Community newspaper and radio are vital

I have been learning a lot as to just how important it is to have a community newspaper and a radio station performing similar tasks. Both are vital to the health of Alaska villages and towns across the state, since we have far more of them than large cities here. In comparison to cities and towns in the Lower 48, our cities amount to small towns down there.

Smaller towns and villages dot the state out-numbering our three largest cities — Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau — 3-to-1 and spread out in an area more than twice the size of Texas. One thing that most have in common is a strong sense of community. In the Valley, we have the same ideal of the spirit of community. It’s something I have been learning about with my involvement in writing columns for this newspaper and being a host/co-host on radio station KVRF. I want to talk about some of what I have learned. There are a couple of other local media outlets that perform the same mission, but I will talk about the two I know best.

First let’s look at the Frontiersman. Back in September 1947, you could buy a copy for a dime, and 75 cents could get you a month’s subscription. It brought news of the Valley and outside world to one’s doorstep in a place where it was very easy to get isolated. The Valley Frontiersman, as it was called back then, was a godsend to those hardy people of the era.

Today it does much the same thing, and much more. Stories about the latest football game or fundraiser. The passing of a beloved family member or the graduation of a high school class. The latest breaking news and opinion on local and national levels. These stories and more have been part of the newspaper since day one.

Now it has the Internet to contend with. Many newspapers have gone the way of the dinosaur with the advent of the Internet and other portable devices it spawned. Somehow the Frontiersman has adapted to what has been a death knell to so many other newspapers. The Frontiersman also prints and distributes many other small town newspapers across the state, keeping the vision of small town community newspapering alive in places like Talkeetna, Copper River and Valdez. We ar e very lucky. Many small towns in the Lower 48 have lost a powerful voice for their communities without such help.

Now, those other places have a small voice, if any, in the larger newspapers — newspapers that may or may not win their struggle to exist in this digital age. Back in the old days, the effort was to bring the outside world to the reader. With the advent of the Internet and all that goes with it, the world is at our fingertips. And it is looking in on us as well. With all the interest generated by TV shows about the state and some of its more colorful citizens, there is a need for stories of the real Alaska and its people — stories written by local writers both professional and amateur about life in the Valley and Alaska in general.

Like I said before, we are lucky to have this vital link to help make this a living and breathing entity, a community, not just a collection of houses scattered throughout the area. And this paper also provides jobs so in itself helps our economy in many ways. Jobs in printing, circulation, delivery, advertising and journalism.

Now to the radio station KVRF 89.5 FM, nicknamed “Big Cabbage Radio.” It is only a couple of years old, but follows a great tradition. Its mission is to “promote community through radio that involves, informs, educates and celebrates.” It’s an all-volunteer radio station that is all about everything in the Valley and beyond, PBS style, a nonprofit, publicly funded station, from private donations and grants.

From its tiny studio is perched above the Turkey Red restaurant in downtown Palmer, it beams a signal that reaches Sutton to south Wasilla and can be picked up in parts of Anchorage. Not much of a broadcast area, I admit. But it is a start, and what it broadcasts is heart of the whole thing.

A wide variety of music, for starters, from classical to folk, rock, blues, swing, country and everything in between. For those with a love for things from Hawaii, well, KVRF plays that music too. The content of its talk programs is just as wide ranging.

These are shows put on by people, not shock jocks or loud commercials and their ilk — just ordinary people who live here. These are your neighbors with a passion for things like dog mushing, gardening, veterans issues, local political issues and much, much more. Like the Frontiersman, the Internet is a part of it, too. (Which has been far kinder to radio than to newspapers.) Live steaming the radio broadcast on its website, and on a separate stream local meetings of the school board, city council and borough assembly meetings. It brings the events to the listener who can not be there, but wishes to take part by just tuning it in. The station also broadcasts live from other happenings like the Alaska State Fair.

Both of these media outlets bring together many by letting their voices be heard either through print or audio. They are the glue that binds the people of Valley together, keeping at bay the isolation that can creep in. Alaska is very lucky to have these two in their midst.

It is very easy to take part in all this, very easy to contribute to it as well. Both entities are dedicated to helping spread the word. And all it takes is a little spare change, a flick of a switch or a click of the mouse.

Wasilla resident Daniel D. Grota retired from the U.S. Army after more than 21 years of service.