weekly January 21, 2025, Issue 944
Alive & Local: KWJJ’s Debt Relief
At 24 weeks pregnant, KWJJ/Portland morning host Kristen Flowers went into labor and was told, for the health and safety of her and her baby, she would need to stay in the hospital until she delivered. When she and husband/co-host Nick Steele returned home with daughter Lily, they received a bill for $279,000. Realizing their situation was not uncommon, and inspired by John Oliver, the married morning show’s annual Medical Debt Payoff radiothon has since raised enough money to eradicate $16 million in medical debt over the past four years. Kristen Flowers KF: When we got home from the hospital and saw the bill, we called our insurance company – we both had insurance at the time – and they said, “Oh, don’t worry, you don’t have to pay that.” It went down to $90,000, then $70,000. And we were both like, “We still can’t pay that. That’s still insane.” Yes, it’s not $279,000, but we still can’t do that. And ultimately, we got it negotiated down, but we had to put our kid on a payment plan. We paid monthly to Nick Steele the hospital until about her fifth birthday. A lot of the people we hear from have insurance. These are not people looking for handouts. These are people who just thought they could call an ambulance and didn’t realize it was going to be $1,500. NS: A lot of the times, it’s $500, $800, but it’s garnishing their paychecks. It’s affecting their lives. KF: One of the big ones we hear is taking an ambulance where people are like, “I thought I was having a heart attack and didn’t want to get in the car so I called an ambulance. The ambulance bill turned out to be $500$600, and it’s been hanging over my head.” And they can’t get a great apartment because they now have medical debt on their record. NS: A woman named Jessica owed $900 for [dilation and curettage] she had to have after finding out she’d miscarried twins. It wasn’t just a medical bill, it was a painful reminder of loss and grief. So we helped erase the debt and the bad memory that came with it. We discovered the charity Undue Medical Debt (UMD), which buys all (continued on page 7)
What Makes You Couchy: Capitol’s Luke Bryan and the CMT and SiriusXM teams celebrate 10 years of Crash My Playa. Pictured (back, l-r) are SXM’s Lauryn Snapp, CMT’s Ben Sherrill, Nathan Corn, Jimmy Corn, Rebecca Garcia and Sam Boyette and Bryan’s manager Kerri Edwards; (front, l-r) CMT’s Marley Sherwood, Bryan, CMT/SXM’s Cody Alan and CMT’s Donna Duncan.
Small Market Domination: KDBR
While the Dutton family rules Montana in TV’s Yellowstone, in real-life Kalispell, MT it’s Bee Broadcasting KDBR “106.3 The Bear” that dominates with double digit shares. In its 32nd year on the air, the locally owned station has been No. 1 in 65 of 67 surveys since Eastlan began measuring the market of 100,000 in 2012. “We’re in the right place for country music,” says PD/morning host Mark “Kidd Grizz” Carpenter. “We’ve got Glacier National Park just to the northeast and we’re in a beautiful valley Mark “Kidd surrounded by mountains. People have been here Grizz” Carpenter a long time and put down roots; it’s a very tight knit community. We have agriculture, livestock and timber industries but a lot of tech companies are moving in. They say it’s the last best place.” (continued on page 3)
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