Telling Alaska’s stories: Fairbanks-based podcast recognized on national scale

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) - Fairbanks-based podcast “Dark Winter Nights” has been recognized on national scale by the New York Times.

The podcast which began in 2014 focuses on telling real, true stories from Alaskans and sharing them with the wider world.

“There’s nothing really that new about the format that we use. What’s different is that we just focus entirely on Alaskan stories, trying to get them out to the world because people are really excited about what life in Alaska is like and so we want to share the stories with them,” said Rob Prince, Professor of Communications and Journalism with the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the creator and host of “Dark Winter Nights”.

The article by the New York Times included the show in its list of “The Best Winter Podcasts.”

Prince said he was shocked when he was told his show made the New York Times by a colleague. “She said ‘You’re listed in New York Times as one of the best winter podcasts.’ I was like ‘There’s no way, there is just no possible way!’ because there are so many, unbelievably many podcasts out there. I mean everyone’s got a podcast, and we’re way up here in Alaska. It was an unbelievable shock. My mom is a huge fan of the New York Times and when I told her she started shaking so it’s always nice to impress mom.”

After the article’s publication, “Dark Winter Nights” saw a large spike in subscribers.

“Before this article we had about 1,400 subscribers, and within three or four days of the story coming out in the New York Times we jumped by like over 1,000. So this is gonna be one of those things I think is just a huge leap forward for us - trying to get true stories from Alaska out to the world and shared with people,” said Prince.

For those who wish to listen to “Dark Winter Nights”, visit their website.

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