April 2023 marked the first Nielsen survey where University of Northwestern St. Paul contemporary Christian KTIS-FM (98.5) led the Minneapolis market in persons 6+ with a commanding 8.5 share, comfortably ahead of Hubbard hot AC “KS95” KSTP-FM, which it knocked out of first place. It wasn’t even close, as KTIS held a 1.6-point lead over KSTP, which had lost a full share point from March while KTIS saw not only a 1.3-point gain but an impressive 70% share lift since January 2023.

The station’s growth spurt didn’t end there: KTIS broke the 10-share mark in June and hit an 11.6 high in July, while its steady gain from January continued for a 132% boost from the first of the year.

Currently KTIS is experiencing similar growth, up 16% since September with an 8.1 share, even before its first full survey playing commercial-free Christmas music for the Twin Cities.

According to Nielsen, until that April 2023 survey, no other faith-based station in the top 50 U.S. markets had ever reached No. 1. “When we found out, I literally thought the data was incorrect,” KTIS Station Manager Matt Deane tells CBS News. As it turned out, it was neither a mistake, nor a fluke: KTIS would stay on top for eight consecutive books, and make it eight in a row for a second time in 2024.

How did the station, signed on in 1949 by then-University of Northwestern-St. Paul President Billy Graham, pull it off? “Seventy-six years of history has a lot to do with that, the team that we have has a lot to do with that,” Deane says, noting lessons the station learned when it saw ratings growth even earlier, during the pandemic. “Ultimately, I think people are looking for hope. Since the beginning of time, people were looking for hope. I really feel since 2020, all that we went through, all that our city went through, even now, all the division around us, I really think that people need hope.”

Since its first survey on top, KTIS has connected with listeners via faith-based promotions, this time of year including not only 24/7 Christmas music but also “Christmas Blessings,” where listeners submit names of friends or family in need of help, to which the station responds by leveraging community partnerships to offer that help.

“We see Christmastime as the time where we can open the doors as wide as we can,” Deane says. “If we're helping a family that lost their home in a fire, that's a practical way we can come alongside and show the love of Jesus.”

That’s KTIS’ intention year-round with promotions such as the “Shoebox Showdown” where the station collected more than 7,600 shoeboxes full of donated items, or its “summer sticker stops” collecting supplies for schools unable to provide them for students, or students who can't afford them. “That's a way where we can come and say, 'God loves you, and has a plan for your life,” Deane says, “and we want to help you in this practical way.”

Also key to KTIS’ success is, of course, the music, which Deane says is “such an important part of people's lives. The opportunity to see [contemporary Christian] artists getting more in the mainstream is a thrill for us.”