CoastAlaska is a nonprofit management service organization for seven public radio stations in Southeast Alaska: KRBD, Ketchikan; KSTK, Wrangell; KTOO, KXLL, KRNN, Juneau; KFSK, [1] Petersburg; and KCAW, Sitka. [2]
In the 1990s, when government funding for public radio was decreasing, the radio stations of Southeast Alaska banded together in an effort to save costs by merging accounting and payroll operations. They also collaboratively funded engineers for miscellaneous technology and transmitter maintenance, as opposed to each station hiring their own engineer. In addition to these services, it also serves as a network to share news stories between news departments throughout Southeast Alaska. [3]
The only Southeast Alaska public radio station that is not a member of CoastAlaska is KHNS, which serves the listening area of Haines, Skagway, and Klukwan (upper Lynn Canal). [4]
Alaska is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. It borders British Columbia and Yukon in Canada to the east and it shares a western maritime border in the Bering Strait with Russia's Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas of the Arctic Ocean lie to the north and the Pacific Ocean lies to the south. Technically a semi-exclave of the U.S., Alaska is the largest exclave in the world.
The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcasts radio news, speech and discussions in more than 40 languages to many parts of the world on analogue and digital shortwave platforms, internet streaming, podcasting, satellite, DAB, FM and MW relays. In 2015, the World Service reached an average of 210 million people a week. In November 2016, the BBC announced that it would start broadcasting in additional languages including Amharic and Igbo, in its biggest expansion since the 1940s.
The City and Borough of Juneau, more commonly known simply as Juneau, is the capital city of the U.S. state of Alaska. Located in the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle, it is a consolidated city-borough and the second-largest city in the United States by area. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of what was then the District of Alaska was moved from Sitka as dictated by the U.S. Congress in 1900. The municipality unified on July 1, 1970, when the city of Juneau merged with the city of Douglas and the surrounding Greater Juneau Borough to form the current municipality, which is larger by area than both Rhode Island and Delaware.
Sitka is a unified city-borough in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Alaska. It was under Russian rule from 1799 to 1867. The city is situated on the west side of Baranof Island and the south half of Chichagof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean. As of the 2020 census, Sitka had a population of 8,458, the fifth-most populated city in the state.
Ketchikan is a city in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough of Alaska. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic Landmark District.
Alaska Public Media is a non-profit organization with member television and radio stations that are part of PBS, NPR and other public broadcasting networks. Formerly known as Alaska Public Telecommunications, Inc., Alaska Public Media relies upon several funding sources, including member donations, state and federal dollars, and grants from private foundations, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), and other organizations.
The Alaska Marine Highway (AMH) or the Alaska Marine Highway System (AMHS) is a ferry service operated by the U.S. state of Alaska. It has its headquarters in Ketchikan, Alaska.
MV Fairweather is a catamaran ferry built by Derecktor Shipyards in Bridgeport, Connecticut for the Alaska Marine Highway System entering service 2004. After being laid up since 2019, in March 2021 it was sold to Servicios y Concesiones Maritimas Ibicencas for service between Mallorca and Menorca.
KTNL-TV is a television station in Sitka, Alaska, United States, affiliated with MeTV. The station is owned by Ketchikan TV, LLC. KTNL-TV's transmitter is located in downtown Sitka; the station is programmed from studios in Anchorage.
Sealaska Corporation is one of thirteen Alaska Native Regional Corporations created under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971 (ANCSA) in settlement of aboriginal land claims. Headquartered in Juneau, Alaska, Sealaska is a for-profit corporation with more than 23,000 Alaska Native shareholders primarily of Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian descent.
KCAW is a non-commercial radio station in Sitka, Alaska, on 104.7 FM, which airs public radio programming. It first went on air in 1982.
Harold FitzGerald "Gerry" Lenfest was an American lawyer, media executive, and philanthropist. Lenfest, along with his wife Marguerite, were among the most prominent Philadelphia-based philanthropists in his last two decades, donating more than $1.3 billion to 1,100 groups, supporting various educational, artistic, journalistic, and healthcare causes.
KFMJ is a full service, commercial, classic hits music radio station in Ketchikan, Alaska, broadcasting on 99.9 MHz FM, is owned by Steven Rhyner through licensee KFMJ Radio LLC. and was launched on August 2, 1996. One of two commercial broadcast FM stations licensed to broadcast from Ketchikan, KFMJ is the only locally owned commercial radio station.
KSTK is a non-commercial radio station in Wrangell, Alaska, broadcasting on 101.7 FM. The station airs public radio programming from the National Public Radio network and the BBC World Service. The station also airs some locally originated programming.
KRBD is a non-commercial radio station in Ketchikan, Alaska, broadcasting on 105.3 FM. The station airs public radio programming from the National Public Radio network, the BBC World Service, and is a member of CoastAlaska. KRBD also airs some locally originated programming.
Amanda Bennett is an American journalist and author. She was the director of Voice of America from 2016 to 2020, and the current CEO of U.S. Agency for Global Media. She formerly edited The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Lexington Herald-Leader. Bennett is also the author of six nonfiction books.
USCGC John McCormick (WPC-1121) is the United States Coast Guard's 21st Sentinel-class cutter, and the first to be stationed in Alaska, where she is homeported at Coast Guard Base Ketchikan.
MV Tazlina is a ferry operated by the Alaska Marine Highway System. It began serving Southeast Alaska Communities in 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the U.S. state of Alaska on March 12, 2020.