07/04/2025
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact Only: Liz Hill, [email protected]
“First Voices Radio’s” Final Broadcast will be Sunday, July 6, 2025
Internationally-syndicated weekly all-Native hosted and all-Native produced radio program has been on the air for 33 years
(Stone Ridge, N.Y, July 3, 2025) — “First Voices Radio” will have its final broadcast on Sunday, July 6, 2025. The program, which was founded in 1992 by Tiokasin Ghosthorse (Cheyenne River Lakota) has explored global topics and issues of critical importance to the preservation and protection of Mother Earth presented in the voices and from the perspective of the original peoples of the world.
“First Voices Radio” has been airing weekly for the past 33 years and has most recently been heard on Sundays from 7 to 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Radio Kingston WKNY 1490 AM and 107.9 FM in Kingston, New York. The final episode will air on Radio Kingston and will stream live at https://radiokingston.org/.
“First Voices Radio” — “formerly First Voices Indigenous Radio” — was the first Indigenous radio program in the northeastern U.S. With more than 1 million annual online hits to its website, the program has become known for bringing to the airwaves the experiences, perspectives and struggles of Indigenous peoples worldwide whose exclusion from mainstream, progressive and alternative media is deleterious to the whole of humanity.
The program’s Host, Executive Producer and Founder Tiokasin Ghosthorse is from the Cheyenne River Lakota Nation in South Dakota and the bands of Itazipco-Mnicoujou and Oglala. He is an author, activist and accomplished musician of the Lakota flute. Tiokasin has been described as “a spiritual agitator, natural rights organizer, Indigenous thinking process educator and a community activator.” Liz Hill (Red Lake Ojibwe) has been the show’s producer since 2012.
“First Voices Radio” has gone through several program name changes over the years, including: “View from the Shore,” “Primal Minds,” “Exposing the Apologetic Predator,” “Skywaves” and “First Voices Indigenous Radio.” The show’s format has included news pertinent to Native peoples and their struggles, rare monologues and meaningful conversations with some of the most important Native and non-Native minds of our time.
“Politics for the Lakota is spiritual and is not separate from the rest of life; and it is this worldview that puts Mother Earth at the center of everything,” says Tiokasin. “This is what I have tried to do with this radio program and to never become bigger than the message, as I like to say — I am merely the messenger,” says Tiokasin. “Above all, “First Voices Radio” has been about the importance of living in relativity and, most importantly, with Mother Earth. The guests who appear on the show have all been individuals who understand this central way of thinking and being.”
“Over the years, we’ve asked our guests with great respect to do the honor of coming on the program to offer their knowledge, wisdom and experience — a knowledge that has been handed down over hundreds of thousands of years,” says Tiokasin. “It is a responsibility we’ve always taken very seriously on “First Voices Radio. “We know it is with great urgency that we asked these voices to be shared during these times of change. We’ve offered listeners a perspective they have been missing for far too long — the first voices of the Indigenous peoples — the "voices" that America has tried to silence for more than 500 years.”
“It’s been a wonderful three-plus decades of the show with participation from many important voices from Turtle Island and beyond,” says Tiokasin. “But with anything that tells the truth about what’s happened to the world’s Indigenous peoples over the centuries, we’ve also occasionally witnessed the occasional gnashing of teeth, complaints and even death threats from time to time.”
“However, throughout the years we’ve kept going despite any human roadblocks that have tried to place themselves in our way,” says Tiokasin. “I've always made sure that our guests were not censored. And I want to express special thanks to all of our beautiful listeners, who have stuck with us all of these years. Indigenous knowledge empowers through inclusion, by teaching responsibility of choices and contributing to the protection of Mother Earth.”
Over the years, “First Voices Radio” has been based at KAOS 89.3, Olympia, Washington (where it was founded); WBAI 99.5 FM New York, New York City; WPKN 89.5 FM, Bridgeport, Connecticut; WIOX Community Radio 91.3, Roxbury, New York and, most recently, at Radio Kingston WKNY 1490 AM and 107.9 FM in Kingston, New York. “I’ve been honored and grateful that “First Voices Radio” has found welcoming homes at all of these great radio stations that have been so receptive to our format and messages,” says Tiokasin.
“First Voices Radio” has been internationally syndicated on 110+ community, public and commercial radio stations in 24 states in the U.S. and four Canadian provinces, including: Arkansas, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Manitoba, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. The program is heard on three stations in Germany. Shows have also been available as podcasts on several listening platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
“First Voices Radio” is retiring but I am not,” says Tiokasin. “Rather, I’m transitioning, moving into these dimensions that are still offered in life.” Tiokasin’s upcoming book, “Earth Mind,” is co-authored with Robert Toth and Dr. John Briggs. “In writing this book we have made every effort to respect our readers by not telling them what actions to take if they agree with us on the importance of holocentric consciousness to life on Earth. Here, we propose no new ideology, philosophy or religion — no “to do” list of steps in order to establish a new Earth Mind-centered culture and fix the problems created by modern humans’ aggressively anthropocentric approach to pretty much everything. We think that proposing “solutions” will only lead people back into more anthropocentric thinking, falling into the trap of trying to fix the harm created by that thinking by applying more of it. Proposing solutions is comforting but it hasn’t worked very well. We need to go deeper.”
For listeners who want to keep up with Tiokasin, he can be found on Facebook (search Tiokasin Ghosthorse; he has two pages), Instagram, Patreon and on the “First Voices Radio” website (where past shows on many topics can be found). Visit Akantu Intelligence, an institute that Tiokasin founded with a mission of contextualizing original wisdom for troubled times. He can also be contacted by email at [email protected].
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