KYUK has added a new service to its Yup’ik News programming. The Bethel public radio station is now airing news from around the world in Yup’ik. Their targeted audience includes elders, and people in the region who have Yup’ik as their primary language.
(Photo by Charles Enoch, KYUK – Bethel)
John ‘Aqumgaciq’ Active recently introduced his new show, which features world news translated into Yup’ik. Active translates news stories from around the world, and he says it’s mainly for the elders who watch TV news at home.
“When they hear and watch the news on TV, they ask their family members, ‘Where is that happening? What is happening? How is it happening? Why is it happening?’ I mainly considered those guys when we started this show,” Active said.
KYUK already airs local and state news weekday mornings after 8 a.m., again a little after 12 p.m., and in the evenings around 5:30 p.m. Shane Iverson, KYUK’s General Manager, came up with the idea for the new show.
“The idea was just to expand that, to make sure our Yup’ik audience is fully informed of all the big events happening in the world, specifically people who speak Yup’ik as their first language, to make sure they hear the news in the language that makes the most sense to them,” Iverson said.
The show started on Monday, September 26, but was not heavily promoted. A few elders and Yup’ik speakers whom KYUK contacted were interested in the content, but did not know the show existed. The show airs live on weekdays around 8:45 a.m., after the morning Yup’ik news and the Tundra Drums announcements.
Charles Enoch is a reporter at KYUK in Bethel.
