KMAS - The Fjord

About KMAS - The Fjord

Long-form interviews and conversations from Mason County, Washington. Host Jeff Slakey sits down with local leaders, legislators, small business owners, and community voices for unhurried conversations about what's shaping the Hood Canal region — government, education, healthcare, the outdoors, and the people making a difference. New episodes drop throughout the week. For daily local headlines, subscribe to KMAS Morning News with Jeff Slakey.

Publisher

Jeff Slakey

Category

news · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

6 Jul 2022

Latest episode

18 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

272 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   18 Oct 2026

   A Skokomish Longhouse on Hwy 106: sm3tcoom Delbert Miller on Ceremony, Family and the Twana People

   Just off Highway 106, about a mile from the Hood Canal School, stands a longhouse that sm3tcoom Delbert Miller of the Skokomish Tribe spent more than seven years of weekends building by hand. In this conversation, recorded inside the Skabob House, Miller tells KMAS’s Jeff Slakey how a great-uncle’s instruction to “face it towards the east” shaped a lifetime of preparation — and how he milled the logs on his own sawmill, hand-hewed the beams, and set yellow cedar corner posts on a scorching summer day. The house was built for his daughter. Miller describes a series of ceremonies spanning her life, from the day she was born onward, witnessed by members of the Lummi, Tulalip, Nisqually, Nooksack and Skagit tribes and by a sitting Washington governor. Two years ago, with the house finished and a family song presented to her, she became head of the home — completing a ceremonial cycle Miller says hadn’t been carried through in 175 years. He also explains how the longhouse is used today for namings, weddings, memorials, healing and salmon ceremonies, and how the carvings on its walls came out of a family’s grief. In the second half, Miller turns to the history many Mason County residents drive past without knowing. He shares his elders’ account of a prophecy of upheaval, of the arrival of missionaries and Indian agents around 1850, of longhouses along the water destroyed, and of the nine Twana bands — from villages at Quilcene, Dabob Bay, Seabeck, Dewatto, Tahuya, Belfair, Duckabush, Dosewallips and Hamma Hamma — being moved to Skokomish. He describes how breaking up community longhouses into single-family homes changed a way of life, how burial laws and funeral homes cost families their land, and why, through all of it, his people say: “We’re not victims.” sm3tcoom Delbert Miller speaks at the Hood Canal Improvement Club meeting on Tuesday, November 3. #SkokomishTribe #Skokomish #HoodCanal #MasonCounty #MasonCountyWA #SheltonWA #KMAS #FocusOnShelton #Longhouse #TwanaPeople #IndigenousHistory #NativeHistory #CoastSalish #PacificNorthwestHistory #WashingtonHistory #HoodCanalImprovementClub #TribalHistory #LocalHistory #PNW

2. 

   24 Sept 2026

   Coats for Kids 2026: Inside Taylor Station's Sept. 25 Fundraiser for South Mason Fire

   Ahead of the September 25 Coats for Kids fundraiser at Taylor Station, Jeff sits down with Amber Anderson of South Mason Fire and Stephanie Bronson of Taylor Station to walk through what the night looks like and why the program matters. Amber explains how the fundraiser — last held in 2023 — has funded the department's coat program ever since, helping South Mason Fire District, including the Squaxin Island Early Learning Center, keep kids warm and dry through the winter. The program isn't limited to kids or to fundraiser night, either: Amber describes South Mason Fire crews carrying coats on calls and handing them out on the spot, including to houseless adults the department's mobile integrated health team encounters in the community. Stephanie details Taylor Station's role since taking over the restaurant in 2023 — a standing in-house coat donation display, a Christmas Giving Tree program, and, for this event, 10% of all proceeds from 5 p.m. to close going toward Coats for Kids. The night itself runs 5 p.m. to midnight with a silent auction (bidders don't need to be present to win), live music from Katie Wade, an emcee, a full open bar, and dinner specials including prime rib and a homemade pasta dish. Steph and Amber also make the pitch for local businesses to donate silent auction items — recent donations include a Blackstone griddle, a custom cake for 50, and a "Taste of Mason County" gift-card basket built from six local restaurants. Hashtags #CoatsForKids #TaylorStation #SouthMasonFire #KMAS #MasonCountyWA #SheltonWA #HoodCanal #WashingtonState #SilentAuction #CommunityFundraiser #LocalNews #GivingBack #PNWEvents #ThingsToDoWA

3. 

   9 Sept 2026

   Mike Tice on Hard Knocks, the Seahawks' Opener, and Giving Back to Thurston County

   Taped on 9/8/2026 at the 1889 Prime Steakhouse in Downtown Olympia, Washington, Jeff Slakey talked with Mike Tice,  former Seahawk and former Minnesota Vikings head coach, as the Seahawks open the regular season at Lumen Field in a rematch of last year's Super Bowl. Kickoff's at 5:20, with our pregame starting at 3 on KMAS. Tice spent 14 years playing in the NFL, 130 games with Seattle, and 21 years coaching, including four seasons as the Vikings' head coach. We got into what it's really like having an NFL Films crew embedded with your team for Hard Knocks (he lived it himself in Atlanta), what he's seeing from the Seahawks' new coaching staff and their rookie running back, why he thinks the NFC North could be wide open with Kyler Murray in Minnesota, and which under-the-radar teams he's watching this year. We also talked about what brought him to this community in the first place, and the golf tournament he and his wife Diane run that's given more than $1.1 million to youth charities, including a $90,000 check to the Boys & Girls Club of Thurston County just two weeks ago. #Seahawks #GoHawks #NFL2026 #MikeTice #MinnesotaVikings #SeahawksOpener #KMASRadio #MasonCountyWA #SheltonWA #FocusOnShelton #NFLSeasonPreview #ThurstonCounty

Who has been a guest on KMAS - The Fjord

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Wyeth Jessee
• Jen Capps
• Chala Gray
• Dr Kristine Michael
• Cally

Podcast Authority Score: 50 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

89

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

27