An inspirational spot from the May 2013 issue of our newsletter, The Nome Static:
Your love for God is no greater than your love for the least important person you know.
About KNOM
96.1fm, 780am: Yours for Western Alaska.Author Archive | KNOM
The least important person
A special trip, in search of song
Volunteer Josh Cunningham recently took a very special trip as a correspondent for KNOM.
Josh went to the southwestern Alaska city of Bethel for the Cama-i (chuh-MY) Dance Festival, one of the largest and most significant annual cultural celebrations in the state. KNOM regularly sends its full-time volunteers to cover important regional and local events – these “village trips” are a staple of our program – although as Josh describes, his latest travel was unique:
Firstly, to call the experience a “village trip” isn’t entirely correct. After all, the population of Bethel, Alaska is more than double that of Nome. You’ll find within its borders a nationally known chain restaurant, paved roads, and even a stoplight intersection. Like a “normal” KNOM village trip, however, I was there for a very important mission: to collect Native drum and dance music from the annual Cama-i Festival.
Native Alaskan music is a very important part of KNOM’s daily programming. On my afternoon show alone, you can hear several Native songs from communities in our region, like Hooper Bay, St. Lawrence Island, and Unalakleet. I feel it is so important to feature Native songs in this way; at the end of the day, I hope a very special message comes across with these songs. I want people to know how important this music is, how much life and knowledge they hold.
Through your support, special trips like Josh’s continue to touch the lives both of our listeners and of our staff. Thank you for making them possible! (Photo: dancers at the 2013 Cama-i Festival.)
God looks at the efforts
An inspirational spot from the May 2013 issue of our newsletter, The Nome Static:
Humans judge by the success of our efforts. God looks at the efforts.
A look back: a village trip in ’08
Travel by KNOM volunteers to the communities we serve has long been an essential part of our mission; thanks to the sponsorship of a regional air carrier, our flights to these communities are usually free.
The photos above offer a glimpse into a special trip five years ago, when volunteer Danielle Sylvester ventured to Wales, Alaska to report on a music festival. Her travels allowed her to meet respected elder Patrick Omiak, Sr. and to witness the sea arrival of the festival’s performers, who braved choppy waters in small boats to attend the celebration.
Tennis
An inspirational spot from the May 2013 issue of our newsletter, The Nome Static:
Life is like a game of tennis: the player who serves well seldom loses.
Construction update
Work on our studio expansion project – the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios – has reached an important milestone! Thanks to your continued support, our dedicated construction crew has been able to complete the outside “box” of our annex: its floor, walls, and a sturdy, insulated roof, all of which can be seen, inside and out, in the photos above.
Our studio renovation, as you may know, will convert KNOM’s broadcasting tools from its aging, analog equipment to all-digital hardware, which will be far less expensive and complicated to operate, repair, and maintain. The new construction will be essential to our mission’s continued operations for many years to come.
Now that the outside of our new studio space is close to completion, the more complex work of installing our digital hardware – and raising the funds for this crucially-needed gear – lies ahead. As we go to press, our digital studio funds stand at $487,946.19; it’s enough to pay for the empty building with about $14,000 left over to go toward equipment, which we estimate will cost $358,430. To learn more or to help, visit our Digital Studios page or call 907-443-5221.
Loving someone…
An inspirational spot from the May 2013 issue of our newsletter, The Nome Static:
Loving someone is seeing them the way God intended.
“A call that changed my life”
We continue to be amazed – both by the challenges that life in rural Alaska presents, and by the goodwill and hard work that those challenges bring forth from those within our KNOM family. This month, we conclude with the reflections of our volunteer engineer Rolland Trowbridge.
The following is an excerpt; we encourage you to read Rolland’s full story (.PDF file).
A year ago, I received a call from KNOM’s general manager, Ric Schmidt, asking if I knew anything about automatic generator controls. Little did I know that that call would be a call to mission – and a call that would change my life.
I came to Nome on my family’s sailboat in 2009 after sailing over Canada through the Northwest Passage. We started in Michigan after ten years of preparation to take an epic trip with no clue where we would end up… After completing the passage, a storm ripped away our life raft, and we put into Nome to make repairs… Soon, we settled in and made Nome home.
I signed on for a year, and what a year. Every day, Nome’s environment does its worst… with extreme elements trying to tear apart everything that exists. Fortunately, KNOM has decades of experience in dealing with this. It is a true pleasure to work on something that has been built and designed to handle the environment it is in… I think I will be staying a while.
There has been a razor-sharp focus at KNOM for more than 40 years to build and maintain a reliable, low-cost-to-maintain station. I am proud to be part of it.
In the coming months, look for more from Rolland in a new segment for the Static: an Engineer’s Corner, with updates on KNOM’s equipment. Photos: Rolland, a sled dog musher, with one of his dogs; Rolland and family aboard their sailboat, the Precipice.
Again, you can read more of Rolland’s incredible story here.
Time, multiplied
Our inspirational spot for the week:
The smallest amount of time, when spent helping others, multiplies with time and love.
