Let the People tell their Story

by Peter Twitchell

When I was a boy we had “White Alice” Communications System (WACS), a United States Air Force Telecommunications Network with 80 radio stations constructed in Alaska during the Cold War.

It used tropospheric scatter for over-the-horizon links and microwave relay for shorter line of sight links.

When 1971 rolled along there had been talk about getting an A.M. (amplitude modulation). The electrical signal from program material usually coming from a studio, is mixed with a carrier wave of a specific frequency, then broadcast.

A.M. radio would best serve rural Alaska where villages are scattered for long distances. So a radio possibility was not far off.

Senator George Hohman was in the State Legislature and advocate for funding a radio station in Bethel, along with other supporters like Representative Ray Christiansen, and Representative Phillip Guy of Kwethluk, and other influential voices like that of A.V.C.P. Tribal Chief Edward Hoffman, Ivan M. Ivan of Akiak, and Martin B. Moore of Emmonak. Carl Jack worked with A.V.C.P. – a strong advocate for a radio station. The other was Harold Napoleon.

The people of the Kuskokwim region were excited about having their own radio station. Finally the words of wisdom taught to us and their thoughts were going to be heard by many young and old.

The B.B.I Board of Directors gave their directive, “Let the People tell their story and share it.”