History

WCRF marked 50 years of broadcasting in 2008 with a year-long celebration which looked back at ministry highlights and looked to the future and the changing face of audio distribution.

WCRF began as several local individuals, including Harry McKee and Robert Berry, sought to start a Christian radio station which would not sell commercials and was not out to make a fortune. Their vision was to share Jesus Christ with the unchurched and to provide encouragement and spiritual growth to Christians. The name of the organizing group, Christian Radio Fellowship, led to the station call letters, WCRF.

At the request of the Christian Radio Fellowship group, Moody Radio WCRF was licensed and operated by Moody Bible Institute and became one of the very first Christian FM stations in the country when it went on the air November 23, 1958. It was the first Moody Radio station outside Moody's home base in Chicago. Since FM radio was still new at that time, the WCRF members and first staff worked very diligently in the early years of the ministry to educate the public about FM and even distributed low-cost FM radios to potential listeners.

The progress WCRF made over the years was a remarkable witness to the ministry as its audience grew. The station now has about 150,000 listeners weekly in northeast Ohio, northwest Pennsylvania, and southern Ontario, listening to the main signal at 103.3 FM, four repeater stations, and two translators. 

Dick Lee, Moody Radio WCRF station manager at the time, said of the 50th anniversary, “I am thankful for what God has done over the last 50 years and it has been fun to review His work over this past year. I am eagerly anticipating the future and what God has ahead for us.”