Creston station featured in New York Times

Call it the little radio station that could.

Scott Johnston's KXZI - Montana Radio Cafe - has been broadcasting from Creston since 2004. Johnston plays an eclectic mix of blues, jazz and folk from a music catalogue nearly 22,000-songs strong.

The low-power station doesn't broadcast much past Whitefish from the antenna on Johnston's property, but on the Internet at www.kxzi.com, his audience is boundless. People from around the world can listen to Johnston's favorites, which are currently Keb'Mo', John Mayer, Alison Krauss, Erika Luckett and the Polyjesters.

Three weeks ago a reporter and photographer from The New York Times traipsed up to the porch of the 90-year-old farmhouse that serves as the broadcast booth of KXZI.

Titled "From a Porch in Montana, Low-Power Radio's Voice Rises," the Times article about Johnston and his radio cafe was published Tuesday.

"It's a big honor," Johnston said of the visit.

"It's amazing to me. Here I am in little podunk Creston and I'm in one of the largest newspapers in the world. It's humbling. As far as Internet listenership, it's going to be a great boon."

By 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Johnston had received more than a hundred e-mails from new listeners from as far away as Singapore, Cambodia, Australia and Germany and as close as Oregon and Alberta.

"We've always gotten listeners from around the world," Johnston said. "It's just pretty darn exciting."

Johnston hopes the publicity will attract new sponsors - he already received one e-mail offering support - because he said that hard times in Flathead Valley mean hard times for the station.

"We rise and fall with the economy of the Flathead," he said. "It got a little slim last winter, but we're still on the front porch."

Johnston's low-power station was made possible when the Federal Communications Commission created a new class of noncommercial stations in 2000. Low-power FM stations are meant to be small, community-based radio with limited broadcast radius. A bill pending in Congress now stands to double the number of licensed low-power stations, of which there are currently about 800 across the U.S.

As far as the future of the station is concerned, Johnston is looking forward to continued broadcasting and an ever-growing playlist.

"I don't want to go anywhere," Johnston said. "I'd like to stay on the front porch."

Reporter K.J. Hascall may be reached at 758-4439 or by e-mail at kjhascall@dailyinterlake.com