Radio is a lifeline and the only form of entertainment for many out here! KSKO has one of the largest service areas of any NPR member station in the country, 2nd to KBRW Barrow (how they still legally ID) and 2nd not by much. Because of KZPA 900 Fort Yukon, NE of Fairbanks, and our repeaters in Crooked Creek and Sleetmute...we cover an area from The Canadian border to about 100 miles south of McGrath, for a total service area of 600 miles!
I have a family who lives on the Dogfish river 70 miles north of Fort Yukon who send me an InReach satellite message once a week or so with a comment on a program or a song request. I ALWAYS reply to them because I know how vital we are and how much effort they have to go through to send the message. You see, they're limited to 143 characters
The map on this post.. the blue dog is McGrath, the red marker is Fort Yukon and the other end of the 70 mile line is where this family is.
Well, they sent an message to Brad Savage, host of "Cruisin The Decades", which KSKO carries. They are completely isolated for months at a time in the winter, seeing no outside faces with radio being their ONLY CONTACT to the outside world. The family is mom, dad, 2 kids and 7 dogs.
They love Brad's show and their 5 year old requested "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".
That is something else and the kind of message a Program Director like me and a show host like Brad that just makes our a day.
I give every listener the attention they deserve but when it's a listener who is so remote and has to expend so much effort to contact us, I make sure they get a reply.
PROOF THAT RADIO STILL RULES UP HERE!!!
I have a family who lives on the Dogfish river 70 miles north of Fort Yukon who send me an InReach satellite message once a week or so with a comment on a program or a song request. I ALWAYS reply to them because I know how vital we are and how much effort they have to go through to send the message. You see, they're limited to 143 characters
The map on this post.. the blue dog is McGrath, the red marker is Fort Yukon and the other end of the 70 mile line is where this family is.
Well, they sent an message to Brad Savage, host of "Cruisin The Decades", which KSKO carries. They are completely isolated for months at a time in the winter, seeing no outside faces with radio being their ONLY CONTACT to the outside world. The family is mom, dad, 2 kids and 7 dogs.
They love Brad's show and their 5 year old requested "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald".
That is something else and the kind of message a Program Director like me and a show host like Brad that just makes our a day.
I give every listener the attention they deserve but when it's a listener who is so remote and has to expend so much effort to contact us, I make sure they get a reply.
PROOF THAT RADIO STILL RULES UP HERE!!!