Williams hired at KXWR; station now online
Navajo Times / Cindy Yurth L A Williams broadcasts from KXWR's station on the Dine College campus in Tsaile.
Navajo Times / Cindy Yurth
L A Williams broadcasts from KXWR’s station on the Dine College campus in Tsaile.
TSAILE, Ariz.
If you’ve been missing L A Williams’ unmistakeable voice on KTNN, you just need to turn the dial.
The iconoclastic sportscaster who’s been part of The Voice of the Navajo Nation for 23 years is now director of operations at Diné College’s Warrior Radio, KXWR (92.1 FM).
In the month or so she’s been there, she’s made some major changes, including much more live programming, expanding the station’s reach and taking it online for streaming.
Williams said she was covering a basketball game under contract for KTNN when a young woman approached her.
“I’m from Diné College,” said the woman, who turned out to be Valerie Tom from the marketing department. “L A, we need to hire you.”
[alert color=”CC0000″] Listen to KXWR’s Online Stream Now
Instructions:
Select M3U on right side of page after you click on link. Double click the downloaded file and use iTunes, or similar audio player, to hear the downloaded file. For more information, email lawilliams@dinecollege.edu[/alert]
When Williams got to the studio and saw everything that needed to be done, she recalls saying, “OK, but I can’t do this by myself. I need an engineer.”
Navajo Times / Cindy Yurth
Herman Cody’s teaching methods class prepares to sing a Navajo song on KXWR Warrior Radio Thursday.
Williams called up her old friend Jerry Jim, who helped start KTNN. He had retired, but he was up for the challenge.
The two were shocked at how small the station’s coverage area was … about a 50-mile radius. Jim tweaked the antenna and was able to get more reach.
“I was in Rough Rock the other day and it was coming in real clear,” Williams said. “Someone in Dennehotso said they could pick us up.”
Still, compared to KTNN’s 50,000 Watts, which boost it as far north as central Idaho and as far south as Mexico, KXWR was a pretty weak warrior.
Williams and Jim immediately started scheming to take the station online so people could listen to it all over the world.
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