June ’88: A “friendship flight” to Russia

June 13, 1988 KNOM volunteer Claire Richardson is Alaska’s pool radio reporter on a precedent-setting trip to Provideniya, USSR, traveling on the historic Alaska Airlines 737 “Friendship Flight.” Her live reports of Provideniya’s festivities and the reunion of Eskimo families are carried by more than a dozen radio stations throughout the state.

September 1981: Marilyn Koezuna joins KNOM

September 6, 1981 Marilyn Koezuna joins the KNOM air staff. Marilyn is a King Island Inupiaq Eskimo who helped the station while in high school. She returns as a Jesuit volunteer, the second Alaska Native to do so for a full year.