Yakama-owned radio station has broad appeal (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Yakama-owned radio station has broad appeal

By DESIREE PEBEAHSY
WHITE SWAN HIGH SCHOOL
http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/108236417679731

TOPPENISH -- Sixteen-year-old Luis Rios, a junior at Wapato's PACE
Alternative High School, would rather listen to KYNR than buy CDs.

"It's pretty interesting," he says. "You basically have all the channels in
one."

The Yakama Nation-owned radio station KYNR 1490 AM has been operating since
November 2000. Its format appeals to a variety of age groups; flowing
through this station's airwaves are popular hits from a large range of
artists and genres.

"There's a mixture," says KYNR deejay Ryan Craig, 25, also a member of the
local band Rez Hogs. "Listeners in their 40s usually want to hear music
from the '70s, listeners in their 50s want to hear The Temptations and The
Beatles, and a lot of people my age have been requesting Sheryl Crow and
Kid Rock 'Picture'."

The hit "Come and Get Your Love" by the '70s American Indian rock group
Redbone is also requested by many, says Craig, who started out as an
18-year-old intern at the radio station during the spring of his senior
year at the Yakama Nation Tribal School. He has been working at the station
since.

"Music got me into rapping, and rapping got me into radio," he explains.

Besides offering a wide array of music, KYNR -- which has an operating
budget of about $93,500 a year -- also offers mini-language lessons.
Phrases like, "I love you" and "How are you?" as well as greetings, objects
and titles are recorded in English, then translated into the Sahaptin
language as headlines between songs.

"You speak a word here and there and a child might recall it later," says
Yakama Nation Multimedia Services program administrator Ron Washines, 56.

Washines says KYNR is important because it is part of a plan to develop
means of media for tribal expression. He says he believes that not only do
the cultural aspects of the station help youth connect to tradition, but
they also help adults and elders -- including himself -- connect to youth
culture.

"I get something out of the younger generation by listening to what they
listen to," he says. "It gives me a glimpse of who they are."

Deejay Reggie George, 58, who has also worked at the station since it began,
hosts an oldies show on Mondays and uses his air time not to only to play
hits from the '60s and '70s, but to speak about the history and
significance of those hits. He also says the station is open to playing
anything.

"It gives (teens) a feeling of ownership," he says. "The purpose of the
station is to broaden community involvement. It gives a voice to the
community."

Roy Dick, the station's 46-year-old sport producer, says he's been
interested in the tribal radio station since tribal elders blessed the
building at its opening. He volunteered for three years, covering local
basketball games on the Yakama Reservation.

Dick, who is now a paid staff member, says he believes the station's appeal
is its culture: "We talk Indian," he says.

Listeners have told him they've heard him fumbling through papers and
materials trying to locate a specific CD: "You have to sound like you know
what you're doing," he jokes.

PACE senior Beatrice Johns, 17, says she remembers being 15 when she first
heard KYNR on her radio. She had found a radio station that played
traditional music, the same type of music she had just began listening to.

"I started listening to it more and more as time went on, and then I was
sort of hooked," says Johns, who listens mostly to "powwow music" and
thinks one of the attractive things about KYNR is that she can hear music
she can't hear anywhere else.

Plus, "They're always announcing local youth activities," she says.
"Everyone who listens knows (the station) is local. Some people listen to
it to find out what's going on; some people listen to it for the music."

Johns, who wasn't always a fan of contemporary American Indian music, says
she's had the opportunity to satisfy her curiosity about it by listening to
KYNR .

She also says she believes KYNR's existence has the potential to open up
doors for youth to experience and understand Yakama culture while being
entertained.

"Maybe it would inspire more people to learn about their culture," she says.