the life skills obtained from the earn-while-you-learn classes. Bless you!”

Resources your station uses:

We are part of Northwestern Media with 14 stations across the Upper Midwest and we share talent, audio, as well as resources for our web and social media pages.

Reid Holsen Media is our consultant.

One bit of wisdom to share with others:

Build relationships with your listeners and donors. Give them opportunities to experience Life with the radio station through service opportunities as well as fun promotions and giveaways.

Always be asking the question “What’s in it for the listener/donor?”

Share an impactful listener story:

We heard recently from Joey, a public school bus driver, who has LIFE 96.5 on the radio on the way to and from school. He says each day the kids are singing along with the songs. The other day Francesca Battistelli’s song, “Holy Spirit” came on and they started singing. Joey turned down the radio and he says the students kept singing, “Holy Spirit you are Welcome here.” He said it was so powerful to hear these students before they went into school.

Tell us why you’re a member of CMB:

We have enjoyed building relationships and networking with our Christian radio colleagues across the country.

We have learned lots at Momentum and the various Summits.

We have benefited from looking at some of the research and studies that CMB has conducted in recent years.