This week marks one year since the death of public radio pioneer John Active. He helped create and define the bicultural and bilingual style of KYUK, and introduced the Yup’ik language and culture to the nation through his writing and storytelling. To this day, John remains the only Indigenous commentator to air on National Public Radio.
In this interview, NPR Senior Producer Art Silverman and Geoff Kennedy, a long-time friend and former KYUK colleague of John’s, tell the story of how John landed on the national airwaves.
Hear John Active's National Public Radio commentaries:
If I Were A Rich Man, I'd Pay Someone To Pick Berries For Me
Johanna Eurich's vivid broadcast productions have been widely heard on National Public Radio since 1978. She spent her childhood speaking Thai, then learned English as a teenager and was educated at a dance academy, boarding schools and with leading intellectuals at her grandparents' dinner table in Philadelphia.