This week we’re hearing from Rex Koenig in Anchorage. Koenig is originally from Nome, but he moved to the Mountain View neighborhood in the 80s.
Rex: It was nice back in the 80’s, nobody around. Less crime, nobody died. Now it’s like totally different.
When I used to live here, at 12, 1 or 2 in the morning you don’t hear anything. Now it’s like *makes shooting sounds*. Not every night, every now and then you hear shots fired. It’s just horrible.
We are the cancer of the earth, basically. Destroying the earth, we don’t care whose land it is or whose property. Just destroy it! We’ll rebuild it! I hate that. Just lay in bed and go, “I wish I was in Nome.” (laughs)
But I had fun here. Before this was the library the library was in Clark Middle School. That was kind of interesting, back then. I’d pretty much go to the library Wednesdays through Saturdays. Download fonts and compare to my old typewriter, Underwood typewriter. It’s a darn good one. I like it. It still works! I cleaned it up, it had a bunch of cat hair, dog hair, human hair – you name it.
I mean, it’s better than today’s technology. You don’t actually have to have batteries, no recharging. You can actually still type.
Eric Bork, or you can just call him “Bork” because everybody else does, is the FM Operations Manager for KSKA-FM. He oversees the day-to-day operations of the FM broadcast. He produces and edits episodes of Outdoor Explorer, the Alaska-focused outdoors program. He also maintains the web posts for that show. You may have heard him filling in for Morning Edition or hosting All Things Considered and can still find him operating the soundboard for any of the live broadcast programs.
After escaping the Detroit area when he was 18, Bork made it up to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where he earned a degree in Communications/Radio Broadcasting from Northern Michigan University. He spent time managing the college radio station, working for the local NPR affiliate, and then in top 40 radio in Michigan before coming to Alaska to work his first few summers. After then moving to Chicago, it only took five years to convince him to move back to Alaska in 2010. When not involved in great radio programming he’s probably riding a bicycle, thinking about riding bicycles, dreaming about bikes, reading a book, or planning the next place he’ll travel to. Only two continents left to conquer!
