Native-produced radio is getting a new pipeline into the public media system. With help from Public Media Infrastructure, PRX is taking on broadcast distribution for Native Voice One, whose weekly series reaches tribal, rural, and urban stations across the US.
Native Voice One, a division of Koahnic Broadcast Corporation in Anchorage, AK, serves more than 200 tribal, rural, and urban stations, and its programming is heard on more than 655 signals across 36 states and in Canada, Australia, and Guam.
In January, when the Corporation for Public Broadcasting voted to disband, CPB shifted $57.9 million to Public Media Infrastructure, whose founding members included PRX, American Public Media Group, and New York Public Radio.
NV1 Program and Distribution Manager Nola Daves Moses said, “We’re proud to partner with PRX as a more integrated part of our distribution, and to continue bringing a vast catalogue of Native programming to the stations and communities we serve. This is a powerful example of how we can work together to strengthen the public radio system while expanding access to Native voices and perspectives for audiences within and beyond Native communities. We’re grateful, too, to PMI for making this partnership possible.”
PRX COO Jason Saldanha stated, “Our imperative to power public media is also achieved through service to the communities we reach together. Through our partnership with NV1, a bedrock of our system, we’re proud to help Native-focused productions continue to thrive on air, and to bring Native communities nationwide and beyond the news, educational, and cultural programming they turn to.”
PMI CEO Jeannie Ericson noted, “Partnerships like this one are the exact reason PMI exists. PMI’s support of PRX’s digital tools for broadcast distribution helps ensure that public media producers like Native Voice One can continue to serve local stations and communities with programming that audiences can’t find anywhere else. We’re proud to play a role in strengthening the infrastructure that makes that connection possible.”
