#ktnn

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.

By Ben Bahe

Window Rock—660 KTNN AM, the Navajo Nation’s only independent radio station, announced Wednesday that the station plans on requesting a one time grant from the Navajo Nation Council to update its aging music inventory.

“We are falling further and further behind the digitalization of media,” said Troy Little, General Manager. “You can only play a Waylon Jennings cassette so many times before pops and crackles in the sound start to appear.”

Little said that most of the station’s music inventory was purchased in the late 1980s from a federal grant meant to expand public media in rural communities.

“At the time the station deejays were into ‘outlaw country’ and we acquired $10,000 worth of cassettes in this genre. We would buy back up copies for each album. We had 15 copies of Kris Kristofferson’s ‘The Silver Tongued Devil and I,’ but with wear and, well, the fact is these things tend to disappear…we are now down to our last copy.”

Little explained that with cassettes the technology deteriorates with use. He said that in the late 70s, before he worked for KTNN, the station used vinyl.

“The records are lore here at the station,” he said. “I was told we had a ’45 for George Jones’ ‘White Lightning’ that tended to get stuck’ at ‘white.”

Little explained that he was told a deejay fell asleep in 1978 with the Jones’ song stuck on “white” and the station broadcasted this for three hours until listeners called in to complain.

When asked how he would spend the money, Little said the station would invest in mp3 technology. He said that he is already working with his accountants in creating an iTunes account.