Corban Broadcasting | WIMV 89.3

 

A note from Corban Broadcasting founder Dennis Carman.

“But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”

This verse from Matthew 6:33 has been a root motivation for me a good deal of my life. WIMV 89.3 FM has come into being at least in part because of my desire for God’s kingdom and to be a part of it. Janet and I both came to Jesus early in life and we were both encouraged by parents, siblings, and other significant people who God used to draw us to Himself. We each were pursuing Him after we became Christians by choosing to go to two different Bible Colleges — she to St. Louis Christian College in Florissant, MO and I to Ozark Bible College in Joplin, MO!  We each, by God’s grace, kept in obedience; forsaking youthful lusts and choosing purity and fellowship with God. After a summer youth ministry in Florida and an eighteen-month preaching ministry in Oklahoma, I met Jan in Canada while working with different missionaries in Christian Camp. As we courted over the next year, she consented, and we were married in May of 1971. God blessed our marriage with nine daughters and an eighth-born son. They have given us twelve grandsons and six granddaughters. In May of 2018, we celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary.

God has directed our lives all these years, and in the mid-1990s God gave me the desire to have a Christian radio station. While I worked and ministered in Christian book sales and in three part-time pastorates, Jan was busy at home raising and homeschooling our ten children after God showed me that Christian school was too expensive for our large family. Jan also allowed my mother to live with us for thirteen years until she was almost 91 years old. Although I first thought of Christian radio in the mid-1990s, it was not until 1999 that we began spending money with engineers and learned of an available frequency in Owingsville, Bath County, KY, where my mother was born and where my parents lived early in their marriage. Could it be that God would allow me to share Christ where my own family had begun? I am now pastoring at the Moore’s Ferry Church of Christ, or Christian Church, and have been there for 8 months.  This is the church my mother walked to as a young girl in the 1920s and early 1930s, where she came to know Christ.

In April of 2000 I was ready to apply for a permit to build a station in Owingsville only to have the FCC close the window of opportunity the very week that I was ready to submit. The window remained closed for 7½ years until October of 2007.  When the window opened again there were three groups preventing me a “singleton” status with the FCC. I prayerfully contacted each entity and God added His favor by having another station, K-Love, dismiss their application. The second group agreed to drop their application for $1000 up front and another $1000 if and after I received the permit. The third group lost interest, moved away, and eventually dropped their request. By December of 2008 I was awarded the permit to construct a station. Now we had 36 months to do it, but there were two problems: we lived 90 minutes away, and I had nothing financially to invest – I estimated the cost would be $140,000-$200,000.

A third problem occurred in January of 2011 when, at age 62, I had a stroke. It was the result of the stroke that God used to first show me that it was not about me and secondly to supply the funds needed to move to the area of Owingsville. Raising ten children to adult life took all the funds that I could earn. I might say here that Janet and I had committed to her being in the home at the birth of our first child. We lived by faith and never even had health insurance for our large family until it was required by law in 2014.

In August of 2011 we moved to Flemingsburg, KY, buying a nice 5-year-old house with geothermal heating and air — this being before we had a station on the air. We knew we had 4½ months with a possible addition of six more months on our permit. About a week after we moved, the FCC removed the extension so we had only four months left without any funds. I prayed and I cried and God heard and answered my prayers through a commercial radio man who had contacted me earlier in the Spring of 2011. We conversed about my opportunity and desire. He was a Christian man and offered himself as help to accomplish this task. In September before my time was up in December I turned my permit over to him, knowing that to fail to do so would disallow God’s station to be built. This man had contacts and knowledge that I did not. In May of 2012, six months after the permit was due to expire, WIMV (Inspirational Music Voice) began to air classic Christian music 24/7 in a twenty county area east and north of Lexington, KY. Our friend did the work, having a tower already in the area for $75,000 — much less than the amounts I had previously considered. Getting on the air, I borrowed and raised $75,000 to pay off this debt and to once again have the opportunity to lift the name of Jesus on airwaves He created, to glorify God, edify the church, and to give testimony to the unsaved.

In over 5 years since going on the air, God has faithfully met monthly needs and has allowed us to pay down the start-up debt to $37,500. In addition to a classic Christian music library of over 31,000 songs, our programming now includes the following:

• Unshackled
• Homecoming
• Joni Ericson
• Keys for Kids
• Down Gilead’s Lane
• The Christian’s Hour
• Worth Remembering Radio with Murray Hollis

We believed that God wanted what we have had the privilege of doing. So what could be better?

Presently we have a potential listening audience of over 300,000. By streaming we can potentially reach the world. With God’s leading and the help of His people we are now doing that.