Project 88.7 bet its entire format on a genre that spent decades treated as a niche curiosity, Christian hip-hop, right as that same genre was breaking into arenas, the Billboard 200, and even the Grammys.
Built on a Network That Started as a Single Caldwell Signal in 1990
Project 88.7 operates under Barefoot Media Ministries, a faith-based, community-supported radio network that traces back to 1990, when it launched as KTSY out of Caldwell, Idaho (Barefoot Media Ministries). KTSY grew into the number two station in the Treasure Valley and has been owned by the Seventh-day Adventist Church since its founding, eventually expanding its reach to Twin Falls, Sun Valley, Baker City, and McCall. Project Nation, the network's dedicated pop and hip-hop station carrying the Project 88.7 signal, launched later as a deliberate expansion into a younger, hip-hop-focused audience the flagship station wasn't built to serve.
Today the combined network reaches roughly 400,000 monthly listeners across Idaho and Northeast Oregon, a reach built entirely on local investment rather than a syndicated national format.
A Genre That Just Had Its Biggest Decade
Project 88.7's rotation, built around artists like Lecrae, KB, and Andy Mineo, sits inside a genre that spent the 1980s and 1990s as a fringe offshoot of gospel music before becoming something much bigger. Christian hip-hop's most visible turning point came through Lecrae, whose 2012 album Gravity made him the first hip-hop artist to win Best Gospel Album at the Grammys, and whose follow-up album Anomaly debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with more than 88,000 first-week sales in the United States (Wikipedia). His 2015 performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and a 2016 BET Hip-Hop Awards appearance pushed the genre into rooms it had never occupied before.
A station built specifically around this sound isn't chasing a nostalgia format, it's programming a genre that's arguably in the middle of its most commercially successful stretch ever.
Community Support Instead of a Sales Team
Project 88.7 describes itself as "100% Community Supported," running on donations rather than traditional advertising, and it backs that structure with real listener touchpoints, a text line, a Prayer Wall, and shows like the Wake Up! Podcast hosted by Chaplain Milton, which follows the day-to-day experience of following Christ (Project Nation). The station also organizes Summer Splash, an annual concert event at Roaring Springs Water Park featuring touring Christian hip-hop artists, turning its on-air identity into an actual in-person gathering for its Boise audience.
- Christian rap and hip-hop, featuring artists like Lecrae, KB, and Andy Mineo.
- Part of Barefoot Media Ministries, a network dating back to 1990 as KTSY in Caldwell, Idaho.
- 100% community supported, donation-funded rather than ad-driven.
- Reaches roughly 400,000 monthly listeners, across Idaho and Northeast Oregon.
Why It's Worth a Spot in Your Rotation
Project 88.7 picked a genre that spent years being underestimated and built an entire station's identity around it right as that same genre started winning Grammys and topping the Billboard charts. For listeners who want Christian rap treated as a serious, evolving format rather than a niche afterthought, this is exactly that.
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