At the beginning of the 1960’s, God birthed a vision for in the hearts of three men in Springfield, . By faith, these men pooled their resources and This ministry was formed in 1958 as a non-profit cor- opened a bank account with $10! They applied to the poration; Miami Valley Christian Broadcasting Associa- FCC for a broadcast license in March of 1961, forming tion. The trustees applied for an FCC license for an AM World Evangelistic Enterprise Corporation. WEEC hit station, only to find out there were no AM frequencies the airwaves on December 15, 1961 from a store-front available. They were granted an FM license instead. building on Bechtle Avenue. Mr. Clair Miller began 93.7FM – WFCJ took to the airwaves on January 7, that first official broadcast. By 1963, WEEC was funded 1961 with 6,800 watts; increasing power to 59,000 entirely by listener contributions and began broadcast- watts later that year. In those early days, WFCJ was ing 24 hours a day. In 1965, WEEC hired Mike Maddex operating out of a small building the size of a two-car (from Moody’s WMBI in Chicago) to come and manage garage on Manning Road with two studios, one office the station. Mike had grown up in the local area and and a room. In 1975 a new office and studio served as WEEC’s General Manager from 1965 until his building was constructed on the property to house the retirement in 1999. In 1969, God provided a two-story ministry. In 1979 and 1980, WFCJ launched Miami farm house on Troy Road, just beneath the radio tower, Valley Christian Television and put TV 26 in Springfield that would serve as WEEC’s home for the next 25 years. on the air. At that time, WFCJ General Manager Marv The Gospel beamed from its nearly 300 foot tower with Sparks took over TV 26 and Clair Miller, (announcer 77,000 watts of power. In 1973, amid a great financial on WHIO) was hired to manage WFCJ. In 1983, WFCJ struggle, Mel Johnson (co-founder of the Sharathon began operating 24 hours a day. They became debt free fundraising concept) was added to the board and the sta- in 1985 and in 1987 a new 569 foot tower was erected tion began to hold an annual Sharathon to ask its listen- and power was reduced to 50,000 watts. The office ers for support. Near the end of the 1980s, the WEEC and studio building of WFCJ was expanded four times board began making plans to construct a new facility between 1975 and 1996 to accommodate the growing for their studios and offices. They purchased seven acres staff. In 1998, WFCJ began streaming its radio signal across Troy Road. In 1990, they erected a new tower worldwide over the internet. In 2000, a satellite studio that was nearly 500 feet tall and lowered their transmit- was constructed on the Xenia Legacy Campus. In 2006, ter power to 50,000 watts. Construction then began on WFCJ became Ohio’s first Christian radio station to WEEC’s new home. The WEEC broadcast center was broadcast in high definition with HD1as the main signal completed and dedicated in 1994. When Mike Maddex and HD2 airing a praise and worship music format 24/7. retired after 34 years of faithful service, he turned over Also in 2006, there was a God-ordained lunch meeting the reins of the ministry to a young man who had grown between WFCJ GM Clair Miller and WEEC GM Tracy up listening to WEEC and, as a result, chose a career in Figley where they discussed both stations working more Christian radio. Tracy Figley became the General Man- closely together. ager at the beginning of 1999. In 2001, WEEC celebrat- ed 40 years of ministry and, thanks to the Lord’s abun- dant provision, they burned their mortgage and officially became debt free. Over the next several years, WEEC launched a prayer and discipleship ministry, offering free Bible correspondence courses. They also began streaming worldwide on the internet, added a translator in Marion, Ohio and began multicasting in HD with three distinct channels: HD1 the main signal in digital, HD2 all southern Gospel music, and HD3 all traditional, sacred music. In 2006 there was a God-ordained lunch meeting between WFCJ GM Clair Miller and WEEC GM Tracy Figley, where they discussed both stations working more closely together. In 2006, there was a God-ordained lunch meeting between WFCJ GM Clair Miller and WEEC GM Tracy Figley where they discussed the stations working more closely together. They began these discussions with the understanding that God might be up to something bigger than either had seen or expected. They discussed seven primary things these two radio ministries had in common: 1. Both stations went on the air in 1961. 2. Both are 50,000 watt FM stations with large coverage areas. 3. Both had a format which blends Bible teaching and music. 4. Both have very similar statements of faith. 5. Each station used the other’s engineer as a back-up. 6. Each has a mentality of cooperation, not competition, and 7. Each ministry’s ultimate goal is to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. With all these common elements, we set out to find new ways to work together in a saturated Christian radio market, where our two local stations’ signals overlap in a significant portion of the Dayton, Ohio metro area. We discussed many benefits to working together including economies of scale, accomplishing more ministry with the same amount of donations, and sharing new technology. We felt the most important benefit was a public display of Christian unity among ministries. In the Lord’s high priestly prayer in John 17, His passionate plea to His Father was that the world would see His followers’ love for and cooperation with each other. This new working arrangement began with the first-ever Christian Radio Night at the LaComedia Dinner Theatre. Both stations promoted the event and brought hundreds of our listeners that night for The Sound of Music. It was there that both corpo- ration leaders signed a shared services agreement making the ministry partnership official. This partnership was so successful that both boards voted to form an umbrella corporation to operate the two stations. Clair Miller dubbed it Strong Tower Christian Me- dia citing Proverbs 18:10, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run into it and are safe.” At the end of November 2007, the boards of World Evangelistic Enterprise Corporation and Miami Valley Christian Broadcasting Association officially merged to form Strong Tower Christian Media Inc. In February of 2008, a request to transfer control of both stations’ broadcast licenses to Strong Tower was granted by the FCC. In August, the IRS granted non-profit 501c3 status to Strong Tower Christian Media. In the spring of 2011, WEEC & WFCJ celebrated 50 years of broadcasting the Gospel of Jesus Christ in a joint celebra- tion to a packed house at the Schuster Center for the Performing Arts in Dayton, featuring Christian singer Steve Green and Dr. Woodrow Kroll of Back to the Bible. Also in 2011, after 30 years of faithful leadership, Clair Miller retired from the day-to-day operations of WFCJ. He remained Vice-President of the Strong Tower board until the Lord called him home in 2020. During those next nine years, the Lord led us through two major transitions. The first was to bring our staff together under one roof. The FCC rules would not permit either station to consolidate at one of our current locations as that would be too far from the other station’s broadcast tower. The Lord, in His gracious provision, gave us a location on the Legacy campus in Xenia; right between Springfield and Miamisburg. We purchased the old Legacy Ministries International administration building from Athletes in Action. Renovations began and by the summer of 2014 both stations had relocated to our new home where all offices, staff and studios could be under one roof. Our current headquarters building provides 12,000 square feet of ministry space. We were able to renovate this space without borrowing a dime thanks to the good stewardship of those who had gone before us! Our next major transition was years in the making. After much prayer, consulting and research, we made the decision to focus our formats; one station offering music and the other teaching/talk. The goal was to stop duplicating our offerings in the areas where our signals overlap. We rebranded our stations, making Hope 100.7 WEEC the familiar music intensive format for West Central and Central Ohio and 93.7 The Light WFCJ the only teaching/talk Christian FM station reaching Dayton, , northern Kentucky and eastern . As we look back and trace God’s hand in preserving these two local, solid, expansive Christian radio stations, we can’t help but be grateful for the faithful men and women who have gone before and paved the way for the ministry we enjoy today. Through God’s faithful provision, and the partnership of thousands of supporting listeners over the years, we’ve come this far by faith! Our prayer is that we will thank God for past provision but not dwell on the past and that we will be grateful for God’s enabling, but not relax our efforts. Our prayer is that in the days and years to come, should the Lord tarry, we will embrace new technologies and new opportunities; we will have increased impact; we will reach more souls for the Kingdom; and, with God’s enabling, we will be found faithful in proclaiming Jesus until He comes. To God be ALL the glory!