SANTA ANA, CA (May 13, 2016) — The Arctic Broadcasting Association (ABA), which operates KICY radio station in Nome, Alaska, had been trying for years to obtain permission from the Federal Communications Commission to use a powerful signal to broadcast in the Russian language to Russia. The FCC had never granted permission to any station to broadcast in a foreign language to a foreign country.
And they weren’t about to start issuing such licenses until William “Ted” Haney went to Washington DC and used his connections and power of persuasion to obtain a license to broadcast a 50,000-watt directional signal into Russia.
It was just one of the many ways that Haney, a former board chair for ABA, helped guide and promote the work of KICY, which broadcasts Christian programming to parts of Alaska and into the Russia Far East. Haney’s contributions were recalled during a recent memorial service here. He died on March 31 at the age of 89.
Former board member Rob Hall wrote in an email, “Ted was a gracious but firm leader who helped shepherd ABA through some difficult times in the late 1990s. Without his leadership, it is doubtful that the Covenant’s radio ministry in Alaska and Russia would have survived.”
ECC president Gary Walter wrote, “Ted is a legend for all he has done for KICY.”
