Sadie is the News Director at Boise State Radio in Idaho. She was KNAU's Morning Edition
host from 2002 to 2005. During that time, Sadie won numerous awards
for her reporting. She was also a Pew International Journalism Fellow.
Celeste Headlee
Celeste is a reporter for NPR's Day to Day,
which you can hear on KNAU's News and Talk Service. Celeste worked for
KNAU from 1999 to 2001, first as a Classical Music Host. She later
hosted Morning Edition and All Things Considered. After KNAU, she spent six years reporting and hosting for WDET in Detroit, where she still lives.
Valerie Kahler
Valerie is a host with American Public Media's Classical 24,
which you can hear nights and weekends on KNAU's Classical Music
service. She left KNAU in 2001 after a 12 year connection with the
station. She started as a student volunteer in 1989 and worked her way
up to Host, Music Director, and Assistant Program Director. She now
lives in the Twin Cities area in Minnesota.
Mike Lamp
Mike is the Morning News Host at Colorado Public Radio in Denver. He hosts Morning Edition and gives news updates throughout the morning. Mike worked at KNAU from 1996 to 2000. He hosted Morning Edition and Weekend Edition, and produced award-winning news stories.
Julie
is one of the few KNAU alumni who are no longer in radio. She's the
CEO of the Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce, a position she has held since
2005. Before then, she was KNAU's Development Director for 10 years.
In that role, she managed fundraising and marketing for the station.
Dave Riek
Dave
left KNAU in 2007 to manage KAWC in Yuma, Arizona. He began at KnAU in
1985 and spent the next 22 years with the station, first as a student
volunteer, then as reporter, newscaster, News Director, and eventually
Network Operations Manager.
Mitch Teich
Mitch
was a reporter and News Director at KNAU until 2006, when he left for
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Mitch is now the Executive Director of Lake Effect,
WUVM's daily talk show. His duties are similar to those he had at
KNAU: story assigning, editing, and overseeing the technical aspects of
the show.
2007 Annual Report Highlights
Message from the General Manager
KNAU is celebrating 25 years on air this year. Russ
Hamnet, KNAU's 1st General Manager, signed the station on the air
November 28, 1983. Over the past quarter century, we have matured into
one of the most trusted and valued broadcast outlets in northern
Arizona. Every week more than 50,000 people tune to KNAU and our
network of 13 stations.
Since signing on, KNAU has had
significant accomplishments. KNAU is nationally recognized as a
small-market station with a major-market sound. Local and regional
news has become KNAU's signature service with production of nationally
broadcast reports, Indian Country News Bureau, Edge of the Rez, and the development of talented reporters.
Thank you for your support of Arizona Public Radio, John Stark KNAU General Manager
Awards 2007
Continuing
KNAU's tradition of excellence in local and regional news reporting,
KNAU won 5 Radio and Television News Directors Association (RTNDA)
Edward R. Murrow regional awards in 2007. That ties for the 3rd most
of any public radio station in the country.
Feature Reporting: "Civil War Band"
Feature Reporting of Hard News: "Doctor Shortage"
Continuing Coverage: "The Brins Fire"
News Documentary: "Edge of the Rez"
Writing: "Polygamy", "Border Farms, and "The Power of a Name"
KNAU also won six Arizona Associate Press awards including four 1st-place.
Editorial: "Changing Name Powerful for Morales"
Documentary: "Edge of the Rez"
Enterprise: "Making Sense of the Ballot Initiative"
News Writing: "Doctors"
KNAU also won a Public Radio News Directors Incorporated award for Laurel Morales' commentary on changing her last name. And for the sixth consecutive year, Morning Edition, hosted locally by Gillian Ferris Kohl, was selected as the best morning radio show by the readers of the Arizona Daily Sun.
KNAU Chronology
Profiles
Meet Daniel Kraker - KNAU News Director “When we first moved out here to Arizona I have to admit, it seemed pretty
bleak.But it didn’t take long before I
came to appreciate the region’s incredible beauty.”
When you hear a report by KNAU News Director, Daniel Kraker,
you have his wife Erin to thank.In
2000, she had just taken a job on the Hopi reservation with the Indian Health
Service and, as trailing spouse, Dan began to freelance.Since joining KNAU, Dan has won numerous
awards, including the prestigious Unity Award presented by the Radio and Television
News Directors Association, recognizing his work at promoting diversity through
the Indian Country News Bureau.
“I like doing the day-to-day stories that you can tell in a
few minutes.But the issues of the
American West are, like the territory, so vast, so complex. Water rights,
Native culture, energy, mining, the environment. These are stories that take
more time to develop and require more time to tell.It’s an investigative process that is so much
more than spot news.”
Meet Geoff Norcross - KNAU Program Director It sounds cliché: a tall thin kid from the hills of West Virginia starts
working in radio at the age most other kids are learning to drive. This is
followed by years of moving from station to station, up and down the dial.Tired of packing and unpacking, Geoff
Norcross has made Flagstaff
and KNAU home for seven years now. His calm, reassuring voice matches his
unflappable demeanor—a rare quality for radio types. He’s the KNAU host of All Things Considered and, as program
director, decides what programs air, and when.
“When you stop to think about it, it’s an awesome
responsibility: KNAU is the sole provider of classical music and NPR news to a
huge chunk of real estate,” he says, adding, “but for me it’s a good day when
can avoid embarrassing myself.”
When asked if he had any radio heroes, Geoff quickly
responds “Scott Simon (host of Saturday Weekend Edition).”More philosophically, he continues, “Not so
much individuals. I have always liked radio that celebrates something, the
news, a piece of history, special days, car repair. The joy that the host
brings to the story is usually the defining factor for me, regardless of the
subject matter.”
When not scouring his sources for compelling radio programs
to share with us, he’s waiting for good weather and a return to a special
place: The North Rim’s ThunderRiver.“It’s a miracle.Probably the shortest river in the world, it
gushes out of the sandstone and brings life to an otherwise pretty barren
landscape. It’s my current favorite spot in the world.”
For about thirty years National Public Radio has distributed
its programs to local stations via satellite.NPR pioneered technology that is today commonplace. Soon, KNAU will use
this same technology to distribute programs over its network of 13 transmitters.
For the listener, this means the potential of more program variety: The Diane
Rehm Show at the Grand Canyon or classical
music in Page.Satellite distribution
for Arizona Public Radio also means a more reliable service.Far too often we encounter problems with our
current system that are difficult and expensive to fix.Thanks to a generous grant from Richard Watkins and Cellular One of Show Low, KNAU begins
construction of the satellite interconnection system in 2008 with a powerful uplink here in Flagstaff and a receiver
on CooleyMountain in Show Low.The Margaret T. Morris and J.W. Kieckhefer
Foundations are funding the Prescott
downlink. As community support grows, we’ll continue the build-out across our
listening area: Grand Canyon, Kingman, Page, and beyond.
KNAU Arizona Public Radio ♦ Box 5764 ♦ Flagstaff, AZ ♦ 86011 ♦ (928) 523-5628 ♦ (800) 523-5628
“When we first moved out here to 
It sounds cliché: a tall thin kid from the hills of 
