KNOM Staff: Ric Schmidt

KNOM general manager Ric Schmidt grew up in the Willamette Valley community of Albany, Oregon, where he attended grade school at St. Mary’s and graduated from Albany Union High School. While attending the University of Oregon he directed and co-produced award winning TV and Radio Commercials, and in 1979 he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Speech Telecommunications.

Ric first arrived in Nome as a radio volunteer in the summer of 1984, where he met his future wife Lynette, who was KNOM’s volunteer News Director that year.

In 1986 Ric and Lynette moved to Portland, Oregon where Ric accepted the general manager position at Metro Catholic Broadcasting, Inc, founding and operating Catholic radio station KBVM-FM Portland, Oregon. After seven years in the Pacific Northwest, Ric returned to Nome and became program director for KNOM in 1995.

In April 2005, Ric was promoted to general manager.

Ric and his wife Lynette have six children, ages 9 through 17 years old, and the family greaty enjoys the challenge and excitement of life in bush Alaska.