Provideniya, Chukotka, Russia.
June 13, 1988
KNOM volunteer Claire Richardson is Alaska’s pool radio reporter on a precedent-setting trip to Provideniya, USSR, traveling on the historic Alaska Airlines 737 “Friendship Flight.”
Her live reports of Provideniya’s festivities and the reunion of Eskimo families are carried by more than a dozen radio stations throughout the state.
You’ll often find KNOM’s dedicated news team – including volunteers Eva DeLappe and Margaret DeMaioribus, pictured – reporting on location in Nome, despite our region’s often-inclement weather. Last month, however, the news was the weather.
As Margaret reported, a shifting wind pattern called Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) has been at least partly to blame for this year’s exceptionally cold spring weather – cold even by Alaskan standards. Margaret’s report came on the heels of a mid-May blizzard that left inches of new snow in its wake.
Through your support, listeners throughout the Alaskan Bush not only received their much-needed weather report – they also learned why the weather wasn’t quite as warm as they expected.
With your support, the KNOM Radio Mission has been a presence in Western Alaska’s communities for more than four decades – and not always just through the airwaves. We’re so thrilled when our outstanding, full-time volunteers serve our region even beyond KNOM’s studio walls; news reporter Margaret DeMaioribus is one such volunteer.
Margaret, who hails from eastern Pennsylvania, has been a frequent presence in many service contexts within the Nome community: in particular, within St. Joseph Catholic Church. At St. Joseph’s, Margaret is a cantor at weekly Sunday Mass and also teaches religious education classes. In Nome, filling both of these positions can be difficult; willing and able musicians and volunteer teachers are both in short supply.
In addition to her work at St. Joseph’s (from which KNOM broadcasts weekly Sunday Mass to its rural Alaska listeners), Margaret also regularly volunteers at Nome’s local homeless shelter, serving dinners to the needy.
Thank you for making possible the service of all of our wonderful volunteers. Through your generosity, KNOM volunteers continue to endeavor to improve life in rural Alaska – even when the microphone is off.
Western Alaska’s listeners – and KNOM’s crew – recently delighted in hearing a familiar voice on our airwaves: staff alumnus Paul Korchin, who volunteered a week at our station in mid-March.
Paul, a longtime news director who now serves on our board of directors, generously contributed many hours to KNOM’s coverage of winter “race season” in our region: in particular, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (detailed here) and the Nome-Golovin Snowmachine Race. (“Snowmachine” is Alaskan parlance for snowmobile.)
Nome-Golovin is a fast-paced, 190-mile roundtrip from Nome to the community of Golovin and back. We cover the competition because of the high level of interest among our listeners; we’re proud to be one of the only media organizations to do so.
As the photos above show, Paul was instrumental in our coverage both of Nome-Golovin and of the Iditarod. Top: Paul broadcasts from the frozen Bering Sea during Nome-Golovin with volunteer Eva DeLappe; bottom: Paul joins Ric Schmidt in Studio A for a live update on Iditarod 2013. Thank you, Paul!
Education has been an essential component of our mission since KNOM’s inception in 1971. Last month, we realized the goal of education in a special way: by welcoming a broadcasting student with special ties to the region we serve.
Janice Homekingkeo (pictured at left) hails from Koyuk (COY-uck), a Western Alaskan community nestled on Norton Bay. Janice is a lifelong KNOM listener with a keen interest in broadcasting; it’s her academic focus at Columbia College in Chicago, Illinois, and it was the subject of her two-week internship at KNOM in January.
Closely shadowing our news director, Laureli Kinneen, Janice got a behind-the-scenes look at a working radio newsroom. She watched Laureli and KNOM’s other newsies broadcast live reports and prepare weather forecasts, and soon, she was ready to take to the microphone herself. Janice recorded daytime weather casts and, on her final day at our studios, even anchored a KNOM newscast.
Thank you for allowing us to share, in so many ways, the special potential of radio with our listeners. To hear Janice’s news broadcast, check out our Update News episode from Friday, January 25, 2013.
A familiar (and smiling) face graced KNOM studios last month: that of volunteer alumnus Ben Matheson, who donated a week of vacation time to help our mission with our coverage of the Norton Sound 450 (described in more detail elsewhere in our March newsletter).
Ben’s presence within our studios was invaluable. A two-year veteran of all things KNOM and rural Alaska, Ben brought his zeal for reporting and for the Arctic to our newest generation of radio volunteers. Ben guided them through the details of each race broadcast, and like all KNOM staffers, he was on hand for the myriad other duties that arise during the day.
Thanks so much, Ben!
Our feature series on KNOM volunteer alumni continues with Matthew Smith, our public affairs director from 2010 to 2012 who is now continuing his career in news broadcasting with KTVA television in Anchorage. Here’s Matt, in his own words, on what KNOM has already meant to him:
While I’ve only been a KNOM alumnus for a few months, I’m amazed at what the mission has made possible.
I learned about work, community, and myself during my time with KNOM. I learned how to be a reporter, how to find stories and write them in a way that was relevant to listeners in Western Alaska. From interviewing Iditarod mushers to meeting the Russian crew of the Renda as they made the first-ever winter fuel delivery to Nome (pictured at right), my experiences with KNOM made me the reporter I am today.
My time at KNOM also taught me what it means to be part of a small community. As a volunteer EMT, I remember taking blood pressure readings at the community health fair, giving residents of Nome access to blood work and medical exams that were otherwise simply unavailable. I never could have guessed how much being a part of the community in Nome would shape my years of service.
KNOM shaped my spirit, too. The people I met, the stories I heard and told, the connections I formed with roommates, co-workers, and friends: they have enriched my life in uncountable ways. I’m proud – and humbled – to have been a part of the mission, and I can’t wait to see where it goes in the coming years.
As always, we’re so grateful for the people who make our volunteer program possible. As you can see, KNOM continues to change lives: both those of our listeners and of our staff. It’s all thanks to you!
Our mission’s new volunteer news reporter, Margaret DeMaioribus, arrived at KNOM in late summer and has hit the ground running. On weekdays, our listeners hear her voice in weather forecasts and news reports on the latest developments happening in their communities.
Margaret has a diverse background. She graduated in 2009 from West Chester University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s in exercise science with minors in nutrition and psychology.
Before coming to KNOM, she spent a year of service in Cleveland, Ohio at Maggie’s Place, a home for pregnant mothers and babies in need.
She’s also driven across the USA and snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef.
As for her self-described “fun facts,” Margaret has a 2nd-degree black belt in Tang Soo Do (a Korean martial art form) and has “mascot experience,” having worked in costume as Elmo, Dora the Explorer and the Pink Panther.
In her free time, you’re likely to find Margaret hiking, reading, or singing at Sunday Mass. She says it’s been her dream to live in Alaska, and we’re thrilled to have her fulfill that dream at KNOM. Welcome, Margaret!
August 15, 1993
From Tacoma, Washington, Tom Bunger is among KNOM’s six volunteers, all new.
He’s assigned as news reporter, working under the supervision of news director Katy Clark. In 1994, Tom is hired as a salaried news director, a position he holds for three years before leaving the station for a career in the computer industry.
It is Tom who creates KNOM’s website in 1997, and he continues to help out the station from time to time.
