public radio reporter
Hope McKenney interviews Vince Tutiakoff Sr. about teaching traditional skills to youth at the Qawalangin Tribe's Camp Qungaayux
Bristol Bay sunset from the bow
Sunrise from my window
Hope McKenney interviews Vince Tutiakoff Sr. about teaching traditional skills to youth at the Qawalangin Tribe's Camp Qungaayux
About
Hope McKenney is a public radio news director, reporter, producer, and host based in the Aleutian Islands, Alaska.
Born in rural Northern California, Hope started as a reporter and producer at KZYX in Mendocino County. She then worked at Kichwa Hatari — the first Quechua-language radio station in the U.S., based in New York — and KQED in San Francisco.
In 2019, she moved to Unalaska/Dutch Harbor, Alaska, to work as a public radio reporter for Alaska's Energy Desk and KUCB — the westernmost public radio newsroom in the country.
Hope has lived, worked, and filed stories from California, New York, Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, and Alaska. She is interested in fishing, rural and agricultural issues, climate change, immigration, incarceration, and Indigenous sovereignty.
She is a 2015 graduate of Barnard College of Columbia University.
Selected Work
a fisherman photographed a group of whales. his images may be the first ever taken of the species in the bering sea in the winter (kucb // writing, audio)
prohibited from speaking quechua as child, peruvian woman now professor of quechua at stanford (kqed // writing, audio)
when the scandies rose sunk west of kodiak, he survived. now he’s grappling with losing his crewmates (alaska public media // audio)
why you should cook crickets and boil roly-polies (kqed // writing, audio)
the harmonettes (wbai // audio)
'i've been silent for far too long:' unalaskans in solidarity with black lives matter (kucb // writing, audio)
'my intentions were not to kill': adnan khan is first to be released from prison under new law (kqed // writing, audio)
forget football — it's sheepdog trial season in northern california (kqed // writing, audio)
largely insulated from covid-19, unalaska is watching its wastewater for signs of trouble (alaska's energy desk // writing)
'it's a cold hell': s.f. homeless say city not doing enough to help them during storms (kqed // writing, audio)
biologists hope dead sea lion will provide insight into endangered aleutian population (alaska public media // writing)
macgyvering solutions to the pandemic in unalaska: pa doubles island's ventilator capacity (kucb // writing, audio)
counties scramble to meet deadline after pg&e abandons eel river power and water project (kqed // writing, audio)
unalaska hosts 1,000 military visitors in first u.s. navy stop since the 1990s (kucb // writing, audio)
cluster of aleutian peaks could be single supervolcano, scientists say (alaska's energy desk // writing)
foggy island discs (kucb // audio)
More Work
bay area lawmakers, advocates urge pardon for southeast asian refugees facing deportation (kqed // writing, audio)
without otter predation, sea urchins are decimating aleutian reefs (alaska's energy desk // writing, audio)
22nd camp qungaayux includes more classes, kids than ever before (kucb // writing, audio)
rescuers describe deteriorating conditions as they responded to crab boat sinking off alaska peninsula (alaska public media // writing)
unalaska fish processor evacuated hundreds during tsunami warning (alaska's energy desk // writing, audio)
dead whales wash up near unalaska, but pandemic complicates necropsies (alaska public media // writing, audio)
mendocino county represents at climate march in san francisco (kzyx // audio)
unalaska is researching whether it can use wind power (alaska's energy desk // writing)
makushin volcano could provide energy to unalaska (alaska public media // writing)
sand point will be home to innovative seaweed farming model (alaska's energy desk // writing)
mendocino county hosts sheepdog trials unique to the redwood empire (kzyx // writing, audio)
gci applies to bring fiber optic to aleutian communities (alaska public media // writing)
nation’s sole heavy icebreaker arrives in unalaska, preparing to patrol arctic waters (alaska public media // writing, audio)
person dies from shellfish poisoning in unalaska, marking first psp death in state since 2010 (kucb // writing)
Awards
Alaska Press Club 2020: 1st place for Best Profile // 'it's sinking, it's going fast:' survivor recounts deadly sinking of f/v scandies rose
Alaska Press Club 2020: 3rd place for Best Reporting on Health // largely insulated from covid-19, unalaska is watching its wastewater for signs of trouble
Alaska Press Club 2021: 3rd place for Best Profile // twilly gosuk: yup’ik ivory carving artist returns to unalaska, marking first in-person uaf class on island in a year
Alaska Press Club 2022: 2nd place for Best Reporting on Science // a fisherman photographed a group of whales. his images may be the first ever taken of the species in the bering sea in the winter
Alaska Press Club 2022: 2nd place for Best Sound-Rich Feature // hundreds in homer march for continued access to abortion
Contact
Email: o.hope.mckenney@gmail.com
Follow Hope on Twitter and LinkedIn
"La pasión es necesaria para cualquier gran obra, y para la revolución, pasión y audacia se necesitan en grandes dosis."
"Passion is needed for any great work, and for the revolution, passion and audacity are required in big doses."
— Che Guevara