Former CoastAlaska engineer Matt Holmes examines the “sat rack” at KCAW. Holmes says he appreciates the way KCAW and other CoastAlaska stations have remained “stations,” despite delivering content that can be consumed anywhere in the world. (KCAW photo/Robert Woolsey)

KCAW received an unexpected visit from Matt Holmes this week (4-12-17), a long-time institution in public radio in Southeast. Holmes was a reporter and news director at KFSK-Petersburg from 1984-86, news director at KMXT-Kodiak from 1986-88, manager of KFSK-Petersburg from 1998-2008, and finally the CoastAlaska senior engineer from 2008-09. He now works as a radio/telecommunications tech for the Klamath National Forest. He’s visiting Southeast by ferry during his daughter’s spring break from high school, along with his partner Patty Grantham, who’s now a forest supervisor. Holmes hasn’t seen the Cable House in over ten years; he approves of the remodel. “I love that wall of vinyl (record albums)!” Here’s hoping for more frequent visits from one of the people who helped create the CoastAlaska Network!