• "Doing the dishes?"
• Sign of the times
• ALAP’AA!
• Number One
• Transmitter - In pieces!
• "Hamming" it Up
• Light Snow
• White Spring

While we don’t have any scientific data, it’s clear that the power increase to 25,000 Watts is having an even greater positive effect than we had expected. According to reports from many villages where we were barely heard before, they’re now picking up a solid signal.  How about that? 

The experts explain that in the more distant villages, our old signal was right on the threshold of where common radios get noisy, and the boost in power lifted us "into the clear." 

We hope that you are as thrilled as we are!  Thank you so much for your faithful support, which keeps our mission on the air.  We know that Our Lord will bless you for your generosity many times over.

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We took turns scraping the dishes.  Here, Les Brown cleans an antenna on a fairly quiet but snowy afternoon in the fourth week of April. 

Several days later, you’d hear storm warnings every hour over KNOM, and as the huge blizzard roared up the coast, very few people in the region were caught unprepared for the brutality of the wind and snow. 

As far as KNOM’s satellite dishes are concerned, heavy snows during the darkest winter months don’t cause a problem because the temperature is ordinarily too cold for snow to stick to the antennas - instead, it blows past at forty to fifty miles an hour!

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Thanks to your help, we’ve come a long way since five volunteers shared a 16-hour broadcast day working out of a house that had undergone four rebuilds. 

(Left) One constant is our trademark "seal-skin" sign, crafted of plywood by volunteer Tom Karlin in 1970. 

In a light snow shower, volunteer education director and morning announcer Connie Fessel poses alongside this now-historic sign (which obviously needs work this summer!). 

The main air "Studio A" sits directly behind the sign.

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The four weathered the night on a chunk of ice, huddled beneath their overturned boat, and when the weather began to clear, hopped from floe to floe, with frequent dunks in the frigid water.  One of them walked all the way to town for help while the others remained at a shelter cabin.  According to the National Guard, they were all okay but "very, very cold."  Brrr! 

NUMBER ONE:  If you ask for an opinion on western Alaska’s number one problem, almost everyone will tell you the same thing:  it’s alcohol and drug abuse.  That’s why KNOM pays particular attention to this wide-ranging field of troubles which cause unimaginable tragedies throughout the region.  Among our efforts in April, a call-in program with recovery experts.  Ten recovered alcoholics and drug users offered their heart-wrenching stories during the highly emotional show.  We know that thousands of others who need help were tuned in. 

2,100:  That’s how many minutes of Inspirational Spots KNOM broadcast during April. 

If you’ve decided that it’s time to revise your will, please consider adding your favorite charities and missions like KNOM.  For many people on fixed incomes, their final gifts can touch others for many, many years.   At KNOM, all such gifts are prayerfully applied to either emergency savings or long-term improvements.

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The vibration from wind as well as the transmitter’s own cooling fans, can work things loose.  It’s a once-a-year procedure, to ensure that the new transmitter will stay "new" for many years into the future. 

Incidentally, Tom and Les were horrified when they realized that between them, they have almost seventy years’ experience in broadcast engineering! 

Light snow falls as KNOM program director Ric Schmidt walks outside the KNOM studio.  As you can see, by late April, the heavy pack of winter’s snow is almost gone.  Hurray! 
 

The KNOM mission has won every major broadcasting award for public service.  That’s because we truly care for the scattered flock in village Alaska, and together with you, we provide them with a sparkling offering of programs, 24 hours a day.

Thanks to you, we beam hours of inspiration and education every day, the Mass and Rosary, vital news and the discussion of important issues.  Can you imagine a religious and educational station winning 94% of the region’s village listeners?  We are a friend and a strong positive voice.  Thank you!

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WHITE SPRING:  By late April, spring is officially more than five weeks old.  The noon shadows are still long, but most of the snow has compacted.  Before the day warms to freezing, it’s easy to walk on top of the crusty top.  Watch out when it’s a few degrees warmer -- you’ll sink to your knees with every step! 

In this view of the KNOM transmitter site from the gravel road from Nome, glare from the sun hides the 236-foot tower.  At left, past the stilll-frozen Nome River mouth, you can see the shacks of historic Fort Davis, now the site of summer fishing camps.  In summers, God willing, driftwood racks hang heavy with strips of salmon, drying for subsistence use by families for the following winter. 

Your gifts to KNOM make our powerful mission signal possible. 

You are with us as we beam our programming  into thousands of isolated Eskimo and Athabascan Indian homes throughout this vast region. 

Thank you again for your financial help and for your prayers.