In Rural America Public Radio Saves Lives

Reveal

The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

News

4.7 • 8K Ratings

🗓️ 22 November 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

When a typhoon hit Alaska, public radio station KYUK was on the air, broadcasting critical information about conditions, evacuations and search and rescue operations. An estimated 1600 people were displaced and many were saved in the biggest airlift operation in state history

“The work that we do in terms of public safety communication literally does save lives”, said Sage Smiley, KYUK’s news director.

KYUK is small, scrappy and bilingual. It broadcasts in English and Yugtun, the native language of an indigenous population that lives in villages along two massive rivers. The station airs NPR but also high school basketball games, local call-in talk shows, even a show hosted by the volunteer search and rescue team answering listeners’ questions about ice conditions and safety. The station is a lifeline for this unique region.

KYUK news covers an area the size of the state of Oregon, and after Congress passed the Rescission Act, it lost 70 percent of its operating budget. Republicans have targeted public media since its inception in the late 60’s. But this is the first time it has successfully ended the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, wiping out more than a billion dollars in funding for public media.

This week on Reveal we take listeners inside KYUK as it grapples with this new reality. Host Al Letson sits down with Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski about how the cuts are affecting her state. And, we take a trip to WQED in Pittsburgh for a look back at how Fred Rogers, the host of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, defended public television throughout its decades-long struggle to survive Washington politics.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is Reveal.
0:06.3	I'm Al-Letzin.
0:08.3	Julia-Gimmy lives on the western edge of Alaska, where indigenous villages dot the banks of two massive rivers.
0:16.3	I'm from Tindatuliac. If you go by boat, it's two hours away. But if we take a plane, it's 20 minutes.
0:25.9	20 minutes from Bethel, the biggest town in this remote part of Alaska. Julia is Yupik.
0:32.2	By listening to me speak, you can tell I'm English isn't my first language.
0:38.1	Yugtun is Julia's first language. It's the first language of many people that live in the region,
0:43.8	and Julia is a familiar voice on the radio, even though she never expected to be.
0:49.1	One morning, my sister called me. She said, Angela Denning was going to call you. Do you know who she's? I said,
0:57.7	yeah, she's the English News director at K-Y-U-K. Now, this is a small town where a lot of people know each other.
1:06.2	She said, she's going to ask you to do that you big news today.
1:14.2	And I said, I'm not going to go on the radio.
1:20.8	The radio station, KYUK, is a media staple in these parts, especially when there's a weather emergency.
1:22.1	And Angela, the news director, wanted Julia to translate the news.
1:26.1	I told her, I have my baby with me.
1:29.1	I don't have a babysitter, and that's why I'm jobless thing,
1:35.3	only if I can bring him in with me.
1:37.7	And she said, sure, bring him.
1:41.7	So that's how I started. I brought my one year old at the time sitting on my lap,
1:52.3	translating, recording, ubiquitous.
2:00.0	KYUK is a small, scrappy bilingual station.
2:04.6	It's an NPR affiliate that airs the big national stories of the day.
	...

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