Word: aklavik
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...hardy inhabitants* of isolated Aklavik at the mouth of the Mackenzie River own 220 radios. But for a long time they could tune in regularly on only one station, at Fairbanks, Alaska, and it broadcasts only in the winter. Now, thanks to a burly, good-natured Canadian soldier named R. A. ("Red") MacLeod, Aklavikans have a full-fledged station of their...
...MacLeod, a sergeant major in the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals stationed at Aklavik, built the transmitter with odds & ends from a ham set, a few parts scrounged from Army discards and about $100 worth of equipment that he bought himself. He talked Sergeant Jack Willis into being the station's announcer because Willis, a Nova Scotian, could pronounce Eskimo names like "Plluluk" (pronounced Pell-oo-look) without a bobble. Last winter they set up their equipment in the second floor of Aklavik's Signals Station, and by December they were broadcasting with 30-watt power...
...Aklavik's station CHAK, "The Friendly Voice of the Arctic," has no sponsored broadcasts, makes no money. Because Signals Corpsmen have the Army's work to do, too, this northernmost commercial station in the Western Hemisphere is on the air only three nights a week, gives its only day programs Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Programs consist chiefly of records, most of them old numbers donated by Aklavikans. Eskimos and Indians, says MacLeod, like cowboy songs best; whites prefer Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah and boogie-woogie. Sundays the station airs one church service after another-some in Eskimo...
...Aklavik, dinner tables groan under inch-thick steaks (reindeer and caribou), heaping mounds of butter, jam, other war-scarce delicacies. Aklavik women, most of them Eskimos and Leacheau Indians, have all the silk stockings they need, can frequently be heard mildly bewailing "the third pair I've ruined this week." All sorts of consumer goods are available...
Explanation: nothing is rationed in Aklavik (the population of 757 would not justify the trouble) and Aklavikans get priorities because of their isolation and the importance of the Arctic fur trade...