JENNINGS — A Jennings-based Christian Internet radio station is receiving national recognition after being nominated for a Radio Station of the Year award and two Radio Personality of the Year awards.

HLE Radio, which operates from downtown Jennings, has been nominated by fans for the Agape Festival Awards’ Radio Station of the Year. It will compete against bigger stations, including terrestrial radio stations in Nashville.

Station owner and disc jockey Hunter Logan has also been nominated for Agape’s Radio Personality of the Year. He is also in the running for Radio Personality of the Year for the industry-based Christian Country Music Now awards.

“We are honored and humbled to be considered for the awards considering that we have been up and running for less than a year,” Logan said. “That says a lot about us and our listeners and the respect they have for us. Even if we don’t win it is an honor just to be nominated among the Top 10.”

The station, which will mark its first year on air next week, has already garnered 80,000 listeners from 39 countries and all 50 states, Logan said. He expects to hit 100,000 listeners by the end of the month.

“I never imagined things would take off this fast,” he said. “It’s still surreal because a lot of people told me I couldn’t run an Internet station like an FM station.”

The station is the only Christian country format radio in Louisiana where Southern Gospel has always been a way of life, Logan said.

Logan said the station is unique in that it combines light-hearted humor with a blend of country and Christian music.

“I always say, you can two-step or line dance to it, or bring a tear to a glass eye or drink a beer to it,” he said describing the blend of country and Christian music. “Really if anything, it’s a honky tonk for Jesus.”

Logan and DJ Charlie Boot, both of Jennings, spend the morning spinning Christian country hits while talking about “real every day things,” Logan said.

“We’re just two guys talking about real things,” he said. “It’s very light hearted and proves that you can be Christian and have fun.”

The Morning Show with Hunter and Boot has been referred to as the Howard Stern of Christian radio because Logan and Boot talk about “any and everything,” Logan said. Others call it the Seinfeld show because “we are a show about nothing,” he chuckles.

“We don’t script anything,” he said. “It’s totally off the cuff. Our goal is to uplift people and put a smile on their face.”

“We have a couple of our artists who drive school buses and they play us in the mornings. The kids think we are hilarious.”

The show airs live 7-9 a.m. weekday mornings from a studio at 410 N. Main Street. The studio doubles as a recording studio, surrounded by displays of musical instruments and autographed photographs of artists and framed CDs from Logan’s swamp-pop music career.

The show re-airs 5-7 p.m. weekdays.

The station airs online 24/7 with donations from area churches and businesses. All of its disc jockeys are volunteers and do not get paid for their time on the radio.

“We want to be able to touch people’s lives and minister to them through Christian country music,” Logan said.

Christian country artists often “pop-in” to visit or call the station to promote their music.

“We have people coming down from all over to visit,” he said. “They love the old Main Street location and coming down to do the morning show with us.”

The local station also produces the Christian Country Jukebox, which airs on 22 terrestrial stations in Canada. Locally it airs 8-9 a.m. on Saturdays.

Other special Sunday programs include on-line sermons, Country Christian music countdowns and bluegrass music.

Online: www.hleradio.com

A Jennings-based Christian Internet radio station