January 16, 2000
A blizzard packing hurricane-force winds drops power lines at the KNOM transmitter site. The station’s emergency generator keeps it on the air for 16 hours before electricity is restored.
About KNOM
96.1fm, 780am: Yours for Western Alaska.Author Archive | KNOM
Miracles
Our inspirational spot for the week:
Don’t look for miracles. You are a miracle.
January 2004: A nod from the Messenger
January 5, 2004
This month’s edition of the magazine St. Anthony Messenger features a six-page article on KNOM, noting that the station “brings a message of hope and companionship to some of the poorest, most isolated and culturally devastated people in America.”
Let’s have a conversation…
In Western Alaska, there’s always a lot to discuss. For more than a decade, we’ve been happy to provide a crucial means for our listeners to begin and sustain conversations on subjects important to them. The way they have these conversations is through our weekly call-in show, Sounding Board.
Sounding Board belongs to our listeners. It is their forum to express thoughts, opinions, and ideas on a particular subject: whether it’s traditional Alaska Native cooking, regional politics, or the challenges of a changing Arctic. We’re grateful that so many in our region take time each week to respectfully share their thoughts on our airwaves.
In a region so sparsely populated – with rural communities separated by hundreds of miles – being able to share conversations means so much. Each week, you are making it possible. Thank you!
Photos: Joshua Cunningham and Margaret DeMaioribus host a Sounding Board show on climate change; news director Laureli Kinneen screens callers for the show.
God of second chances…
An inspirational spot from the January 2013 edition of our newsletter, The Nome Static:
Oh God of second chances and new beginnings, here I am again.
-Nancy Spiegelberg
2012 Financial Report
The fiscal year from July 2011 to June 2012 was unique for our mission; the year saw the transition of KNOM to a new, independent nonprofit entity (KNOM Radio Mission, Inc.), as well as the first steps in our studio annex project, the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios. With your enthusiastic support, we finished the fiscal year in the black. Our income was $2,039,092, our expenses $1,646,678. Nearly all of this “extra” income is dedicated either to our digital studios construction or to other long-term development goals, described in further detail below.
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As always, the large majority of our income in the past fiscal year came from individual donors. 55.6% of KNOM’s overall income ($1,133,241) was from one-time or recurring donations, while 24.3% ($495,860) came from legacy gifts (funds entrusted to KNOM from wills, bequests, or estates). Legacy giving continues to provide a vital part of our operating budget.
Miscellaneous income – 17.6% ($359,668) – was higher than normal and consisted almost entirely of a settlement KNOM received in April at the conclusion of a two-year litigation against a former contractor. This money is earmarked for a long-term development plan to build financial infrastructure for KNOM’s future sustainability.
The remaining 2.5% of our funds came from interest on our bank accounts (just $826) and related income ($49,497), consisting of program underwriting from local organizations and fees from the National Weather Service, which rents space on our AM transmitter tower to broadcast its dedicated weather channel.
Both our expenses and income over the fiscal year were made higher by our digital studios campaign. While our capital campaign brought in more financial support, our expenses also included the architectural designs and plans for our studio expansion and renovation: a project that will continue, with your support, well into 2013.
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Our expenses included $361,995 for fundraising (22.0%); $115,698 for this newsletter (7.0%); $245,237 for general operations (14.9%); $239,989 for programming and technical costs (14.6%); and $683,759 for staff salaries (41.5%).
Our full-time volunteers remain an essential part of our operations, and their service – working full-time for room, board, and a small personal stipend – saved our mission about $111,000 in fiscal year 2012.
We saved, also, through new, energy-efficient technologies described in previous editions of this newsletter. In particular, the installation of dynamic carrier control (DCC) – a cost-saving method of power management at our AM transmitter site – paid for itself within three months, and we estimate that DCC will save $35,000 in electricity costs over fiscal year 2013.
As always, everything that we do is made possible through your support. Thanks so much!
“…Because the dawn has come.”
An inspirational spot from the January 2013 edition of our newsletter, The Nome Static:
Death is not putting out the light…
It is turning off the lamp because the dawn has come.
Sunshine and shadow
An inspirational spot from the January 2013 edition of our newsletter, The Nome Static:
Keep your face to the sunshine, and you will not see the shadow.
