The Cohort
The thirty stations in the Local News Catalyst cohort reflect the remarkable range of local public media. From Alaska to the Gulf Coast, they include tribal and community radio, public television, university licensees, and organizations with staffs ranging from one to dozens. Each serves a distinct community, with its own history, priorities, and vision for the future. Meet the stations below.
K — West of the Mississippi
In the 1920s, the Federal Radio Commission assigned broadcasters west of the Mississippi River call signs beginning with the letter "K." The naming convention has been the same ever since.
McGrath, AK
Serves about 1,200 people across seven remote-village repeaters in Alaska’s interior.
Run by one full-time employee, the self-described Alaska Radio Nerd.
Petersburg, AK
Community radio for a fishing town with deep Norwegian roots, and the region’s designated emergency broadcaster.
The call letters come from Fisk, the Norwegian word for fish.
Broadcasts from the ancestral territory of the Unangax̂ people, who have lived in the region for more than 9,000 years.
Ketchikan, AK
Southern Southeast Alaska’s primary source of local news, owned by Rainbird Community Broadcasting.
KRBD stands for Rainbird Broadcasting, a nod to a local Ketchikan mascot.
The oldest Indigenous-owned public broadcasting station in the country, airing local news in Yup’ik three times daily.
Haines, AK
Lynn Canal Broadcasting, serving Haines, Skagway, and Klukwan from two studios fourteen nautical miles apart.
The only Southeast Alaska public radio station outside the regional CoastAlaska consortium.
Redding, CA
PBS station for Northern California’s North State, covering ten counties from Redding to Chico.
Got its start on the Chico State College campus in 1964 and aired Ken Burns’s The Civil War in 1990.
Medford, OR
Serving 500,000 people in an 18,000-square-mile area in Southern Oregon and Northern California.
An average of 110,000 people watch SOPBS every month.
Fairfield, CA
An internet-only streaming station built for Pacific Islander communities across the Bay Area.
The only cohort member with no FCC broadcast license, streaming only, with a built-in podcast platform.
Point Reyes Station, CA
West Marin’s community station, broadcasting on three frequencies across Point Reyes, Bolinas, and the San Geronimo Valley.
More than 300 volunteer programmers of all ages have hosted shows in its twenty-four years on air.
Its studio runs partly on 11.4 kilowatts of solar power and also houses the tribal newspaper, Spilyay Tymoo.
Berkeley, CA
Flagship of the Pacifica Radio network and the first listener-supported radio station in the country.
Almost nobody owned an FM radio in 1949, so the founders handed out pre-tuned shoebox radios to give listeners a way to hear the signal.
Fort Collins, CO
Volunteer-powered community radio for Northern Colorado, deliberately unaffiliated with NPR or Pacifica.
Its 50,000-watt signal reaches from the Wyoming border to the Denver suburbs.
When it signed on in 1976, it was one of only eight tribal radio stations in the country.
Started in 1978 in a one-room cottage rented for one dollar a year, and opened a $9 million Community Media and Cultural Center on its forty-eighth anniversary in May 2026.
Claremore, OK
Rogers State University's public television station, serving students and 20+ counties in northeast Oklahoma since 1987.
The only full-power public television station in Oklahoma licensed to a public university, and one of the few public television stations nationwide that does not pay dues to PBS.
Lawton, OK
Cameron University’s NPR station, with sister signals reaching Altus, Ardmore, and Wichita Falls, Texas. Mike Leal is General Manager.
Started in 1989 playing classical music before expanding into NPR news and jazz.
Went off the air in 2008 after the university pulled funding, and returned only after sustained student and alumni pressure.
