This Is Chance: Anchorwoman of the Great Alaska Earthquake

It was the middle of the night on March 27, 1964. Earlier that evening, the second-biggest earthquake ever measured at the time had hit Anchorage, Alaska. 115 people died. Some houses had been turned completely upside down while others had skidded into the sea.

The largest landslide in Anchorage occurred between Point Woronzof and Fish Creek

There was no light or power in the city — and for a long time, virtually no communication with the outside world. But there was one signal making it out of the devastated area.

This new building downtown collapsed 20 minutes after construction crews left for the day

Running on backup generators and a cracked transmitter, a radio station in Anchorage continued to broadcast. Then a station in Fairbanks picked up that signal and repeated it. A man in Juneau picked up that Fairbanks station, called a radio station in Seattle and let the broadcast play over his phone.

The president of that Anchorage radio station happened to be on a goodwill tour of Japan. And when he turned on a radio in Tokyo, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing — it was the voice of his own “newsgirl” back home, a woman by the name of Genie Chance.

Press the play button above to hear the full story, including original audio from during and after the earthquake. To read the piece instead, click here for a complete text transcript.

“Anchorwoman” as performed at Radiotopia Live in Los Angeles via PRX

Jon Mooallem produced this spoken story of reporter Genie Chance and the Great Alaska Earthquake — original music was created for the piece by the Frank Brink Community Players (Jenny Conlee-Drizos, Jon Neufeld, Chris Funk, Nate Query, and John Moen).

Radiotopia Live in The Theater at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles via PRX

Featuring 99pi host Roman Mars and Avery Trufelman (as Chance), the piece was performed at Radiotopia Live in Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco in 2016 and 2017. The live version was edited for publication as a podcast episode by Sharif Youssef and Sean Real.

99% Invisible audience coin check in Los Angeles via PRX

This episode also contains material from the personal collection of the Chance family and from the Genie Chance papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage.

Credits

Music

Music by the Brink Players:

Jenny Conlee-Drizos, Nate Query, Chris Funk, John Moen, Jon Neufeld

  1. anaisa

    thank you radiotopia and 99 percent invisible.
    for your being, for your service, for keep telling us stories.

  2. Deirdre

    We recently experienced a wildfire in our small mountain town of Gatlinburg, TN. The fire claimed 14 lives, injured 134, and burned 16,000 acres. My family lost their home of 34 years and barely escaped with their lives. In the aftermath, we weren’t scared or traumatized, we were together. This story echoed so many sentiments that my family continues to cling to 6 months after the disaster. Thank you for the beautifully told story. It moved my soul.

  3. B Hunt

    I’ve just caught up with this on the podcast and wanted to say that this is one of the most profound and moving works of art I have ever experienced, in any medium. Thank you so much to all of the 99pi team, the musicians and everyone else who contributed to this episode.

  4. Ricardo

    I am a huge fan of 99pi – this particular episode i’m not too sure about the background music – I can’t seem to take the story seriously because of it. Thanks for sharing

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