Rhonda McBride
KNBA News ProducerRhonda McBride has a long history of working in both television and radio in Alaska, going back to 1988, when she was news director at KYUK, the public radio and TV stations in Bethel, which broadcast in both the English and Yup’ik languages.
From the Kuskokwim 300 Sled Dog Race — to the revival of the Yup’ik language — to the fight to protect the subsistence way of life, McBride was immersed in Alaska Native culture and history on a daily basis. It was one of the best jobs she ever had, she recalls, because she got to work alongside pioneering Yup’ik broadcasters, who incorporated modern technology with traditional story telling skills to preserve their language and culture.
After almost ten years in Bethel, McBride moved on to the Alaska Public Radio Network in Anchorage. She was also a public television producer at KAKM-Channel 7, where she hosted public affairs programs and moderated political debates. Later she worked at KTUU-Channel 2 and KTVA-Channel 11, where she covered politics, economics, rural, and Alaska Native issues.
At KTVA, McBride hosted and produced Frontiers, a weekly TV magazine show which won national awards for its in-depth coverage of rural Alaska and series of documentaries on the Hiland Mountain Lullaby Project, which brought local artists and inmate moms together to compose songs for their children.
In recent years, she returned to her roots in radio to produce KTOO’s Juneau Afternoon talk show. Currently, she is news director at KNBA Radio.
In 2022, McBride was inducted into the Alaska Broadcaster’s Hall of Fame and awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
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At its annual gathering in Anchorage, the Alaska Press Club bestowed one of its highest honors to four activists in the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons movement. Antonia Commack, Amber Batts, Michael Livingston and Marcella Boskofsky were recipients of the Press Club's First Amendment Award for their work in identifying a third victim in the case of serial killer Brian Smith. -
Sen. Lisa Murkowski says Trump tariffs could hit Alaska fishing and mining industries hard. Several UAA students have been swept up in the Trump Administration’s crackdown on immigration.Anchorage Police release photo of suspect in the killing of Star the Reindeer. State House passes a bill to allow “Snow Classics,” a kind of gambling that would allow betting on the amounts of snow fall. -
From growing up in a sod house on the tundra outside Kotzebue, to his days as an activist, politician, writer and educator, a new documentary portrays Willie Hensley as an Alaska Native leader rooted in the past but always moving forward. -
The Native Village of Eklutna's new casino has been going full steam ahead since it opened in January, but the State of Alaska has asked for a court order that could stop it in its tracks. -
Reporters typically report on crime but are not immune. For KNBA’s Rhonda McBride, what happened in Midtown Anchorage early Thursday morning, was a teachable moment about why you never leave a car running, unattended. -
Since Russian invaded Ukraine in 2022, more than 1,000 Ukrainians have resettled in Alaska. This month, they’ve marked the three-year anniversary of the war with demonstrations in Anchorage and Fairbanks to call attention to what they call an assault on Western democracy. -
The job as Alaska's Honorary Philippine Consul is mostly voluntary, but it's a big one. As the new consul, Evelyn Abello will serve Alaska's largest immigrant group, a population of about 30,000 people. -
At the National Congress of American Indians winter summit in Washington D.C., Sen.Lisa Murkowski acknowledged that it's a difficult time for tribes, as they adjust to a new administration. -
What do you get when you put the talents of a fisherman from Kasilof and a carpenter from Homer together? The words of fisher poet Steve Schoonmaker, when put to the sounds of Jim Maloney’s music, create a sense of wonder about the intelligence and inclusiveness of nature. -
As the Native Village of Eklutna celebrated the public opening of its tribal gaming hall, the state of Alaska filed a lawsuit over its right to operate. It's the second lawsuit that's been filed against the tribe, which has faced decades of challenges in reaching what it calls a historic milestone. The tribe says its new Chin'an Gaming Hall in Birchwood is a win-win for the tribe and the Anchorage economy.
