A different kind of radio station
Tuesday, November 12, 2013 at 1:21PM
KBRW serves the people of Arctic Alaska in a way that few radio stations anywhere serve their communities. Messages are sent to and from people out in camps and on the ocean in its frozen or liquid state, there is a daily birthday program, where people call in from all across the Slope and beyond to give their best wishes to the different people who have birthdays that day. When a whaling crew is ready to leave, the word goes out over the radio and children come dashing to the house to receive candy from the crew as they leave. Many of the late elders have left stories behind as recordings which are often rebroadcast.
KBRW is very big in Barrow and the villages.
As part of the Mayors Office effort to help raise funds, Aqaq and Ora Elavgak join in and sing, "Farther along... Cheer up, my brother live in the sunshine, We'll understand it all by and by." As they sing, I am reminded why it is I love this place, so harsh in climate. It is the spirit that is here and that spirit comes out when the people sing these songs. I was not here 100 years ago, 200, 1000, 2000... But this same spirit was here then, too, held in the heart of the Iñupiat. I feel certain of it.
Text added at 5:08 PM. The Squarespace nightmare continunues - day 52 and counting.
Barrow, KBRW, fundraiser, gospel singing in Alaska, public radio
Reader Comments (2)
I love this, Bill. What a wonderfully evocative post!
Oh, the Birthday Show...I miss the strands of "Hold on..." while the phone is passed from one person to another with the screech of telephone too close to radio, or hollering babies, or happy children in the background. I miss Earl Finkler and his commentary. For a time after my husband and I left Barrow APRN would pick up the occasional commentary from Earl and play it on Alaska News. It made us homesick for our more northern home away from home.