ProgramsNewsAbout UsVolunteerDonate TodayGive Now96.1 fm 780 am Yours for Western Alaska

Tag Archives | construction

Construction update

By on April 26, 2013 in Photos, The Nome Static, The Nome Static, 2013 (All), The Nome Static, May 2013

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.

 

Continue Reading →

Continue Reading

A roof over our heads!

By on March 29, 2013 in Photos, The Nome Static, The Nome Static, 2013 (All), The Nome Static, April 2013

Our photo gallery is back this month, and as you’ll hopefully glean from the images above, work is continuing at an exciting pace for the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios!

The new building, as readers may know, will be an annex to our existing building; it will be home to much-needed studio space and allow us to renovate our broadcast hardware with digital gear: far more cost-effective, easily repaired, and “future-proof” than what we use now.

The four photos this month show a crucial part of this winter’s work: the (relatively rapid) construction of our new studios’ floor, the erection of its walls, and the laying of panels for its roof. All of these pictures were taken from second-floor vantage points in our current building; as you can see, our intrepid construction crew is working deftly even at precarious heights!

As we go to press, work continues on the roof of the building and on insulation for the entire structure; we’ll have more photos in our May Static. To learn more – or to help our project keep moving forward – visit our digital studios page.

Continue Reading →

Continue Reading

Construction begins!

By on March 1, 2013 in Photos, The Nome Static, The Nome Static, 2013 (All), The Nome Static, March 2013

In recent weeks, KNOM’s volunteers and staff have become well versed in the sounds of hammers, power saws, and heavy machinery, but it’s all for good reason: construction is continuing for the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios!

After laying the foundation beams late last year, we are now busy building the outside structure of our new studio space. As you may know, our digital studios will expand our working space and, most importantly, renovate it, by allowing us to use more cost-efficient, digital technology.

As you see in the photos above, the support beams for our new studios are quickly being set into place. Work will continue, over the coming months, to finish the outside “box” of the new building, to connect it to our existing structure, and then, finally, to furnish it with digital broadcast hardware.

As we go to press, our studio construction funds stand at $482,296; it’s about half of what we’ll need to finish the full project. We can’t thank you enough for your continued support; to learn more, visit our digital studios page.

Continue Reading →

Continue Reading

In the frigid air, construction continues

By on February 24, 2013 in Photos, Stories
Digital studios construction, February 13

Construction workers quickly erect the outside frame of the new Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios, as seen from the second floor window of KNOM’s current facilities.

The moon shines from a pale blue sky as ice crystals dance across the tundra, carried by a fierce North wind. The sun makes the snow on the land and sea ice sparkle like a billion diamonds. The ice has stopped shifting (for now), and a few brave souls are setting their crab pots through holes in the frozen Bering Sea, hoping to harvest a winter bounty of crab.

Suffering through cold temperatures and a bitterly cold wind, our construction crew has just finished nailing down the roof structure for KNOM’s Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios. KNOM news director Laureli Kinneen baked a batch of cookies for these hardy men. The crew enjoyed the tasty treats and then went right back to work. Please add your prayers to ours for the health and safety of these wonderful carpenters.

Continue Reading

What’s a “sun dog”?

By on February 17, 2013 in Photos, Stories
A "sun dog" over Nome

During sunrise on a recent morning, a “sun dog” – the partial halo of light around the disc of the sun – was particularly glorious over downtown Nome. Photo by David Dodman.

The bitterly cold temperatures are lingering, but there is more daylight to enjoy. Last week, we experienced a remarkable atmospheric phenomenon: bright, colorful spots of light on either side of the sun, observed as the sun sat low on the horizon. The scientific name is parhelion, but here in Alaska we call them “sun dogs.”

This unique light show is caused by light passing through plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals during very cold weather. The crystals act as prisms, bending the light rays (as the crystals sink through the air, they are vertically aligned, and sunlight is refracted horizontally); this creates the colorful, “phantom sun” or sun dog.

Meanwhile, exceptional things are happening on the ground, too. Our brave construction crew is battling extreme temperatures as they tilt up walls at KNOM’s Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios. Please pray for their health and safety.

Continue Reading

Amid the cold, construction begins for our new studios!

By on February 10, 2013 in Photos, Stories

Evening construction on the digital studios

Western Alaska village temperatures are dropping, and wind chills sometimes reach 50 below. The north wind is relentless, and it is cold! Any exposed skin quickly reddens and is accompanied by an unmistakable stinging sensation, reminding you to cover up or get inside where it is warm.

Even with these cold temperatures, the construction crew building the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios at KNOM are hard at work, setting beams and joists. As we have seen in the past, getting construction materials to Nome is very difficult, and there have been a few delivery delays of critical construction materials. Work is now proceeding, and the crew will soon be attaching the plywood and insulating the floor system.They are a hardy bunch, and we can’t thank them enough for working through cold and windy winter weather.

Continue Reading

An exciting milestone!

By on January 31, 2013 in Photos, The Nome Static, The Nome Static, 2013 (All), The Nome Static, February 2013

It’s both exciting and humbling to report the continued progress of our campaign for the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios. We’ve just passed a crucial landmark; with donations now approaching $500,000, we have enough funds to build Phase 1 of the project, the outside frame of our studio annex.

The digital studios project will expand our studio space (into the lot pictured) and renovate it: replacing our aging, analog equipment with digital hardware that will be more cost-efficient to maintain.

As we go to press, we’re still eagerly awaiting the beginning of Phase 1 construction, which has been delayed, in part, because of the complications of wintertime weather in rural Alaska (as pictured) and the limited construction workforce in our region.

Also, we continue to seek funds for Phase 2 of construction: the renovation of our existing studios and the purchase of new digital broadcast equipment.

We thank you for your continued support and ask for prayers. Together, we’re moving forward! To learn more, visit our digital studios page.

Continue Reading →

Continue Reading

Studio fund: over $400,000!

By on December 17, 2012 in Photos, The Nome Static, The Nome Static, 2012 (All), The Nome Static, Year-End 2012
Moving wood at the construction site of the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios.

Moving wood at the construction site of the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios.

Step by step, our studio renovation and expansion project – the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios – is moving forward as the calendar turns over into 2013.

As we go to press, we’re anticipating the first phases of construction to begin any day. Our contractors will use the special shipments of wood, pictured at top, to build the initial frame of our new, crucially-needed studio space. Thanks to you, the funds are there to make this first phase a reality; our digital studio funds now exceed $400,000! For the latest updates – and to help us keep our studio construction moving forward – visit this page.

Continue Reading →

Continue Reading

Onward with our new studios!

By on November 20, 2012 in Photos, The Nome Static, The Nome Static, 2012 (All), The Nome Static, Christmas 2012

LumberWe can’t imagine a more wonderful Christmas gift than the outpouring of generosity we’ve received for our major studio renovation and expansion project: the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios. By year’s end, with your help, we hope to have enough funds to sustain us through the first phase of the studios’ construction (slated through May 2013).

A few weeks ago, our first shipment of building materials arrived: our cargo of lumber (portions of which are pictured at left) cost $69,606.88 and will be used to construct the bare frame of our annex. Even without any equipment or furnishings, this first construction phase will cost $301.69 per square foot.

By the time you read this, the skeleton frame of our annex should be rising above the lot next to our studios (pictured at bottom during a recent sunset). Also at bottom is an architect’s rendering of the finished structure. For more on the project – and to help make it a reality – visit this page.

Continue Reading →

Continue Reading

Ready for (more) construction!

By on November 13, 2012 in Photos, The Nome Static, The Nome Static, 2012 (All), The Nome Static, November 2012

Cargo containers at the Nome port

Somewhere in the cargo containers you see above (recently unloaded from a massive barge shipment at Nome’s port) are the materials we’ll soon use to continue construction on the Tom and Florence Busch Digital Studios. We so appreciate all who have given their time, talents, and treasure to allow this project to move forward. The empty lot you see pictured at bottom will soon be filled with the skeleton of our new studio annex – thanks to you!

Future studios site

Continue Reading →

Continue Reading