KILI-FM, the Voice of the Lakota Nation, marked its 25th anniversary on Thursday.

DJ Calvin Two Lance welcomed listeners in English and Lakota on February 25, 1983. The station quickly became the only way most families on the Pine Ridge Reservation receive their news.

"Ninety percent of the homes that you walk into on the reservation, you'll hear KILI radio playing," general manager Melanie Janis told The Rapid City Journal. "It's almost like the lifeline of the reservation."

KILI doesn't receive any money from the Oglala Sioux Tribe so the station has had to struggle over the years. The annual budget is $150,000 for a station that airs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Get the Story:
KILI marks 25 years as 'lifeline of reservation (The Rapid City Journal 8/1)

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