Dare you to find KIAL

"Fed Ex doesn't come out here."

Located at 53° 54' North Longitude 166° 32' West, KIAL is quite probably the most remote station to join the Exchange thus far. Making its home in the Aleutian Island village of Unalaska, Alaska (no, we didn't make that name up) near Dutch Harbor, KIAL broadcasts to approximately 5,000 permanent residents and as many as 15,000 seasonal workers.

Unalaska's latest claim to fame is its presence in the Discovery Channel reality show about the oft-fatal industry of Alaskan crabfishing, 'Deadliest Catch.'

Through the amazing powers of the Internet, PRX caught up with KIAL general manager Michael Edenfield to ask him about what it's like running a station broadcasting to a disproportionate number of burly crabfishermen.

PRX:
So, how does one end up working for a radio station in Unalaska anyway?

ME:
I knew I wanted to work in public radio because of the atmosphere of stations I'd been to and worked in as a student, such as KRWG in Las Cruces, NM. I programmed and eventually managed the student station KRUX at NMSU in Las Cruces, and found the work to be very rewarding and challenging.

The natural transition for me was to apply that experience full-time in a public radio station. I found a posting on the CPB website seeking a General Manager of a station at a relatively remote island in Alaska and then researched the community of Unalaska and port of Dutch Harbor. I applied for the position, was eventually flown out for an interview after several rounds on the phone with the Board of Directors of Unalaska Community Broadcasting, and saw that my work would be challenging. The selling point for me was that I would have an immense opportunity to recreate a public radio station from essentially scratch. The station was operational and transmitting content, but not really serving the community with local content or locally picked programming of any sort, as all programming was being piped in from Dillingham. I accepted the job and have had a blast leading the "building" of a station.

PRX:
Being the only station for 250 miles around, I imagine it's important to have something for everyone. Do you ever feel like that spreads your programming thin in any way, or does it free you to take the station in as many different directions as you like?

ME:
It is important to know that we have another public radio station that services our island. KSKA Anchorage is a news/talk station that we repeat over our translator station K216BG. Because we are translating a news/talk station that provides most NPR programming, and this gives us the ability to program a station that leans on music programming, local and state news, and entertainment programming we can download or obtain through another station or PRX. The biggest compliment I hear repeatedly from the community is that people can listen to music when they turn on the radio. I learned at PRPD that we can't be all things to all people, but I feel we offer something for everyone because we are providing a news/talk station and a music mix station.

PRX:
What are the biggest challenges to running a station in such a remote location?

ME:
The biggest challenge to effectively programming our station is the lack of a PRSS downlink. Our biggest obstacle to making this happen is our geography and landscape. We are nestled in a valley, surrounded by mountains to the south that block our line of sight to the public radio satellite (galaxy 4). Luckily, we have a downlink to the Alaska Public Radio Network and several Alaska stations that uplink their content, such as KNBA, because they offer syndicated programs. Our plan is to buy transponder time on the state network dish, and send ourselves national programming that we can access and control through an IP link in Fairbanks.

Other challenges are the weather knocking out a microwave link or canceling flights on and off the island. We don't have many people on staff either. We have to schedule our engineering visits and staff travel well in advance, and still run the risk of not getting off the island if it’s a busy fishing season. Example: I may miss a flight because of weather and all other flights may be booked during the busy seasons, and I have essentially missed the ability to leave the island for several weeks or days.

The advantage to these challenges is that we all learn how to perform many different jobs that a larger station would have departmentalized. I have learned a great deal about Broadcast engineering, station operations, programming, and contemporary music in general. I am the morning announcer, the program director, development director and general manager of both a public radio station and low power community television station. We have a News Director, Morris Bracy, and an afternoon announcer on the radio staff. Our music director is a volunteer.

We pay a great deal towards freight and postage as everything must be ordered and shipped in, and we have to exercise patience in getting larger resources such as surveying, engineering and new technologies devoted to our radio station from statewide resources. Fed Ex doesn't come out here, and overnight mail will not get to its destination in one day (unless it's to Anchorage).

PRX:
What's the most popular local show on KIAL?

ME:
Probably the Bay Whalen Hour, a program produced from the home studio of Wendy Hladick here in Unalaska, focusing on contemporary singer/songwriters and jazz musicians. . Wendy puts a great deal of effort in producing her program every week, and syndicates the program on other Alaska stations such as KDLG, KBRW in Barrow, and KYUK in Bethel, AK.

PRX:
You're currently trying to extend your transmission capacity to include three more Aleutian villages, none of which have ever been serviced by a broadcast entity before. Are the folks there even going to have radios when you start broadcasting to them?

ME:
That's a good question, especially with HD radio on the horizon. I think most of the village residents in the chain have a shortwave radio and most shortwave models I've seen can tune to standard AM/FM broadcast signals. If not, we'll get the word out and perhaps deliver radios to the villages.

A new transmitter will also allow us to better serve our community, as our small 50 watt AM station cannot penetrate the (electrically) noisy fishing plants and larger buildings around town. Also, we will be able to get broadcast radio out to the many boats passing through our waters.

PRX:
When I saw you at PRPD and explained what PRX was all about, your face lit up and I could see the gears working away. What was the appeal for you, and how are you planning to incorporate programming from PRX into KIAL?

ME:
The appeal for KIAL is that we can get programming for our station now without relying on satellite technology. We can access programming through PRX and completely bypass the need to have a downlink. Also, we can uplink programming that we may produce. It opens up a new, already available window of program exchange. Though we plan to find a way to become interconnected by the standard method of satellite delivery, I find myself asking if satellite technology will be necessary for stations in the future, if programs have the potential to be accessed on demand. Automation systems have the potential to be programmed to download or stream source audio on the hour for news updates or satellite systems through the internet or satellite systems.

© 2005, The Public Radio Exchange