I Broadcast a Radio Show in Alaska

by Scott Norman

"You are listening to 640 AM, KYUK, broadcasting from Bethel, Alaska. Also repeating in Aniak and Chuathbaluk. Movie Buff here, and I'll be hosting Sunday Soundtracks right after this!"

I have lost track of how many times I have said these words. A public service announcement advocating steel-shot for bird and seal hunters usually was the next thing heard on the radio. This particular PSA was one-minute long so I had ample time to get my notes together on the musical pieces I had selected for the show. The PSA was also vital for the people of the Kuskokwim Delta. Many of the subsistence hunters still used lead shot, thus lead poisoning out in the villages was not uncommon.

When I heard the phone number for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, I was ready to go. Sunday Soundtracks was my contribution to the local public radio station, KYUK. KYUK was the only radio station to broadcast through the greater portion of the Kuskokwim Delta. Being the only radio station, there was a free format for volunteers. Most of my fellow volunteers chose to play either rock or country music, but not I. Instead, I chose to broadcast the entertaining music of Williams, Horner, Howard, and Jarre to this part of rural Alaska.

In the attempt to hide my real name, I developed the radio character Movie Buff. A friend of mine gave me a coffee mug with a naked person walking down a movie theater aisle with a bucket of popcorn over his genitalia. Someone who knew my real identity asked if that was how I did the show. I said yes, but with microwave popcorn.

Bethel is a unique place; a small town with a big city feel. Having a population around 5,000, Bethel is the largest community off the road and ferry system in Alaska. The only consistent way to get in and out of Bethel is by airplane. The Kuskokwim river is available for travel in the summer by boat and by automobile in winter. The ice has to be over 8 inches thick to drive on though, so travel of either kind on the river only happens 7 months a year.

It is from this location that Sunday Soundtracks was broadcast. The ironic part of producing a radio show of this nature was that the closest movie theater was in Anchorage. Yet here I was, 90 miles from the Bering Sea, broadcasting music from the movies that were being shown were 400 miles away.

For my first show, I wanted to play something that was well known, yet not overly popular. I also wanted a composer who had many credentials, yet was also relevant in today's film composing world. The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Ennio Morricone's masterpiece, fit the bill. The track was too short for the time slot I had that week, so I filled in the rest of the time with selections from The Mission.

The next week, I came in early to write my notes for the show. I tried to include some history about the film and the composer for each score I played. The volunteer that was on-air asked if I had ever been to the library before. Apparently, in the hidden, unheated section of the building was a record library. Since I had time to spare (as well as my double insulated parka), I ventured into the library. What I saw would make any film soundtrack collector's mouth water. There, in this room with ice on the walls, was a full shelving unit of nothing but soundtracks! Many of them were in pristine condition because they had not been opened! After my show, I went home to confer with my film & TV soundtrack guide. Many albums of worth were in this freezer collection, and I took quick action to insure that they stayed in their mint condition.

Someone asked why I only played instrumental soundtrack, so I began to mingle some vocal tracks into my show. The night I focused the show on Barbra Streisand selection still ranks as the show that received the most phone calls. Some were complimentary, some were not. Either way, I was thrilled to see the phone light flashing because up till that time, I had not received call one.

It would be another six months until I received any other phone calls. The selection that motivated the response was Bram Stoker's Dracula. It was the week before Halloween. There was already a good deal of snow on the ground and the darkness was dominant. An eerier setting could not have been created for the show, and my audience informed me of this fact. (I must admit that the setting also made me jittery. I did that show with all the lights in the station on!)

That was the last soundtrack I played on Sunday Soundtracks. I left to go get married in the lower 48. I returned a month later to find my timeslot filled by someone else. Although I have not had the opportunity to do the show since then, there are some people in Bethel who still refer to me as the movie buff. I still have the coffee mug, and I still love soundtracks.

"This is Movie Buff signing off. Thanks for listening to Sunday Soundtracks."

Bethel Alaska is located 90 miles from the Bering Sea in the heart of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta. KYUK, 640 AM is only one radio signal that reaches the entire area, roughly the size of Ohio. Scott Norman can be reached at Scott_Norman@fc.lksd-do.org.

If you host a soundtrack radio show, please send your comments and anecdotes for publication on our site! How is your show formatted? What have your experiences been? MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com