KNOM listenership is perhaps never greater than in the mornings. Walk down the streets of a Western Alaskan community on any given morning, and you’re likely to hear the KNOM Morning Show spilling out of automobile radios and through open windows; you’ll hear KNOM’s morning news and weather being played at the post office, the local bank, the grocery store, and in so many other places.
We’re honored and humbled that many in our region wake up to KNOM, and during the work week, that means the Morning Show: hosted by dedicated volunteers Dayneé Rosales and Lucus Keppel, pictured in our main broadcast studio, Studio A.
Despite the early hours they keep, Lucus and Dayneé have brought a fresh energy and creativity to their time on the Morning Show.
On “Breakfast Wednesdays,” Dayneé and Lucus welcome a few friends from the CAMP Department, a Nome health organization that specializes in nutrition and healthy living. Megan Timm and Katie Gonzales (pictured above) share tips on making nutritious breakfasts, and with Dayneé and Lucus, they invite our listeners to stop by and sample healthy breakfast foods: from sugar-free apple sauce to turkey bacon to breakfast quiche (pictured below).
As we go to press, Lucus and Dayneé are also in the final days of a Christmastime writing contest for schoolchildren. They’re receiving contest entries of fiction and poetry from students all throughout our region, and during their morning broadcasts, they’re also emphasizing the importance of reading and discussing prominent authors and works of literature.
Thanks to you, we’re striving to inform, inspire, and entertain our listeners, night and day. For the latest on the Morning Show, visit the Morning Show blog.
December 24, 2004
A deadly storm is approaching, and KNOM broadcasts ten minutes of weather warnings every hour. The gale strikes at 11 PM, dropping visibility to near zero until suppertime Christmas Day. Residents estimate that, as it funnels and gusts around the buildings of Nome, the wind’s velocity exceeds 80 MPH.
It’s a strikingly dark time of year in Western Alaska. On clear days, we’re treated to gorgeous sunrises and sunsets (like the one pictured above); the sun rises just shy of 12 noon and sets before 4pm.
While the sunlight is brief, the darkness allows KNOM’s Christmas star – perched atop our FM transmitter tower (pictured) – to shine all the brighter. We light the star at the beginning of each Advent, and alongside a few simple decorations inside our studios, the star has been a tangible reminder of our mission: our calling to be a light in the darkness, especially during this special season. We thank you for sustaining our mission into 2013, and we ask for your prayers: especially for our volunteers, who spend this joyful season in rural Alaska, far from home.
Our inspirational spot for the week:
Christmas: it’s God’s invitation for us to approach Him and embrace Him in our lives.
In late 1999, former KNOMer John Albers (dressed in brown) works at the base of the station’s FM transmitter tower alongside volunteer engineer Les Brown (blue jacket). Les is holding the Christmas star that, shortly after this photo was taken, was hoisted back to the top of our FM tower; a star has decorated the tower every year since 1971, shining brightly over downtown Nome.
As we move through the dark days of winter and sub-zero weather, KNOM brings light to the lives of remote listeners throughout 100,000 square miles of Western Alaska.
It is a special time of year for the KNOM volunteers. They are far from their families, yet they treasure the gifts of service that they share with each other, the KNOM listeners, and you!
As in years past, the Christmas star is illuminated, and its tiny, bright lights reach into the darkness, sparkling and twinkling with anticipation for the celebration of Christ’s birth. We continue to witness marvelous signs of the great love and support we have for each other. The familiar aroma of a Christmas wreath in our broadcast studio reminds us that, through the cold and darkness, the hope of a new beginning will bring a great light.
From all of us at KNOM, Merry Christmas!
December 18, 1992
KNOM volunteer music director John Albers suddenly finds himself in a red suit, filling in for an ailing Santa. John portrays the jolly old elf on a National Guard flight to the village of Elim, about 100 miles east of Nome.
In Nome, KNOM’s news department is on the front lines for a story with worldwide interest: the Russian tanker Renda makes an unprecedented winter fuel delivery, escorted in its journey through the frozen Bering Sea by the US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy. The delivery comes in the wake of an epic, fall 2011 storm that delayed Nome’s final fuel shipment.
KNOM covers the inaugural running of a sled-dog race honoring a community leader in Western Alaska. The Paul Johnson Memorial Norton Sound 450 sends dog teams from the community of Unalakleet (YOU-nuh-luh-kleet) to the finish line in Nome. In the pre-dawn hours, musher Pete Kaiser finishes first, and KNOM’s Laureli Kinneen calls the finish live.
KNOM rallies to cover all angles of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (the 1,000-mile competition from Anchorage to Nome). The race is an inspiration to thousands, and in 2012, a new generation takes center stage: 25-year-old Dallas Seavey wins the race, while young musher Rohn Buser finishes alongside his father, Martin, a multiple-time Iditarod champ.
