• Trim Times
• In Print
• Results
• Something to Chew On
• Receipt
• Get the Drift?
• Apply Topically
• Juneau Journal
• Deer, Deer!
• Thirty Years Ago
• Promises
  

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As we shovel the tons of snow we received in the last week of December, we pause to thank you most sincerely for your generosity to our mission.

Your prayers and your financial contributions keep our signal strong throughout this immense, remote region, inspiring, encouraging and informing thousands of village Alaskans.  Thank you for your kindness!

TRIM TIMES: (left):  KNOMers Kelly Brabec (behind tree) and Anna Dummer deck the KNOM halls with a branch from a tundra willow for the Christmas holiday.

Topped by an angel, the little shrub helped keep things cheery for the KNOM crew, many of whom spent the Christmas holiday thousands of miles from their families and closest friends.

IN PRINT:  You’ll find a long feature article about KNOM in the January 2004 issue of the popular Catholic magazine  St. Anthony Messenger, with lots of pictures.

RESULTS:  The day after Christmas, a board member of Alaska’s Breast Cancer Detection Center wrote KNOM, thanking us for making a village mammogram program a great success.  “Many of the patients reported that they had heard about it on KNOM,” she said.

 “This was the first time we had tried to market (the) village trips using radio, and I assure you that we will continue,” she wrote.  “There is absolutely no more powerful medium in these towns and villages than radio, and KNOM ranks at the top.  I do not think any other station can top the respect and trust of your station, and it was an exciting experience for me to finally have proof!”

     Lots!  Who else does He have to do it?

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It’s still early in the year, but by the end of January, KNOM will have broadcast about 2,800 inspirational spots in 2004, along with an  equal number of educational ones. 

SOMETHING TO CHEW ON:  (left) KNOM volunteer production director Emily Barrett can boast of an international honor, a Crystal Communicator Award, for creative treatment of an educational spot on, of all things, bubble gum.

The brief 2003 spot debunked an old myth that if you swallow bubble gum, it will remain in your stomach for years.  “I didn’t want children worrying about that,” Emily says.  “On the other hand, it really isn’t the best thing to swallow.”

Emily is in her second year as a KNOM volunteer.

Two former KNOM’ers also received a Crystal Communicator Award for a humorous original radio play, “The Village of Snome.”  Written by Andrew McDonnell and produced by Mike Nurse, the story weaves a fanciful tale of a village on the Bering Sea ice in which everything -- including its inhabitants -- are constructed entirely of snow.  Both Andrew and Mike have moved on, to further their educations.

Voices for the spot and the story were recorded in Studios B and C, and they were produced at this editing station, located upstairs.

 Congratulations to everyone!

RECEIPT:  In the third week of January, we will mail receipts to everyone who contributed a total of $250.00 or more during 2003.  We’ll be happy to send a receipt to anyone, regardless of amount.  Please drop us a line.  Thank you!

     Does that tell us something about our habit of collecting things?

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 GET THE DRIFT? (left)  Business manager Florence Busch examines a seven-foot snowdrift next to her yard.

 In December, a series of powerful storms left Nome buried under such drifts, some as high as second-story windows.

Often in  Nome, the wind is so violent that it sculpts long, high drifts in some places, while scraping the ground bare in others. 

Nome went without Federal Express service for a full week, and the last five days of 2003 saw only one mail plane.    

 APPLY TOPICALLY:  Every weekday, KNOM broadcasts a “Profile” program, ten-to fifteen-minutes of interviews dealing with topics that are important to the region.  Recent subjects included Siberian Yupik traditional stories, new fish and game rules, rural Alaska foster care, suicide prevention, geothermal power, developing a healthy lifestyle, influenza, after school village youth programs, bush Alaska health care, regional transportation plans, Bering Strait archaeology and emergency medical services, among others.

The programs also featured local legislators, who provided opinions on the upcoming Alaska legislative session in Juneau.  Speaking of which…

JUNEAU JOURNAL:  That’s the title of a new program on KNOM, hosted by volunteer deputy news director Julia Dunlap.  Nome is 1,097 miles from Alaska’s capital.  That’s the same distance as New York City to Omaha!   You can see why many villagers feel especially remote from where many decisions that affect their lives are made.

KNOM’s newscasts will continue to cover legislative issues, and we will continue 2003’s practice of interviewing a prominent legislator every week.  Julia’s program is designed to provide a concise twice-weekly summary that will put events in perspective.  Thank you for making this, and all of KNOM’s educational and informational programming possible!

KNOM is the oldest Catholic radio station in the United States.