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96.1fm, 780am: Yours for Western Alaska.

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Christmas greetings, over the airwaves

KNOM broadcasts to remote listeners throughout a signal area roughly the size of California.

With about 4 hours of sunlight each day at this time of year, communication can mean everything to families far away from each other.

Every year, KNOM broadcasts a seven-hour Christmas greeting program (call-in show) in which families separated by hundreds of miles can come together through the radio.

In remote stretches of western Alaska, some of KNOM’s listeners rarely get to see many of their relatives and friends, even at Christmastime. They so enjoy greeting each other during our call-in show, their happy voices spanning hundreds of miles to make a personal connection that their physical distance so often prevents. Listeners of all ages reach out to each other through KNOM to offer Christmas wishes. You can hear their joy and delight as they send out their heartfelt messages of love.

We wish you and everyone you care about the best this joyous Christmas. KNOM’s supporters make a remarkable difference in thousands of lives every day.

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December 1989: Mt. Redoubt erupts

Mount Redoubt erupts, April 1990

Alaska’s Mount Redoubt began erupting in late 1989 and continued to erupt for months afterward; this photo was taken in April 1990.

December 15, 1989

489 miles southeast of Nome, the Mount Redoubt volcano erupts, spewing great clouds of sulfurous volcanic sand and dust into the air.

While the debris drifts away from Nome, the corrosive billows of grit ground airplanes in Anchorage, western Alaska’s supply hub. Grocery shelves grow bare, holiday presents are missing, and Nome’s mailboxes lay empty for a week. For the next four months, Redoubt’s periodic ash clouds disrupt flights to and from Nome.

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The brighter they shine

Our inspirational spot for the week:

God’s promises are like stars: the darker the night, the brighter they shine.

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Bright colors in the cold skies, and warm thanks from a listener

Sunrise over Nome

Sunrise over downtown Nome, Alaska on a clear November morning.

The Northern sky has seen a thousand shades of red and yellow as the sun pokes up in the southeast and sinks into the southwest. There have been beautiful auroras streaming in the night sky: like sparkling, swirling curtains of green and red light. God has blessed us with a bounty of beauty, reminding us, every day, to delight in the splendor of His creation.

A local listener called KNOM on Thanksgiving and asked that her message be passed on to all who support KNOM:

Tell everyone thank you. Thank you for my radio station. Thank you to the volunteers who have traveled so far to be with us. Thank you for coming here. Thank you for the music, prayers, news, and announcements. Thank you for being my friend. God bless and quyanna*.

We pass on these thanks to the entire KNOM family.

*Quyanna means ”thank you” in the Alaska Native languages of our region.

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December 1986: Under a coat of ice, the tower is near collapse

December 3, 1986

A storm this week deposits ice the thickness of cucumbers on the KNOM tower and its guy wires, which sag dangerously. The tower is in imminent danger of collapsing.

Tower expert Rod Ewing immediately flies in from Wasilla, Alaska to supervise Timothy Cochran and Tom Busch as they strain to keep the structure standing by carefully tightening the stretched guys, one by one. “It was close,” Timothy relates.

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The trouble with trouble

Our inspirational spot for the week:

The trouble with trouble is that it often starts with fun.

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What we’re thankful for…

The sun dips down a little more each day, as our days get shorter and the light grows dimmer. Yet, the bright voices of our staff and volunteers shine as radio listeners throughout cold, remote western Alaska listen to their favorite radio station: KNOM!

This Thanksgiving, we remembered supporters, past and present, who worked together to fund, create, and operate KNOM radio. As we enter the Christmas season, we give thanks for an incredible KNOM family helping to keep alive the dream of positive, inspirational radio.

Life can be very difficult at times, but by working together, we can help each other: especially those hardy souls in remote locations in Alaska and Russia. Thousands of families tune in each day to share in KNOM’s uplifting programs. We wish we could share their smiles, kind comments, and thanks with everyone who strives to make their lives better.

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November 1970: A short-lived Christmas star

The KNOM Christmas star

Visible for miles, KNOM’s current Christmas star sits at the very top of our FM transmitter tower in midtown Nome.

November 26, 1970

A 3-foot, lighted Christmas star tops the 49-foot studio tower. Like five successors over the years, it is blown apart by wind before the end of the holidays.

(The star’s modern successor – pictured at right – has proven to be much more wind-resistant!)

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Merry Christmas from your KNOM family

The KNOM Staff, 2012

The photo above was taken on the future site of the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios, our studio annex project. From left to right: Father Ross Tozzi; Eva DeLappe; Lynette Schmidt; Lucus Keppel; Kelly Brabec; Betsy Brennan; Rolland Trowbridge; Dayneé Rosales; Joshua Cunningham; Laureli Kinneen; Ric Schmidt; Laura Collins; Margaret DeMaioribus; David Dodman.

We can’t thank you enough for all you do for our mission. From all of us at KNOM Radio, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

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Love without measure

An inspirational spot from the Christmas 2012 edition of our newsletter, The Nome Static:

The measure of our love is to love without measure. – St. Francis de Sales

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