Accusations are being made. Lines are being drawn.

But what's really happening there? Much of it is taking place behind closed doors, where personnel matters ought to. As the public, it's our radio station, sure but it's got a board of directors, a staff and a manager, and their collective job is to run the business of the station.

Should we be concerned? Sure. These are our friends and neighbors, some old, some new. This is a shared source of communication for Homer and its outlying areas. It provides Bushline messages and the city calendar, and more. It's the soundtrack to our day-to-day existence, whether it's Tuesday night reggae or the Hipster's seasoned blend of cross-genre musical expressions.

At the same time, though, we should let those who run the station take care of business, and show some faith in the fine people who work and volunteer there, whether as staff, management, on-air personalities or board members.

Besides, how many of you would welcome an entire community second-guessing your performance at work? It's not unfamiliar to those of us in the newspaper business, and right now, we don't envy any of those involved at KBBI.

But we have faith that these problems, too, will be worked out, and that KBBI will once again attain the reputation it once had as Alaska's best public radio station. How can it not, when it's got so many passionate people involved and interested?

KBBI has been limping along for the past year in some ways, but now more than ever, it needs your support. Now is not the time to withdraw get involved. Introduce yourself, become a member, or ask how you can help out. Instead of supporting one person or another there, show your support for KBBI.

In the meantime, we want to direct your attention elsewhere <> to the rest of your media providers (with a humble little pat on our own back as well) who made a good showing for Homer over the weekend at the Alaska Press Club awards banquet in Anchorage.

Homer media took home 25 awards, rivaled in sheer number only by Anchorage, which has three large-circulation papers, several TV stations and a handful of radio outlets.

Those 25 awards were split among the Homer News and the Homer Tribune, with 10 apiece, three independent radio producers, an international radio news program produced in Homer, and Tom Kizzia, Homer-based correspondent for the Anchorage Daily News. A more complete list of the awards is available on page 3, or at the Alaska Press Club's Web site, where you can also read judges' comments.

Congratulations to the award winners.

But the real winner here is Homer full of talented people, and blessed with a wide range of options. We'd be hard-pressed to think of another town our size with such coverage.

The Homer News