You might have heard a new voice on the KUCB airwaves lately.
Andy Lusk hails from a small town outside of Raleigh, North Carolina, and recently graduated from New York University.
In July, KUCB partnered with Report for America — a nonprofit that helps send journalists to newsrooms around the country — to bring Lusk to Unalaska to help cover news in the Eastern Aleutians area as well as contribute to local daily news production.
KUCB's Hope McKenney sat down with Lusk on Monday to talk about his arrival and what he hopes to accomplish during his time here.
TRANSCRIPT:
ANDY LUSK: I am a little bit of a Southerner, even if the accent only comes through extremely lightly. I miss North Carolina; I can say that a month in because that's what I knew my whole life before I went off to college. I do love where I'm from and I'm excited to go back, but, until I do, I'm quite happy to be here.
HOPE MCKENNEY: Tell me a little bit about this small town you're from, because you're coming to another small town. Do you think that's going to inform your work and life here?
LUSK: I think so. There's a certain pace to small town life that, even if it changes from town to town, is replicated wherever you go. There's an understanding that everyone talks in a small town and that there's always someone who knows everyone else's business. They're usually the most fun person to get to know. Back home, it was always the manicurists and the [salonists]. Here, I'm not sure who that person is yet. I'm looking forward to figuring that out. Knowing what it's like in a small community, in a relatively closed circuit, is a transferable skill. I'm excited to see how this place compares long term, given that I grew up in a town called Clayton that had about 4000 residents when I was a kid...and absolutely exploded in size over the past twenty years. It's now up to [more than] 25,000, but some things never change. The main thing is that people talk.
MCKENNEY: You arrived here a few weeks ago, what are your impressions of the island so far and of Alaska in general?
LUSK: I really appreciate how tied to the land this state is. I feel that it’s steeped in indigenous traditions and cultures that — quite frankly — were wiped out on the mainland, at least where I came from. I don't recall people feeling a particular fondness towards nature that went beyond the surface level, and that's not an insult. We had suburban homes and a nearby city, and we had all of these movie theaters and theme parks and strip malls. These were places where you went to be with your friends and meet new people, but they had very little connection to the outside world. In Alaska, though, I think you're hard pressed to find someone who doesn't feel a very intimate and soulful connection to the ground, water, mountains, and wildlife. That's the thing I noticed from day one that I hope I never become disenchanted with, or that it becomes normal to me and is no longer this spectacular and amazing thing. There are few things in the world worth enjoying quite like natural beauty and the wonder of what surrounds us. I'm looking out the window right now and thinking, “Just look at those mountains!” There’s lush, rolling green hills and sapphire blue water. This is an amazing place to be. Unalaska and Alaska in general are excellent places to get in touch with nature, and I like that this is the first thing people who live here will tell you to do. They say, “Go outside — take a hike!” It's not a mean thing to say “take a hike.” Yeah, I think I will.
MCKENNEY: And you've already taken a number of hikes since you've come here. You've also participated in the Ballyhoo Mountain Run — really hitting the ground running...What else are you looking forward to during your time here?
LUSK: I'm really looking forward to getting to know the fishing community. I'm fascinated by that industry and how it works. Also, I like boat rides, so please take me out on a boat ride! I'm so excited to see how the ships operate, how the crews work together, and how a community is built around this very tough, very difficult line of work. Going to a place like the Rat and seeing people [still enjoying] each other's company after a few weeks together in close quarters on a boat is kind of magical. I'd like to see how that works from the inside. Beyond that, of course, I'll continue hiking. I'll continue meeting all of the wonderful people on this island and getting to know them and how they live their lives out here. This is a very unique place and it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to simply be here and observe.
MCKENNEY: You're a recent graduate, and it's my understanding that you have a bit of a business reporting background. What are you excited to report on? Are there specific stories or beats that you're excited to tackle during your time here?
LUSK: I am coming from a trade publication background where I was in New York City reporting on the financial [services industry]. I've already done that and I'd like to try something new. I’m excited to report on the fishing industry, as I mentioned, and seeing how businesses work around town. But at this point, I really do want to do a hard pivot and lean into environmental issues, lean into social issues, and learn what makes people tick instead of companies. I'd like to do a lot of profiles of community members and get to know how people operate within their social networks. I'm sure I'll have economic stories and I'm sure I'll talk business with people when it comes up, but for right now, that's my background. Looking forward, it's people-driven.
MCKENNEY: We're the westernmost public radio station in the country. How did you end up finding out about this place and the station?
LUSK: I wouldn't have known that KUCB existed if it weren't for the Report for America program! But, this station was actually why I was so excited to become a corps member with RFA, because I looked at the listing for this newsroom and said, “When else will you get to experience something like that? When will you ever get to see that up close and personal ever again?” So, this was the one that made me really want to apply. I remember saying to myself — and I guess to whomever was listening — that I want to go west for my next job. I was thinking that it would be in Washington or California, maybe Nevada or even Utah. Whoever was listening said, “You want to go west?” and I ended up going so far west that I almost went east. That's the irony of all of it.
