Charles Crane/MDN Roy Leavitt sits in the AM broadcasting booth at the KHRT station in Minot on Friday. The station has gone off the air after its final broadcast on July 31.

Minot’s lone local Christian radio broadcaster Faith Broadcasting has made the decision to cease operations, leaving KHRT and The Heart 106.9 silent after going off the air, Wednesday, July 31.

Station manager Roy Leavitt announced the closure, citing the difficult economy, saying due to declines in support and advertising Faith Broadcasting is unable to continue operating the stations.

“It’s declining advertisers. Our shareathons have been declining. Part of it is, I’m kind of done. I’ve been doing this for 43 years now. My season is just done,” Leavitt said.

The station first hit the AM airwaves in 1957 as KQDY, and was purchased in 1964 by the People’s Radio Association, a group of 100 local investors organized by Hal Christensen. The station was purchased by Leavitt’s father Dick Leavitt in 1982 after Christensen informed him during a Sunday school class that the radio station was going to be sold and would no longer be a Christian station.

“This was my dad’s vision, and we’ve kept it going four years beyond when he passed away, said Leavitt. “I just know it’s not me. It’s time to figure out what I’m going to do.”

Leavitt said KHRT employed four full time and two part-time employees who kept the music playing and provided coverage of Class B high school sports coverage throughout the year.

“We kind of followed the small town schools for the basketball and football seasons. A little bit of baseball and volleyball. KHRT kind of became known for following these small town schools in the regular season and state tournaments,” Leavitt said.

KHRT broadcasted over a 100-mile radius on its AM transmitter, which Leavitt said was kind of variable in its early years as it operated as a “daylight” station that switched to low power in the evenings throughout the year. The FM transmitter began carrying regular broadcasts in 1992 covering a 60-mile radius from a 400-foot tower located south of Minot.

Leavitt said the announcement has elicited a deluge of responses from the public filling up his inbox and lighting up his phone reacting with sadness to the loss of the stations.

“We’ve had a lot of responses. It’s varied, ‘This is really sad,’ people will text me, email or call saying, ‘We just really miss it.’ A lot of them, they understand. The economy, everything that’s going around, it’s not making it easy for anybody, and we’re feeling that. The businesses are struggling, and they’ll cut back in advertising, and we’ve seen that,” Leavitt said.

Leavitt said he was hopeful the various ministries KHRT performed throughout the year would continue on in some capacity, in particular the Horn of Plenty Program which provided food, gifts and toys to hundreds of Minot area families during the Christmas season.

“Last year was our 30th year doing it. People submit names of people struggling during the Christmas season. Last year alone we gave $90,000 worth. That’s one of the ministries I’m hoping we can keep going. I just don’t know how we’re going to do it without a media source to get the word out,” Leavitt said.

With the station shutting down, Leavitt said he will be seeking employment, and devoting more time to his duties as pastor of Open Gate Church in Minot. Wherever his next chapter takes him, Leavitt is looking forward to his “next season.”

“I’ve been telling people, ‘Now I’m going to have to look for my first job. It’s time to figure out what I’m going to do when I grow up.’ I’ve never known anything except working for myself and my dad,” Leavitt said.