In a Town Cut Off, Raven Radio Tuned In to Keep Sitka Together

As the Alaska station tackled a truly unique and acute crisis with the help of their community, its staff and new general manager made sure the town never felt like it missed a thing.

Sitka, Alaska’s KCAW, also known as Raven Radio, broadcasts from the city’s historic Cable House, which originally served as the receiving station for the first telegraph cable from the lower 48 states to Alaska in 1908. Over 100 years later, the station continued that legacy when it became a major hub after the entire town lost much of its internet and cell service for over two weeks. During what’s now remembered as the “Great Sitka Outage of 2024,” the area’s only public radio station stepped in to provide critical news, emergency updates, and a sense of community continuity. Leading the station through this time was Mariana Robertson, KCAW’s recently appointed general manager.

Having just started at the station in July, Robertson’s onboarding was still in progress during the outage, an event that tested her ability to lead in a crisis. “At first, I thought it was just our local internet being temperamental,” she says. But as calls started coming in, the scope of the issue became clear. Sitka was suddenly isolated, with only landlines and KCAW’s airwaves providing reliable communication.

The KCAW team’s response was swift. To keep the music going, programmers pivoted to analog media by using CDs and vinyl records, maintaining an uninterrupted on-air presence. On the news side, Robertson and the station broadcast updates every 15 minutes, fielding calls from locals and providing vital information. Reporter Katherine Rose took to the streets, physically running between stores and community hubs to gather details and bring them back to the station.

In the early hours of the outage, KCAW’s broadcast was limited to Sitka, as their seven translator signals — which cast the station to an area nearly equal to the distance from Washington, DC, to Cleveland, Ohio — went down along with internet service. A temporary fix came in the form of Starlink devices, flown in by the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. “Those devices, along with support from CoastAlaska, got us back up in our translator communities within 48 hours,” Robertson says. “But those initial hours reminded us how critical redundancy and preparation are in our region.”

The first days reflected the station’s commitment to emergency alert capabilities, and the outage highlighted the need for continued investments in resilience. Plans are underway to rebuild KCAW’s “radio-in-a-box” — a portable setup allowing the station to broadcast from emergency shelters in case of disasters like tsunamis. And it’s not stopping there for the station. In December of this year, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting awarded Raven Radio with a Next Generation Warning System grant of $313,203 to upgrade equipment allowing the station to increase coverage of their broadcast signal to underserved areas, adding redundancy to make their service more reliable. “We’re in a place where landslides, storms, and other natural events are part of life,” Robertson explains. “Our job is to make sure we’re always here when people need us.”

For Robertson — whose journey went from growing up in Maryland to New York City’s Barnard to a performing arts center on Cape Cod and then justice system reform in Montana before landing in Sitka — the outage was a baptism by fire. “It was a crash course in how to be adaptable and meet the needs of a community relying on us,” she reflects. “We didn’t just share updates; we were a gathering point. People stopped by the station to leave messages, ask questions, and even just connect.” It continued her belief that the role felt like a calling. “I saw the job description, and it was this mix of programming, community engagement, and so many other elements. It just resonated,” Robertson recalls of applying for the job originally. “Then there was this beautiful love letter about Sitka attached to the posting. I was completely taken in.”

Robertson’s decision to come to Sitka was influenced not just by the job but also by the allure of the place itself. “One of the things that drew me here is that you can go into the mountains or onto the water and be completely off the grid,” she says. “That sense of disconnection is something I don’t take for granted after growing up near cities.” This love of being off the grid also connected with the reality of the outage. “There was a bit of that blanket-fort feeling,” Robertson laughs, describing the quiet moments at home during the two-week disruption. “But at work, the focus was on keeping our community informed and supported.” 

Robertson speaks proudly of KCAW’s balance of whimsical and serious storytelling. She points to a past story profiling a family with a pirate-ship-themed home as a perfect example of the station’s community reporting. At the same time, KCAW covers critical stories such as a recent boating tragedy or local government actions with care and accuracy. “We have this incredible responsibility to inform, entertain, and reflect our community,” she says. “And that means touching on everything from the lighthearted to the deeply impactful.”

Community engagement also plays a significant role in KCAW’s mission. Robertson cites events like the Stardust Ball, an annual Halloween costume party and lip-sync contest, as moments that strengthen the station’s bond with its listeners. “This year, I joined the lip-sync competition myself,” she laughs. “It was a way to break the ice and connect with people who might not know much about the station.”

In her short tenure, Robertson has already embraced the collaborative nature of rural public radio. KCAW’s partnership with CoastAlaska, a consortium of Southeast Alaska’s public stations, has bolstered its reporting and operational capacity. “It’s amazing to have a network of people who understand exactly what it means to operate in places like this,” Robertson says. “It’s a rising-tide-lifts-all-boats situation.”

Robertson’s appreciation for the nuances of radio extends even to its silences. “I love the small pauses where you hear someone taking a breath or the sound of a tape deck being loaded,” she says. “It reminds you that there’s a person there, sharing a moment with you.” However, as a general manager, she’s had to balance this sentiment with the practicalities of live broadcasting. “Dead air now gives me a shiver of dread,” she jokes, “but those human touches are still what make radio so special.” Luckily, there wasn’t any dead air on KCAW during the Great Sitka Outage, and it underscored the station’s role as a lifeline and a community anchor. Ultimately, what keeps Robertson and the team at Raven Radio motivated is the people who make it thrive. “Every day, I meet someone who’s invested in this station—whether they’re a programmer, a listener, or someone dropping off a message,” she says. “Their care and love for KCAW is infectious. It’s why we’re here, and it’s what keeps me going.”