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EXTRA! A FEW STORIES FROM KNOM'S PAST
(Left)
July 14, 1971, at 5 PM, Bishop Robert Whelan, SJ presses a button that
starts KNOM’s inaugural program.
The old
“temporary” Army World War II buildings which housed the volunteer
staff, and the old house which was hammered into a studio, had been
renovated by a roving construction crew of diocesan volunteers.
The
first broadcast team, volunteers Alex Hills, John Pfeifer, Harry
Gallagher, Tom Busch and Leo Kehs were all professionals who had given
up a year or more of their careers to get the Catholic project on the
air.
From its
first minute, KNOM was immensely popular.
In the
1970s, there were no official surveys, but an informal one by Alaska
Fish and Game determined that more than 90% of villagers for 100,000
square miles listened to KNOM every day.
In the
early years, before television and before many villages even had
electric power, the average adult listened to KNOM an incredible ten
hours a day.
NURSES
Finances
were shaky, and they were largely held together by other volunteers, for
the most part registered nurses who worked at Nome’s hospital, living as
volunteers and donating their entire incomes to the mission project.
Gifts by mail accounted for about 10% of the station’s income.
(Left)
In Nome’s hospital, Candy Gleason, RN (with mike) and Meg Gabriel, RN
use shortwave radio to give medical advice to remote villages.
Over the years, a total of 70 nurses, 4 doctors, a librarian and an
accountant contributed their entire salaries for a year or more.
FORMAT
From its
earliest conception, the station’s format was designed to reach a wide
audience, aimed to capture listeners who would never ordinarily tune to
an educational or a religious radio station.
And so,
then, as now, in addition to Mass and other Catholic religious programs,
the station featured a lot of important news, five minutes an hour of
both national and regional. It played a variety of popular music. At
the core were educational and inspirational spots sprinkled among the
music and information.
At
first, the educational spots addressed serious but very basic topics.
At the time, for example, many people in the region didn’t know that
brushing teeth was necessary.
INCREASING SOPHISTICATION
As time
passed, KNOM began addressing more complex issues, such as alcoholism,
suicide and other violent deaths, domestic violence, child sexual abuse,
gasoline sniffing….problems which are endemic to western Alaska.
These
problems continue to exist, but because of KNOM, they are no longer
viewed as being a normal part of everyday life. We continue to educate,
to encourage people to seek help, and we lead them to the resources they
need for that help.
(Left)
in 1983, volunteer production director Lynette Schmidt checks the
plywood “spot board” in the manager’s office.
Each
card represents one of 64 spots that air in rotation.
When
KNOM first signed on the air, staff were admonished to use only terms
that were familiar to the village audience. To describe something as
“the size of a golf ball” was silly, as most of our listeners had never
seen one. With time, the sophistication of our audience grew, and our
format grew with them.In the mid 1970s, we introduced longer news shows,
adding six 20-minute regional newscasts a day, plus an evening public
affairs program.
(Left)
U.S. Senator Ted Stevens speaks to KNOM listeners in 2005.
Since
1971, every Alaska governor and senator has appeared over KNOM many
times.
For many
of our village listeners, it has been their only way to learn
politicians’ views on issues that are important to the isolated Alaska
bush.
(Left)
Some of the KNOM buildings as they appeared prior to 1992. The studio,
at right, was a converted house.
The
buildings at center and left, as well as buildings behind them, were
fifty-year old “temporary” U.S. Army barracks and offices which the
government abandoned following the end of World War II.
Flimsily
constructed, they were expensive to heat and growing dangerous.
Volunteers living in the building at center dubbed it “The Fire Trap.”
In 1992 and 1993, generous gifts by donors allowed us to replace all of
these structures with safe, efficient super-insulated buildings.
PRESIDENTIAL
(Left)
In 1982, 30-year KNOM general manager Tom Busch shares a podium with
Walter Cronkite.
Cronkite
was the Alaska Broadcasters Association’s featured speaker, and Tom had
just been elected the organization’s president. He was the first
representative from a religious station to lead the trade group, and
served two terms.
The
second person from a religious station to lead Alaska’s radio and TV
industry was Ric Schmidt, KNOM’s long time director of programming, and
general manager starting in 2005. Ric served as president for two
years, 2004 through 2006.
DOUBLE DUTY
Among
KNOM volunteer support nurses, Anne McCarthy (left) was noted for her
sideline as a KNOM deejay.
From
1979 to 1982, Anne donated not only her entire salary, but also her
talent on the air.
She was
often called on to voice spots, and to narrate programs.
Most of
KNOM’s spots, recorded onto tape cartridges, are visible in a rack just
behind Anne.
CHANGING TIMES
In 1982,
gifts by nurses accounted for 66.3% of KNOM’s operating income.
In the
1980s, a nursing shortage struck KNOM, as well as the health care
industry.
The
mission sought help by mail, and thanks to the kindness of many good
people, continued to operate, then as today. After several frightening
years, KNOM’s finances stabilized in 1987, when gifts by mail accounted
for 86.3% of the station’s funds.
(Today,
contributions by people like you are 97% of KNOM’s operating revenue.
Thank you!)
AWARDS
In 1979,
KNOM was presented by Unda-USA, the national group of Catholic
communicators, with its highest honor, the Gabriel “Radio Station of the
Year” Award. Since that year, KNOM’s outstanding programming has won
that award a total of 14 times.
In
addition, KNOM has been honored by the National Association of
Broadcasters’ (NAB) Crystal Award for Excellence in Local Programming no
fewer than 4 times. It is the only religious station to have been given
this coveted award.
NAB has
also given KNOM its Marconi “Religious Station of the Year” twice.
(Left) In August 1998, KNOM’s newest volunteer, Michael Warren
(front right) holds KNOM’s newest Gabriel "Radio Station of the Year" Award.
Another new arrival to Nome, volunteer Kelly Brabec (front left) holds
one of our mission’s five previous Gabriels, as do (left to right) volunteers
Jodi Engle, Connie Fessel, Vicki Muzik and Kevin Glynn.
Why
should a Catholic radio station in remote Nome, Alaska be so praised,
you might ask. The answer is the absolute dedication of our generous,
hardworking, talented staff to helping improve the lives of the people
in this far-flung region.
"RUSSIAN" AROUND
Since
1971, we knew that in addition to 100,000 square miles of Alaska, we
were also heard deep inside the Soviet Union.
In 1987,
volunteer Therese Horvath, who speaks fluent Russian, created “KNOM’s
Radio Bridge to Siberia,” with news of interest to both sides of the
border in both languages.
(Left)
Later, volunteer Sean Brennan, here with Siberian Yupik (YOO-pik) elder
Tim Gologergen, produced the show in English and the Siberian Yupik
Native language.
THE WISDOM OF ELDERS
(Left)
Among Eskimo cultures, the wisdom of elders is held in high regard. In
February 2002, volunteer news reporter Julia Arrotti interviews Inupiat
(in-OO-pee-at) senior Dan Karmun for the first of what we plan as a
long-running series, “Elder Voices.”
ALWAYS IMPROVING
The
field of broadcasting has come a long way since KNOM’s first day on the
air.
Early
on, we relied on magnetic tape and vinyl discs.
In 1993,
as our original equipment was wearing out, we began using computers to
store and play audio.
Thanks
to this new technology, in January 1996 we began broadcasting 24 hours a
day.
(Left)
KNOM general manager Ric Schmidt checks a few of the more than thirty
computers the station uses today.
To
thoroughly tell the story of the KNOM mission, its 300 volunteers over
the years, the sometimes bone-weary work, would take hundreds of
photographs and hundreds of pages.
We hope
you enjoy this brief snapshot of a few elements of our mission.
Thanks
to you, there is a beacon throughout road-less western Alaska.
That
beacon offers the Mass and Rosary, lifesaving information, healing,
companionship and hope to dozens of villages. May our Heavenly Father
bless you for your help! |
