KNOM celebrates 50 years on air
“Radio KNOM got off to a booming start after a long time a-simmering,” read the first sentence of an article mid-July 1971 edition of The Nome Nugget. “There will be no football broadcasts nor pick-ups of lengthy City Council meetings.”
There were still no football games being broadcast on KNOM’s airwaves when the station celebrated its 50th anniversary last week with tshirts, tours, trivia and cupcakes. City Council meetings are still lengthy – and were at one point broadcast - though not much else has stayed the same since the station first went on-air on Wednesday, July 15, 1971. The KNOM building itself was expanded and offers more studio booths.
A steady stream of listeners and community members mingled with board members and staff at the KNOM radio headquarters. Volunteers gave tours of the studios, past countless framed award certificates on studio walls. At one point, Bishop Chad Zielinsky, Father Ross Tozzi and KNOM General Manager Tony Calumet held blessing ceremonies inside the building and blessed the outside signal tower with holy water.
KNOM is the oldest Catholic radio station in the United States and has a long legacy in the community.
However, its founder Catholic priest Jim Poole was removed from the KNOM’s history and timeline after it was exposed that he had committed “numerous acts of sexual abuse while serving in Nome,” according to the station’s website. Poole left KNOM and Nome in the late 80s. KNOM identified Tom Busch as its founder. “Busch’s importance to KNOM is impossible to quantify or overstate, as it was his initiative that took Poole’s ideas and made them a reality,” KNOMs website states. Busch served as chief engineer from 1970 to 1973, and then returned in 1975 to serve as general manager for the next 30 years. After relocating to Anchorage, Busch worked as KNOM’s Financial Officer and Development Director from 2005 until his death in 2010.
The radio station was in its early years managed by volunteers and funded by nurses who gave their entire salaries to keep the station operating. It currently hosts several volunteers from around the country, and welcomed a new news manager earlier this month.
The station leadership continues to support their initial message of bringing Catholicism, news, and inspiration to the Western Alaska.
New news manager
Mary Ryan started as the news manager at KNOM in early July and is excited to take on the role in a newsroom committed to embracing culture and encountering Christ. She was hired to replace Kevin Fox.
“I really appreciate and value the KNOM mission,” Ryan explained. “I haven’t had a job before where the mission stood out to me so much.” The mission statement, “encountering Christ, embracing culture, empowering growth, engaging the listener,” speaks to Ryan’s goals in the community and as a journalist.
As the news manager, Ryan will be responsible for assigning and editing stories from the station’s volunteers, and she hopes to work with them on more in-depth stories about the region.
“I really enjoy writing about cultures and learning about people and why their cultures are important to them, and that’s something I hope I can bring to KNOM,” she said. “Maybe I can assign more feature stories and assist writers with those.”
Ryan comes to KNOM from Anchorage, where she studied journalism and public communications at the University of Alaska. While at UAA, Ryan served as the managing editor for the student newspaper, The Northern Light, and held several leadership positions on campus before graduating last December. She is excited to explore Nome and likes that the community is small.
“I’ve really enjoyed getting to know Nome and the station, and I appreciate that the station is very much a family,” she said. “I like that [Nome] is a close, tight-knit community. I’ve been to places where it is not that way at all, and the people aren’t friendly. Here, everyone is really welcoming.”
During her first year as news manager, Ryan will be working remotely as she is attending Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, where she will study to earn her master’s in strategic communications and public relations.
Outside of the newsroom, Ryan loves to craft and has worked on several projects, including paintings and needle-felted sheep for her “Scotland in a Jar” project. She also participates in swing dance, and practices challenging aerial moves like dips and flips.
“I have a lot of fun learning swing dance aerials,” Ryan said, though she’s careful to practice in areas with soft landing materials. “The worst thing that happened was when my dance partner was trying to do an aerial … he was supposed to throw me into a backpack position, but he just tossed me way, way backwards and I went flying through the air. But it’s usually a lot of fun.”
Ryan is looking forward to learning more about radio production and editing while working remotely.
“At the 50th anniversary celebration, Tony [Calumet] was talking about how KNOM is a friend to the people here,” Ryan said. “When you’re on air, you always want to speak to a specific person because it’s personal that way. I’ve learned a lot about radio, so I’m excited to continue learning and growing my skills to be able to contribute to a great radio station.”