Whether you’ve been with us since the beginning, or you’re just getting to know us: it’s you, and your faithful support, that has made KNOM America’s oldest Catholic radio station.
Thank you!
KNOM has been broadcasting in Western Alaska since July 14th, 1971, when the station could first be heard in Western Alaska.
The continuing mission has been possible only by the hard work, sacrifice, dedication, and love of thousands of people: our staff and volunteers, listeners and community members, and thousands of loyal benefactors across the nation who keep the lights on and the transmitters running. KNOM stands on their shoulders.
Support Nurses
For the first three decades, much of KNOM’s income came from registered nurses and doctors at the Nome hospital. They lived as volunteers and donated their income to the radio mission. Here, two nurses – Candy Gleason (with the microphone) and Meg Gabriel – use a shortwave radio to give medical advice to a Western Alaskan village. Photo from the 1970s.
International Impact
Elder Tim Gologergen and volunteer Sean Brennan co-host Radio Bridge to Siberia, a program with stories of interest to those living on both sides of the Bering Strait, whether in the United States or Russia. The show aired in both English and Siberian Yup’ik. Photo taken in the late 1980s.
Happy Sweet Birthday to You
Since the 1970s, listeners across Western Alaska have called in for daily “Village Hotlines”. Mary J. “MJ” Hartman, a 1988-89 volunteer, wrote KNOM’s birthday song regularly played during “Village Hotlines.”
Here is the song:
Some Moments from the past...
Below, take a listen to some fond audio memories from the first decade of KNOM.
Come Visit the Station
Will you help us stay on air for another 50 years?
50th Anniversary Logo
KNOM’S NEW LOGO is intended to honor the mission’s 50-year history and carry the mission into the future.
The logo is designed by Brendan Hollis of Utqiagvik, Alaska, for KNOM’s anniversary and beyond. The main logo graphic – the dogs and musher – has been updated from the old logo’s pen-and-ink drawing of a dog team pulling a traditional sled, to a stylized graphic of the same motif.
In keeping with KNOM’s direct style of speaking to “you, the listener” – instead of “all of you out there listening” – the dogs run directly toward the viewer. The dogs themselves look leaner, as sled dogs bred for modern mushing also do.
The dogs and musher not only represent Western Alaska’s long history of dog mushing, but symbolize the persistence and resiliency of the mission and region. Despite numerous hurdles, storms, accidents, and other challenges the mission carries on today largely thanks to the untold number of volunteers and staff who have made KNOM possible.
The constellation, the Great Dipper, symbolizes the Great Land of the State of Alaska. As in the night sky above Nome, the constellation naturally ends in the North Star, Polaris. The star’s cross shape is a reminder of KNOM’s Catholic identity, which both grounds and guides the station’s mission and public service.
Finally, the tag line, “50 Years in Western Alaska” riffs from KNOM’s slogan; “Yours for Western Alaska”. In the circular version of the logo, its placement makes “complete the circle” for KNOM.