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On
March 13, 1995, KINY Radio became the first commercial business in Alaska
to have a permanent Internet presence when our first web page went online -- it
was the debut edition of the Juneau Newsminute, forerunner of the
Juneau Daily News.
In
those early days of the web, very few people had web browsers; most were using
text-based Internet access and there were few links or graphics. The Juneau
Newsminute came about when KINY's
Chris Burns contacted the University of
Alaska Southeast's computer guru Mike Ciri about the concept of
publishing local news on one of the campus network servers. Mike readily
accepted the idea, did all the necessary technical work, and had us up and
running. Chris then started uploading the news each day via telephone modem from
the KINY Newsroom to a UAS network computer -- that connection put the Juneau
Newsminute directly on the Internet for anyone on the planet to read.
Of
course, in March of 1995, there weren't very many people with Internet
connections. So, the next breakthrough didn't come until a few weeks later when Chris was contacted by Barbara
Berg at the Juneau Public Library. Barbara asked if the Juneau
Newsminute could appear on SLED, the Statewide Library Electronic Doorway.
Chris immediately agreed and KINY's daily news page was soon available
throughout Alaska on Internet-connected computers at local and state libraries,
public schools and university campuses.
Since
our first page blinked onto the monochrome screens of those archaic computer
monitors over a decade ago, online technology and the KINY Internet presence
have expanded tremendously. Our website has grown from the page below to what it
is today, offering a wide range of features and services (most suggested by listeners):
in-depth local, state and
world news, audio newscasts, a weekly poll, a comprehensive weather station, webcams,
information for travelers, local entertainment and recreation calendars, boating and fishing pages, book previews,
a complete Internet research center, access to
community groups and state agencies, an on-air program guide, air-staff profiles and direct feedback to our studios.
Here
is our first posted web page from March 13, 1995, in its original form (and the
way it appeared on those then-dominant green monochrome monitors):
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