From Winter Woes to Summer Roads, Maintenance Crews Clearing the Way
A short drive towards the outskirts of Nome reveals the scars left by a long winter. Bumps and ruts toss cars- and their passengers- up and down from their seats. As the snow melts in early May, brave travelers can make it just over 20 miles out of town before encountering impassable snow drifts. The […]
Engineering Star
Volunteer engineer Les Brown’s latest visit to KNOM produced some very bright results.
Nome School Board Backs Statewide Education Plan
The Nome Public Schools (NPS) Board of Education signed on to Alaska’s statewide education strategic plan at its regular meeting Tuesday evening.
Keeping the station warm
It might seem like a routine or prosaic replacement, but for a radio station in the sub-Arctic, it’s utterly crucial: last month, KNOM replaced the boiler in its studios (as pictured, mid-replacement, above). Our studio boiler, which generates the heat for the ambient temperature of the building, had been in need of a permanent fix […]
Time to tighten up
This time of year, we scramble to make sure that we perform routine maintenance on the KNOM buildings and equipment. As we go through this process, we encounter unusual circumstances. (Several years ago, as we were doing a visual inspection of the AM transmitter site, a herd of muskoxen decided to graze near the tower.) KNOM volunteer […]
Engineer’s corner: “Shake, shake, shake”
As promised in last month’s edition of the Static, we’re happy to present the latest on KNOM’s equipment and technical issues with a new segment – the Engineer’s Corner – courtesy of volunteer engineer Rolland Trowbridge: On one morning in early May, the transmitter-to-studio data link, or TSL, quit working. This link allows volunteers at […]
KNOM Radio Mission, 2012: Twelve Snapshots
January In Nome, KNOM’s news department is on the front lines for a story with worldwide interest: the Russian tanker Renda makes an unprecedented winter fuel delivery, escorted in its journey through the frozen Bering Sea by the US Coast Guard icebreaker Healy. The delivery comes in the wake of an epic, fall 2011 storm […]
Back in the building! – Fr. Ross, John, and Tom
Father Ross – pastor of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Nome and president of the KNOM Radio Mission board of directors – is back in Nome from a short sabbatical. Fr. Ross was a KNOM volunteer in the late 80s and has been a part of the radio mission in one way or another ever […]
August 2009: Transmitter trouble
August 23, 2009 The transmitter fails this morning, just as the automated remote control commands the increase to daytime power. From Anchorage, Tom Busch talks general manager Ric Schmidt into coaxing it to operate at very low power, about 2,000 watts. After flying to Nome, Tom discovers that a jumper cable 100 feet above ground […]
Rain, fish, boats, and Rolland!
Summer storms continue to dump lots of rain, and some streams and rivers are swollen with water and fish. We have seen wonderful examples of folks sharing their catch with elders and families who really savor these fresh food staples. Recently, KNOM opened its doors to the Coast Guard to inform our listeners about voluntary […]