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.
A polar bear on sea ice in northern Alaska.
February 5, 2002:
As he does every morning, engineer Les Brown drives to the remote KNOM transmitter site, walking the final 400 feet through deep snow in the morning darkness. Les is unaware that someone in a nearby cabin spotted a polar bear prowling the area overnight. Thankfully, Les finishes his work and returns to KNOM studios without incident.
January 16, 2000
A blizzard packing hurricane-force winds drops power lines at the KNOM transmitter site. The station’s emergency generator keeps it on the air for 16 hours before electricity is restored.
December 3, 1986
A storm this week deposits ice the thickness of cucumbers on the KNOM tower and its guy wires, which sag dangerously. The tower is in imminent danger of collapsing.
Tower expert Rod Ewing immediately flies in from Wasilla, Alaska to supervise Timothy Cochran and Tom Busch as they strain to keep the structure standing by carefully tightening the stretched guys, one by one. “It was close,” Timothy relates.
Visible for miles, KNOM’s current Christmas star sits at the very top of our FM transmitter tower in midtown Nome.
November 26, 1970
A 3-foot, lighted Christmas star tops the 49-foot studio tower. Like five successors over the years, it is blown apart by wind before the end of the holidays.
(The star’s modern successor – pictured at right – has proven to be much more wind-resistant!)
Frequent visitors to our website may have noticed a new blog appear earlier this year. Our Mission Blog – that is, the blog you’re reading right now! – is home to stories, photos, inspirational spots, and updates detailing our radio station’s latest activities, and now, it’s also home to our newsletter, The Nome Static.
Starting with the Christmas 2012 issue and going forward, you’ll find every article from each new Static right here, on our Mission Blog. You’ll also be able to download a full PDF file of each issue – in color!
This blog also features additional stories not seen in our Static pages, including colorful moments of KNOM history: such as Rod Ewing carefully scaling, and painting, our transmitter tower in 1999 (pictured below).
November 22, 1970
After three weeks of blizzards and winds, the weather has briefly cleared.
Volunteers John Pfeifer and Tom Busch are belted to the AM tower at the 95-foot level, and eight others on the ground hoist the microwave receive antenna, which the pair install. Weather closes in again, and work can’t resume for two more days.
November 14, 1997
Contractor Randy Pomeranz begins to fabricate the walls for the KNOM transmitter site’s generator shed. Time – and the remaining days of temperate weather – are running out, and the 66-kilowatt generator is waiting to be installed.
October 31, 1970
The AM tower construction is complete. Nome Joint Utilities runs a power line across the tundra to the tower, and it is lighted. It’s finished just in time. Two days later, blizzards shut down Nome for almost three weeks.
Longtime volunteer engineer Les Brown in KNOM’s Studio C.
September 25, 1997
Chief engineer Les Brown (pictured) has almost single-handedly built the extended fence around the AM tower, preparing for the mission’s higher-power, 25,000-Watt signal. Snow drifting has always been a problem there, and Les tries an innovative solution.
For (fence) pickets, he uses 1/2-inch plastic pipes, which he figures will be aerodynamic and won’t stop as much snow as wooden slats. It turns out to be an excellent decision. The needed material costs $931, and by doing it himself, Les figures he is saving the mission about $4,500 in labor.
