Native Voice One (NV1)

31/07/2025

Canada, Norway, Denmark, and the U.S. are among the handful of countries with land above the Arctic Circle. Each of those has significant Indigenous populations with their own cultures built around the land, sea, and ice that they have always inhabited. We’ll hear from some of those Indigenous people who are working across borders to learn from, advocate for, and work with their counterparts in other countries. We’re broadcasting live from the Arctic Encounter Summit in Anchorage, Alaska.

GUESTS

Jackie Qataliña Schaeffer (Iñupiaq), member of the board for the Arctic Encounter Symposium

Dr. Heather Sauyaq Jean Gordon (Iñupiaq), Indigenous researcher and Arctic Fulbright Scholar

Dr. Liza Mack, board member for the Aleut International Association and the village infrastructure program manager for the Denali Commission

Aki-Matilda Høegh-Dam, member of the Greenlandic Parliament

Canada, Norway, Denmark, and the U.S. are among the handful of countries with land above the Arctic Circle. Each of those has significant Indigenous populations with their own cultures built around the land, sea, and ice that they have always inhabited. We’ll hear from some of those Indigenous peo...

30/07/2025

Muscogee Freedmen are closer to tribal citizenship than ever before. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court ruled the tribe must extend the rights of citizenship to the descendants of slaves who also have Muscogee lineage. We’ll hear from Freedman who welcome the ruling, but warn there are likely more hurdles ahead.

We’ll also talk with an Alaska Native engineer working on building clean water systems for rural villages and inspiring Native girls to consider careers in science along the way.

And we’ll hear from both U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and the tribal chairman about Sec. Kennedy’s visit to the Nez Perce Reservation in Idaho to tout the Trump administration’s commitment to food sovereignty.

GUESTS

Marilyn Vann (Cherokee Nation), president of the Descendants of Freedmen of the Five Tribes

Eli Grayson (Muscogee), radio host, Muscogee Nation Hall of Fame inductee, and a Freedmen descendant

Charitie Ropati (Yup’ik and Samoan), climate justice advocate, water engineer, and North America Regional Facilitator at the Youth Climate Justice Fund

Shannon Wheeler (Nez Perce), chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe Executive Committee

Muscogee Freedmen are closer to tribal citizenship than ever before. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Supreme Court ruled the tribe must extend the rights of citizenship to the descendants of slaves who also have Muscogee lineage. We’ll hear from Freedman who welcome the ruling, but warn there are like...

26/07/2025

What happens when Native stories are at risk of being silenced? We speak louder.
The rescission of over $1 billion in public media funding has already begun to impact organizations like Koahnic — a nonprofit media organization that exists to amplify Indigenous voices across the U.S. through national shows like National Native News and Native America Calling.

This moment calls for more than reflection. It calls for action. Native-led media matters now more than ever. Our shows tell the stories that others overlook. We ask the hard questions, uplift Indigenous perspectives, and connect people across generations and geographies.

We’re still standing — and moving forward. But we can’t do it alone.
Help us carry Native voices further:
🔹 Donate at bit.ly/GiveKoahnic
🔹 Or text KOAHNIC to 41444

Every contribution, large or small, helps keep Native perspectives on the public airwaves.
Together, we’ll rise stronger.

25/07/2025

Missoula, Mont. is the setting for the inaugural festival of literature, music, and other arts known as Indigipalooza. Musician and former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) headlines the list of talent offering their perspectives on the state of Indigenous storytelling.

We’ll also hear from filmmaker Adam Piron about his curated selection of films screened in New York highlighting Native American urban relocation.

And we’ll get context for President Donald Trump’s demand that sports teams return to their offensive names and mascots.

GUESTS

James Vukelich Kaagegaabaw (Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe), author and speaker

Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz (Lumbee Tribe), assistant professor at the University of Iowa and director of the Native Policy Lab

Chris La Tray (citizen of the Little Shell Tribe of Chippewa Indians and a descendent of the Pembina Band of Chippewa Indians), author, Poet Laureate of Montana, and a coordinator for IndigiPalooza

Adam Piron (Kiowa and Mohawk), filmmaker and film curator

Larry Wright Jr. (Ponca), executive director of the National Congress of American Indians

Missoula, Mont. is the setting for the inaugural festival of literature, music, and other arts known as Indigipalooza. Musician and former U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) headlines the list of talent offering their perspectives on the state of Indigenous storytelling. We’ll also hear from f...

24/07/2025

The Crow Tribe is marking the 200th anniversary of their treaty with the United States. It is a document whose limits have been tested over that time, but still defines the tribe’s relationship with the federal government. This year also marks 170 years since the treaty ratifying the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indians' official relationship with the U.S. We'll examine these important historical and legal milestones and how they fit in with the extensive and complicated history of treaties.

GUESTS

Heather Whiteman Runs Him (Apsáalooke), associate clinical professor and the director of the Tribal Justice Clinic at University of Arizona Law

Stephen Selam (Yakama Nation), executive secretary of Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation tribal council

Jeanine Gordon (Confederated Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation), special assistant to the president for Native American outreach for Whitman College

Jim Real Bird (Apsáalooke), horse hand and co-organizer of the 1825 Crow Tribe Treaty commemoration

Lanny Real Bird (Apsáalooke), educator, consultant, and Native language advocate

The Crow Tribe is marking the 200th anniversary of their treaty with the United States. It is a document whose limits have been tested over that time, but still defines the tribe’s relationship with the federal government. This year also marks 170 years since the treaty ratifying the Confederated ...

23/07/2025

Education advocates are launching a multi-year program to develop a game and to teach the Denaakk’e language in schools. That and another language teaching apps come at a time when almost all federal funding for language revitalization is eliminated. We’ll also talk with a man about his personal journey learning the Cherokee language, an undertaking that inspired him to learn more about his tribal language’s history and importance in maintaining culture.

GUESTS

Joel Isaak (Dena’ina from the Kenaitze), director of language and culture for the Kenaitze Indian Tribe

Mariah Pitka (Louden Tribe), executive director for the Doyon Foundation

Dr. Benjamin Frey (Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians), assistant professor of Cherokee language and culture at UNC Asheville

Jamie Jacobs (Tonawanda Seneca, Turtle Clan), managing curator for the Rock Foundation collections at the Rochester Museum & Science Center

Education advocates are launching a multi-year program to develop a game and to teach the Denaakk’e language in schools. That and another language teaching apps come at a time when almost all federal funding for language revitalization is eliminated. We’ll also talk with a man about his personal...

22/07/2025

After Congress approved President Donald Trump’s clawback of funds distributed through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, tribal stations are frantically searching for money to keep from going dark. Tribes are stepping up in some cases, audiences are responding with increased donations, and the stations are scaling back their operations. In the meantime, higher education officials are worried about a Trump budget plan to cut federal funding to tribal colleges and universities by nearly 90%. Representatives from some of those institutions say they will have to significantly scale back their operations. Others say they will have to close outright. We’ll get more detail on both of these major funding changes.

GUESTS

Stephen Wall (citizen of the White Earth Nation and a descendent of Cattaraugus Seneca Community), interim president for the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA)

Sean Chandler (enrolled member of the Aaniinen [Gros Ventre Nation]), president of Aaniiih Nakoda College

Aziza Smith (Eastern Shoshone), senior at Haskell Indian Nations University

Marina Decora (Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska), sophomore at Haskell Indian Nations University

Lenora Ward (Iñupiaq), general manager of KOTZ Radio 720 AM and Kotzebue Broadcasting

Karl Habeck (Lac Courte Oreilles), general manager of WOJB Woodland Community Radio

After Congress approved President Donald Trump’s clawback of funds distributed through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, tribal stations are frantically searching for money to keep from going dark. Tribes are stepping up in some cases, audiences are responding with increased donations and t...

21/07/2025

Congress voted last week to rescind more than $1 billion in previously approved funding for public radio, television, and organizations like ours that depend on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting to sustain and amplify our work.

This represents a profound loss—not only for Koahnic Broadcast Corporation and the programs we produce and distribute, including National Native News and Native America Calling, but for the ability of Americans from every background to hear and share stories that reflect the diversity of our nation.

To everyone who called, shared our messages, offered support, or simply stood with us: THANK YOU.

We are committed to moving forward, to adapting, and to continuing to tell our stories, in our voices, for the generations to come.

If you already give, thank you for your generous support. If you've never given before and would like to, thank you. Every dollar we receive goes a long way to protecting and powering our nonprofit Native media service.

Give at bit.ly/GiveKoahnic or Text "Koahnic" to 41444 to donate today.

21/07/2025

From finding simple recipes to diagnosing complicated illnesses, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly useful part of everyday life, but the space and resources it takes to power that technology is immense and that is hitting close to home for some tribes. The Tonawanda Seneca Nation in New York just filed a lawsuit against a proposed 900,000-square-foot AI data center a mile away from their reservation. Chief Kenith Dale Jonathan says the center would harm air quality, water, and wildlife. We’ll hear from the tribe and the potential for data center encroachment elsewhere. We’ll also look at how the Trump administration's push to use AI in medicine would benefit or harm Native Americans.

GUESTS

Christine Abrams (Tonawanda Seneca), office administrator for the Tonawanda Seneca Nation Council of Chiefs

Grandell “Bird” Logan (Tonawanda Seneca), media spokesperson for the Tonawanda Seneca Nation

Dr. Krystal Tsosie (Diné), assistant professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University

Dr. David Wilson (Diné), associate vice president for health research and professor and chair of Indigenous Health at the University of North Dakota UND Indigenous Health Department

From finding simple recipes to diagnosing complicated illnesses, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming an increasingly useful part of everyday life, but the space and resources it takes to power that technology is immense and that is hitting close to home for some tribes. The Tonawanda Seneca Nat...

18/07/2025

Indigenous people of Canada know of the horrors generations of children were forced to endure in residential schools even though records and physical proof are hard to come by. They know from the stories passed down and the traumas they witnessed. “The Knowing” is the newest book from Anishinaabe journalist and best-selling author Tanya Talaga. She takes readers on a journey through scattered residential school records — and their many dead ends — to find Annie, a long lost relative. Her story weaves together her personal quest with Canadian history, providing readers with a better understanding of how racism, greed, misplaced religious intent, and government policy played into Canada’s unforgivable treatment of Indigenous children. But Talaga also celebrates the triumph of healing and the growing momentum to demand justice, acknowledgement, and real reconciliation. “The Knowing” is on our Native Bookshelf.

Indigenous people of Canada know of the horrors generations of children were forced to endure in residential schools even though records and physical proof are hard to come by. They know from the stories passed down and the traumas they witnessed. “The Knowing” is the newest book from Anishinaab...

17/07/2025

U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin (Cherokee/R-OK) announced the final vote of 51-48 to cut Corporation for Public Broadcasting money for tribal stations and Native media organizations, as part of President Donald Trump’s request to take back $9 billion in the upcoming appropriation for some foreign aid and most public media funding.

Antonia Gonzales has more in the latest edition of National Native News.

  Senate passes bill to cut CPB funding for public, tribal stations   Alaska Native designer of state flag celebrated in honor of first raising   Ramos to present $10m check to California Indian Nations College  

17/07/2025

A widely reported exit poll right after the 2024 presidential election greatly exaggerated the support for President Donald Trump by Native Americans. Native voters, by and large, lean Democrat, but it’s clear Native voters supported President Trump more than expected. And since the election, a handful of tribes and Native leaders continue to back the MAGA trend. Louisiana’s Tunica-Biloxi Tribe are among the institutions nominating Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, citing his foreign policy and domestic economic agenda. We’ll hear from those who think Trump is moving Native interests in the right direction.

GUESTS

Myron Lizer (Diné). former vice president of the Navajo Nation and professional development consultant for Prestige with Partners LLC

Michael Stopp (Cherokee and Muscogee), CEO and president of SevenStar Holdings, LLC

Allen Wright (Choctaw), president and founder of the Hustings Group

A widely reported exit poll right after the 2024 presidential election greatly exaggerated the support for President Donald Trump by Native Americans. Native voters, by and large, lean Democrat, but it’s clear Native voters supported President Trump more than expected. And since the election, a ha...