Across Indian Country, commercial radio has become a way reach tribal diasporas, preserve tribal languages and promote government services.
For the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, commercial radio was a way to simply get the word out about the tribe’s services and businesses. The tribe purchased KGFF-AM 1450 in 1999 after a nine-month management agreement.
“At the time, we (the Citizen Potawatomi Nation) didn’t have nearly as many enterprises,” Michael Dodson, the tribe’s Public Information Officer, said. “KGFF was a way to advertise our enterprises in the communities we do business in. It’s also a way to counter-balance what might be said about the tribe in the mainstream media.”
Reaching portions of the Chickasaw, Muscogee (Creek), Sac and Fox, Seminole and Absentee Shawnee nations, Most of KGFF’s current programming is mainstream, including Shawnee High School and Oklahoma Baptist University athletics. However, the station does air a half-hour program on Sunday morning that focuses on the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and contemporary issues in Indian Country.
Launched in the 1970s by the non-profit organization Americans for Indian Opportunity, “The Native American Speaks” originally had a pan-Indian focus. Five years ago, the group decided to abandon the program and Dodson, who was freelancing for the program at the time, approached the program manager at KOKC-AM about keeping the show on the air at the same time on Sunday mornings, but with a Citizen Potawatomi focus instead.
Between the show’s early Sunday morning timeslot and its ready availability online through the Citizen Potawatomi Nation’s website, a sizeable portion of the show’s audience lives outside the tribe’s jurisdiction.
“We’re on before dawn on KOKC, which means the signal’s available across most of the western United States,” Dodson said. “I’ve received listener feedback from as far away as Idaho from folks who were up that early delivering papers, caught the show and liked what they heard.”
In fall 2009, the Chickasaw Nation became the second Oklahoma tribe to acquire a commercial radio station. Broadcasting out of Ada, the daily schedule for KCNP-FM 89.5 carries a mix of music and local and national news programming, including the national call-in show “Native America Calling” on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons.
One of the station’s locally-produced call-in shows, “Connections,” features guests each week who are experts on a specific topic, such as diabetes prevention, traditional Chickasaw games and historic Chickasaw sites. The half-hour show airs on Wednesdays at 11 with previous episodes available on the station’s website, http://www.kcnpradio.org.
A handful of other Oklahoma tribes have opted for individual weekly broadcasts rather than purchase an entire station.
“Cherokee Voices, Cherokee Sounds,” hosted by Dennis Sixkiller and bankrolled by the state’s largest tribe, is an hour-long program carried by four stations in northeastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas. The program features a blend of traditional Cherokee music, interviews with tribal officials and elders and news pieces on services and programs offered by the tribe. The tribe’s website, www.cherokee.org, also has previous episodes of the show available for download as podcasts.
The Kiowa Tribe, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation and the Seminole Nation also host weekly live radio shows that highlight tribal programs, news within the nation, and local guests. All three programs also conduct portions of the program in their respective tribal languages. For smaller tribes, such as the Seminole, the weekly program includes reading off birthdays and obituaries of tribal members, prayer requests and announcements from churches within the jurisdiction.
“Some of the bigger newspapers don’t cover us smaller tribes unless there’s something bad going on at a casino,” Dodson said. “This is a way to counter-balance some of the messages about Natives that folks in the Shawnee area get.”
Oklahoma’s Native American Radio Programs
Cherokee:
“Cherokee Voices, Cherokee Sounds”
9 a.m. Sundays on
KEOK-FM 102.1,
KUOA-AM 1290
Noon Sundays on KTLQ-AM 1350, KRSC-FM 91.3
5 p.m. Wednesdays on
KTLQ-AM 1350
8 a.m. Saturdays on
KRSC –FM 91.3
Chickasaw Nation:
KCNP-FM 89.5
Citizen Potawatomi:
“The Native American Speaks”
5:30 a.m. Sundays on KOKC-AM 1500 and 6 a.m. Sundays
on KGFF-AM 1450
Kiowa:
“Kiowa Voices”
Noon Sundays on KACO-FM 98.5
Muscogee (Creek):
“Mvskoke Radio Live”
9:30 a.m. Wednesdays
on KOKL-AM 1240
Seminole:
“Seminole Nation Weekly Radio Show”
11 a.m. Tuesdays on KWSH-AM 1260 and rebroadcast at 10 a.m. Sundays on KADA-FM 99.3
and KADA-AM 1230