Director’s Notes – Raven Radio: Voices Across the Water - 7/15/2025

I’ve been deep in the editing cave lately, working through hours of video footage and photographs from my first trip to Sitka. It’s been both a rewarding and humbling process—each frame seems to hold a thread of the story I’m trying to weave together. The more I work through the material, the clearer it becomes: this isn’t just the story of a radio station. It’s the story of community.

A heartfelt thank-you to Rich McClear for taking the time to sit down for a thorough and generous interview, even while hosting visiting family. Rich’s insights were invaluable in shaping the historical and cultural framework of the Raven Radio documentary. He helped bring to life not just how the station came to be—but why it mattered then, and still matters now.

Conversations with Mollie Kabler added key context around CoastAlaska and sparked vivid recollections from Raven’s early days—moments that reminded me just how much this station was built on passion, DIY tenacity, and a shared love of community-driven media. So a big thank you to her! And to Mariana Robertson, Raven’s current general manager, whose thoughtful perspective gave me insight into how the station’s mission has evolved and what it’s up against in the current climate—particularly with the continued reduction of federal funding for public broadcasting.

This clawback in funding isn’t just a budget line—it’s a threat to the kind of independent, local information that defines stations like Raven. In a region where communities are remote and often underserved by national media, cutting public media support means cutting people off from trusted voices, and essential information. Alaska's public radio stations aren’t just media outlets—they’re lifelines.

To help bring this story to life, I’m launching a crowdfunding campaign on Seed&Spark. The funds will help support a return trip to Sitka, where I’ll conduct additional interviews with former staff, volunteers, and others who helped shape Raven Radio’s legacy. I want to capture not only the founding story, but also the voices that carried it forward through the years—the people behind the hours of program preparation, the reporting, the laughter, in addition to the time and current events.

One of those voices is Cat Leiser, host of the wonderfully offbeat and log-lived Music for Amphibians. Our conversation reminded me how Raven isn’t just preserving its legacy—it’s still evolving. Cat’s journey into community radio offers a glimpse of the new generation stepping up, experimenting, and making the airwaves their own.

This first trip laid a solid foundation for the film. Now, I’m continuing to shape the story—one scene, one voice, and several powerful memories at a time.

If you’d like to follow the journey, support the project, or just peek behind the scenes, head to www.kurthunterdigital.com. And if you believe in community radio and independent storytelling, I hope you’ll consider supporting the Raven Radio documentary through our upcoming campaign on Seed&Spark.

More soon—
Kurt