Broadcast engineer Pete Tridish mounts an anemometer on top of KCAW’s transmitter tower in Port Alexander in 2021 to test wind speed. Ultimately, engineers decided to raise the tower by twenty feet this year, and install a wind turbine designed to withstand the elements in Antarctica. Tridish is the executive director of the Center for International Media Action in Philadelphia. (KCAW/Becky Meiers)

KCAW general manager Becky Meiers outlines “Translatorpalooza,” a region-wide project to bring more stable power to community radio repeaters — known in the industry as “translators.” Currently, a proof-of-concept upgrade is occurring in the southern Baranof Island community of Port Alexander, where KCAW technicians are installing a wind- and solar-powered battery bank that will boost the strength of KCAW’s signal there from 10 watts up to 250 watts — while drastically reducing dependence on the town’s diesel power plant. Over the next four-to-five years, Meiers expects to see similar upgrades installed at all of KCAW’s translators including Kake, Angoon, Tenakee Springs, Pelican, Elfin Cove, and Yakutat.