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Photograph of Navajo Indian Code Talkers Preston Toledo and Frank Toledo

Radio comes to Navajo

When we say “Navajo” and “radio” in the same sentence, for some, this image comes to mind: Navajo Codetalkers in the south Pacific. The Codetalkers are renowned for their work in conveying an unbreakable code based on the Navajo language.  But radio has a longer history at Navajo, and one that we celebrate today, on World Radio Day.

Radio came to Navajo in 1938.  Indian Affairs Superintendent E. R. Fryer broadcast Tuesday evening programs from Window Rock, Arizona on station KTGM: speeches and discussions by government employees and tribal leaders about government programs.  Residents were encouraged to gather on Tuesday evenings to listen in groups across the reservation to listen and learn.  The records of the Navajo Service show that Superintendent E. R. Fryer eagerly encouraged employees of the agency to assist in creating “a constructive system of broadcasts.”  One “constructive” broadcast came from Lucy Wilcox Adams, head of Navajo Education for the Office of Indian Affairs.

This 1939 broadcast, whose script is preserved at the National Archives, Ms. Wilcox Adams outlined some of the ways that Indian Affairs educators were trying to contribute to the solution of human problems through the schools:  “The boarding school is a home, a class room, a farm and a town, all in one” she said, and apologized that, “it would take too much time to outline all the changes we are introducing into the boarding schools so that they will prepare the student socially and economically to fit into the conditions under which he will live.”

Begun as a government tool, today radio at Navajo continues to act as a force for education, information and entertainment.  Stations like KNDN and KTNN continue to broadcast content focused on communicating to Navajo people about things that matter to them, in their own language.