The MEL (98.5 HD3 and TheMEL.fm) operates with a clear mission: Pursue Christ. Pursue Craft. This philosophy shapes the foundation for the Media Production program at the University of Northwestern – St. Paul (UNW). The MEL serves as the Communication Department’s personified brand identity and primary showcase for student media-related work.
More Than a Radio Station
The MEL is a media training platform designed to provide a safe space for students to freely make mistakes and grow in the art of storytelling. It’s collaborative creative community for students to learn, dream, hope, and find their voice through film, radio, social media, podcasting, content marketing and video storytelling.
Four Key Student-led Media Components:
Radio
98.5 HD3 The MEL and theMEL.fm stream
Film
Five16 Film Festival (short film production and event)
Video
News and Documentary (Short-form Video Content)
PR/Social Media
Website stories and social media strategies
Each workshop is a fully student-run operation. No full or part-time staff are paid. A faculty advisor only provides guidance. In Spring 2021 Spring, students adopted “The MEL” nickname for the department from the building it’s located, the Mel Johnson Media Center. Wanting “The MEL” to have deeper meaning, they redefined it as the “Media Entertainment Lab”. In May 2021, the student radio station launched as 98.5 HD4 The MEL. In late October 2023, KTIS offered a new opportunity to move from HD4 to HD3. Student leaders once again rallied to rebrand the station as 98.5 HD3 The MEL and streaming at theMEL.fm
The MEL programming takes a vintage college radio AAA approach: an exploratory, eclectic mix of mostly independent Christian artists (some local!) featuring Americana, alt-rock, hip-hop, folk, and pop genres. The primary target audience has been focused mainly toward the UNW campus community because media principles are more easily understood and applied. More targeted work leverages our unique relationship with Northwestern Media.
Community Impact
The MEL promoted several on-campus events throughout the year such as Homecoming, sporting events, theatre productions, student club events and the annual Christmas at Northwestern concert.
The Five16 Film Festival
The Five16 Film Festival has become The MEL’s premier event. Over 1,300 attendees, including students, faculty, alumni, and media professionals, gather for this sold-out formal event. The MEL promotes the event on-air, interviews filmmakers and provides Live “red carpet” coverage for event. The festival derives its name from Matthew 5:16: “Let your shine before others.”
The MEL short films have impacted industry leaders. Three films from the 2024 festival have been nominated for the upcoming Upper Midwest Emmy Student Production Awards and one film won the 2024 Twin Cities Film Festival Best Intercollegiate Film Award!
The festival has gained enough recognition that Christian filmmaker Randall Wallace (Secretariat, We Are Soldiers) reached out. Wallace, most known most notably as the Oscar-nominated screenwriter for Braveheart, will attend and present an award at the 2025 Five16 Film Festival.
More than 1300 people jammed into the Knight Performance Hall for the Five16 Film Festival. Nearly a dozen MEL student short films were shown. Students, faculty, friends, family and alumni were able to vote for their favorites. Canon USA sponsored the event and awarded a brand new camera to deserving MEL cinematographer.
Annual Day of Prayer and Service
UNW and the MEL dedicate a whole week toward serving the Twin Cities community. Classes are canceled so students can clean up neighborhood yards, make meals, and help meet other specific needs. The MEL also helped produce videos about the event and provide updates.
Students pack meals for Every Meal Minnesota during our Day of Annual Prayer and Service in April. Every Meal fights against food insecurity in children. More than 300,000 kids go hungry in the state especially on weekends when no schools meals are available.
Project 29:7
The MEL supported a new UNW expanded community-wide service initiative called Project 29:7. It’s based on Jeremiah 29:7, which encourages us to “seek the peace and welfare of the city.” The MEL promoted ways for the campus to serve those in need and make a positive Kingdom impact off-campus! Some of the partner organizations include:
- Every Meal (MN children in need)
- Presbyterian Homes Senior Living and Memory Care
- City of Roseville (our neighborhood)
- OneChild:
- Settled: (support for homelessness)
Fundraiser Events
During Fundraising events on KTIS, The MEL took advantage of the technology setup and held their own “Fundraiser” at the same time. The MEL didn’t raise money for themselves, they promoted the KTIS phonelines and gained valuable fundraising experience. Some KTIS hosts even joined students on-air on the MEL!
The MEL Noontime News
In the fall, The MEL produced a LIVE 30-minute student-produced newscast on Tuesday/Thursdays. The Noontime News @ 11:30 covered local, national and campus news stories. From that a new weekday news feature emerged- the “MEL Minute.” This short update airs twice an hour during morning and afternoon drive.
The MEL Cornerstone Magazine
The MEL partnered with UNW Student Government and published a new magazine called the CORNERSTONE. The 18-page publication debuted just before the Film Festival and highlighted campus stories, commentaries, lifestyle features, Film Festival news and a section dedicated to music and theMEL.fm.
Kingdom Impact
Since KTIS, Faith Radio, and Northwestern Media Network (NWM) operate on the second floor above The MEL studios, we not only say “Pursue Christ and Pursue Craft!” We say, “Get Upstairs!” The unique strategic partnership with NWM benefitted nearly two dozen student worker/interns with real-world experience. This “farm team” approach helped NWM achieve some of their kingdom objectives.
Here’s a few student work examples for NWM:
- Hosted weekend on-air VT shifts for NWM Stations in Des Moines, Waterloo, Sioux Falls, Fargo, and Duluth.
- Some traveled to serve in fundraisers and other promotional events.
- Live on-air & VT shifts during Faith Radio fundraisers.
- Edited Podcasts.
- Produced KTIS afternoon show/created social content.
- Served KTIS/Faith Radio in Fundraising Call Center.
- Created social media video/web posts
- Produced imaging/spots for KTIS and Faith Radio
- Took photos at NWM community Events
- Helped create/edit NWM Video Content (re: Christmas Blessing, etc.)
- Created Shoebox Showdown promo graphics for social media.
Kaycee (front left bottom) joins the Faith Radio staff for a Fundraiser event. She created imaging promos and created copy for the event plus was able to serve as a on-air host, as well! Four MEL alumni that now work for Faith Radio are also in this photo.
Man Up Club Presents
The MEL helped launch and produce a radio show for a local men’s mentoring ministry called “The Man Up Club”. The show airs weekly on Holy Culture Radio’s channel for Sirius/XM.
MEL Alumni
The above experiences prepare graduates for careers in Christian media, with many securing positions within the Northwestern Media network and radio stations across the Midwest. More than 15 MEL graduates earned positions within NWM in the past five years. MEL grads have also impacted the kingdom at award-winning CMB stations such as KAXL, Spirit 92.9, KJNW, KNWS and KJNW.
Audience Impact
While the focus of 98.5 HD3 The MEL centers more on learning and developing content creation skills, The MEL does seems to show some signs of a growing listener base. According to Nielsen, the total 6+ Cume audience rose a whopping 872% from July thru December. The 10,700 weekly listeners means the MEL could lay claim to the third most-listened to Christian station in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The MEL cume numbers were apparently not reportable, or at least readily accessible Jan-June.
Perhaps more significantly, online streaming numbers support the Nielsen July-December numbers increase. Each month has shown a consistent growth in each of the measurements. Most notably, Total Online Listening Hours have risen 685% and the online Time-Spent-Listening (TSL) Average has increased from 11 minutes in July to nearly 45 minutes in December.
Our MEL video teams developed a short-form video segment called “News and Doc on the Bloc”. The Instagram/TikTok videos capture the spirit of campus life with their “man-on-the-street” vibe. The content is published consistently and each post has begun to attract over 1100 views.
Since The MEL has begun produce more social content and improving our theMEL.fm and Communication Department websites, MEL enrollment in Fall24 increased 11% over Fall23 despite a large graduating class.
News and Doc on the Block debuted as a new social media “off-air” digital feature . It captured the voice of the UNW campus community on various issues. Instagram became the promotional focus for most of our MEL events and extra content- consistently reaching thousands of views per post.
Conclusion
The MEL pursues Christ and pursues craft. We continue to equip the next generation of Christian media professionalswhile fostering a lasting Kingdom impact.
