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.
-
-
The Dublin string band, “I Draw Slow,” tours Alaska, entertaining audiences with murder ballads, love songs and toe -tapping traditional music. The name, "I Draw Slow," refers to a duel with guns.
-
White raven sightings are relatively rare. There have been some in Vancouver, British Columbia, the Kenai Peninsula and now in Anchorage, where the bird has its own paparazzi, following its every move. So far, White Raven seems to enjoy this attention. Fans of the bird can follow its sightings vicariously on Facebook.
-
For more than a half century, Gary Fife fought against stereotypes and championed stories that were for, by and about Native Americans.
-
Fur trapper hats are still an important part of the uniform for Alaska State Troopers and police departments across the state, head gear that draws inspiration from the work of Alaska Native skin sewers.
-
Those who have lived in the homeless camps and street sides of Anchorage are not usually invited to perform in public. But that happened this month at the Winter Voices concert. Organizers say it may be the first performance of its kind for the city.
-
The Winter Spiral Walk is an annual tradition at Waldorf, or Steiner schools. Every year before the winter solstice on Dec. 21st, children walk a candlelit spiral made of spruce boughs, to reflect upon winter as a time of spiritual rebirth.
-
There are no rehearsals for Anchorage TubaChristmas. It may be the only time that tuba players get their big horns out of the closet to play. But after a brief warm-up at the Anchorage Performing Arts Center, the concert all comes together under the baton of longtime conductor, Neal Haglund.
-
There are consequences for feeding moose pumpkins in Alaska, for both the humans and the ungulates.
-
Gregory Goldoff was three years old when life changed forever on Attu, a tiny island at the end of the Aleutian chain. His family of nine was among the captives taken by Japanese invaders in 1942. The Golodoffs and the rest of the islanders were sent as as prisoners of war to the Japanese island of Hokkaido. His death marks the last direct connection to the once thriving life on Attu Island, which today is uninhabited.