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May 1998: Plane crash near Nome

May 14, 1998

A Cessna Caravan airplane with ten people aboard crashes on a hilltop three miles north of Nome in near zero visibility.

KNOM broadcasts frequent live reports from search and rescue headquarters and from the scene as rescuers battle heavy snow and fog looking for the aircraft.

This is one of many crashes covered by KNOM over the years. It’s unique, however, in that the passengers (all of whom survive with minor injuries) follow the progress of their own search efforts by listening to a portable radio tuned to KNOM.

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May ’72: A film crew hits Nome

May 5, 1972:

KNOM is helping a Walt Disney production unit this month with filming of the feature-length Tundra Summer, starring two Nome third grade children. The movie is released with the title Two Against the Arctic, featuring a trained polar bear from Seattle named Igloo.

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May 2003: Honoring nurses

May 2, 2003

During National Nurse Week, Norton Sound Health Corporation honors three nurses.

They are: Terry Romenesko, RN; Annie Blandford, RN; and Linda Peters, RN, all of whom came to Nome as KNOM support nurses. Each has dedicated more than twenty years of care to patients at the Nome hospital.

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April 1998: Fighting a spring blizzard

April 24, 1998

The last week of the month brings multiple days of a rip-roaring blizzard to Nome, and KNOMers run outside every hour to clear the station’s satellite dish of snow, which blocks signals.

In the dead of winter, snow does not cause this problem, as it is too dry to stick to the antennas.

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April 2004: In the media

April 16, 2004

This month’s issue of Catholic Digest features a 6-page article on KNOM, condensed from a piece in January’s St. Anthony Messenger.  The magazine titles the article “Best Little Radio Station in America?”

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April 1982: New stations in the neighborhood

April 11, 1982
This month, Tom Busch and pioneer Alaska broadcaster Augie Hiebert discover plans by the Canadian government to construct new AM stations that would virtually destroy long distance radio reception in the Alaska bush. They research options that will eliminate this threat.
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April 1999: A stormy Easter

April 4 (Easter Sunday), 1999

The weather is fine for Easter egg hunting today, but at nightfall, a blizzard suddenly kicks up.

The wind blows so hard at KNOM’s transmitter site that it holds the shutters for the exhaust fan closed.

By the time Les Brown and volunteer Michael Warren make it to the building in the maelstrom, waste heat has driven its temperature to ninety-eight degrees. Les jams the louvers open, and the site cools down with no ill effects.

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March 2008: The All-Alaska Sweepstakes returns

Paul and Amy report on the All Alaska Sweepstakes

KNOM newsies Paul Korchin and Amy Flaherty report on the live start of the 2008 All Alaska Sweepstakes from Nome’s Front Street. Photo by David Dodman.

March 26, 2008

Paul Korchin and Amy Flaherty hop onto borrowed snowmobiles to follow the 100th anniversary running of the All Alaska Sweepstakes, a 408-mile sled dog race through the wilderness.

They report using a satellite telephone lent by Nome police chief Paul Burke.

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March 1968: Picking a frequency

March 20, 1968

Pioneer Alaska broadcaster Augie Hiebert, who is handling the Nome Catholic radio project’s paperwork, suggests 780 kHz as the new station’s frequency.

In a letter, he asks Peter Gureckis of John H. Mullaney’s Washington, DC engineering firm if he concurs.

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March 1990: An international popcorn connection

March 16, 1990

When Tom and Florence Busch host a Russian man and his son, they discover that the boy loves popcorn, which he had never before tasted. And so, they send them home with a jar of Orville Redenbacher and some oil.

Later, a (uniquely phrased) letter arrives. “This attempt was not excellent,” it reads. “Corns begined to blow up and was filled whole value of frying pan’s space. It was fantastic picture. I was can’t to open cover because corns was jumping too long. Now I choose suitable deep crockery.”

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