About KNOM: Our Mission

Why We're Here

A vista over two of the villages KNOM serves: Teller (in the foreground) and Brevig Mission (faintly visible across the bay), both north of Nome.

KNOM strives to entertain, to engage, to inspire, and to inform the listeners of Western Alaska: from the Yukon Delta to the Bering Strait and throughout the villages and rural stretches of the Alaskan Bush.

Through our programming, we endeavor to provide companionship, entertainment, inspiration, and – most crucially – information. We are honored to serve as a vital communications link for an exceptionally isolated and rural area. We do all we can to keep our listeners informed and knowledgeable about what’s happening in their home village, their state, their country, and their world. In this vein, we work hard to keep our news reporting objective, our weather forecasts accurate, and our community announcements comprehensive.

We are likewise honored to do our part to celebrate the traditional music and storytelling of Alaska Native peoples, especially those in Western Alaska. We hope that our programming helps to rekindle passion and pride in the oldest, most deeply rooted cultures of Alaska.

Celebrating Alaska Native culture is at the heart of KNOM's mission. The station airs Alaska Native music regularly and often covers drumming and dancing events (such as the one pictured above, in the village of Teller, Alaska in 2006).

KNOM strives to inspire. We are a Catholic radio station – the oldest in the United States – and our heritage is rooted in the Roman Catholic faith; on KNOM, you’ll hear nightly readings of the Rosary and weekly airings of the Catholic Mass. At the same time, we embrace the wide diversity of religious beliefs, spiritual practices, and interfaith perspectives. We acknowledge – and celebrate – that humans find inspiration, wisdom, and God in many different ways. We respect the individual perspectives of each and every one of our listeners, and we never proselytize.

KNOM seeks to be a place where conversations can begin, where communities can be strengthened, and where the human spirit can be celebrated.

We are KNOM: Yours for Western Alaska.