It’s time for Page Two: news that might not make the front page for Monday, October 27, 2025.
Federal support for public broadcasting officially ended on October 1, leaving small, rural stations across Alaska scrambling to stay on the air.
Less than two weeks later one of the most destructive storms to ever hit Western Alaska, Typhoon Halong, destroyed the villages of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok. If forced more than 1,000 people to evacuate.
Local public media was there.
Alaska Public Media’s Washington correspondent Liz Ruskin captured the unique power of local reporting in her Alaska At Large newsletter.
Page Two News has permission to share Ruskin’s “Adrift,” her account of how the local station KYUK in Bethel stayed on the story. Here it is:
I was riveted yesterday as I listened to KYUK reporter Evan Erickson’s interview with Kipnuk tribal administrator Buggy Carl. Carl told of being in a house with 14 family members, half of them children, as they floated off their foundation in the middle of the night.
“I was so shocked. At the same time, I have to stay composed to keep awareness of which way we’re possibly going,” Carl said.
His story was astounding, and he told Erickson he wanted to start at the beginning. He seemed to want to get his mind around what happened.
Time after time, Erickson gently redirected and clarified confusing points, to help us all understand the terror of drifting in the dark in an unmoored home.
At one point, Carl said, he and his uncle watched as the uncle’s house floated by, with the uncle’s son and grandson inside.
“I noticed that he wants to jump out and go get them,” Carl said of his uncle. “But I had to quickly take his shoulder and remind him, ‘No, they’re safe.’”
Amazingly, they were.
I’m proud to work alongside my dogged colleagues at KYUK, who reported through the storm’s chaos — calling villages by satellite phone, recording voices shaken but steady, helping Alaskans understand what was happening in real time. Our public radio network pooled resources statewide, sharing stories that reached from Bethel to Washington, D.C., and across the nation through NPR.
Our professional efforts didn’t stop the flooding or save homes. But if I were adrift in the dark — my community upended — I’d want to know someone was still listening.
Thank you Liz. That’s what local radio does.
When flooding cut off villages across Western Alaska, it was local public radio that kept people connected — because they were there on the ground and someone had to tell the story.
Big Cabbage Radio is built on that same promise. Independent, nonprofit, and powered by the people it serves, community radio keeps telling the stories that matter. Our fall fund is November 5-8. Get us started on meeting our goal, just go to bigcabbageradio.org to donate.
The Palmer City Council meets tomorrow night at 6 p.m. in the City Council Chambers.
Page Two articles are written by Emily Forstner and Lee Henrikson. If you have an idea for a Page 2 topic, please email us at page2@radiofreepalmer.org.
That’s it for today and the news on Page Two on Monday, October 27, 2025.