Ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted to do two things:
- Join the U.S. Coast Guard. Even though women were not allowed in when I was a kid.
- Be a writer and reporter. Even though I was hopelessly shy.
I accomplished both. Getting into the Coast Guard was easy once they changed the rules. Getting over being shy not so much.
North to my future
I came to Alaska back in 1978 as a young Coast Guard “radioman.” Women in the Guard were fairly new then and they still called us “men.” In fact, the first woman in the Coast Guard to be stationed in Kodiak was still here when I got here.
Me on top of Barometer Mt. during my first month in Alaska, June 1978.
Writing, writing, writing
I knew I had to get over being shy if I was to be a writer. So as a teenager I started subscribing to magazines like “Writer’s Digest” and figured if I learned enough about writing technique and how to interview people I could concentrate on that and pretend I wasn’t shy.
Not easy, but worth it.
Much of my recent reporting has been with KMXT. Feel free to give it a listen.
Alaska Fish Head: Someone who eats, sleeps and breaths commercial fishing
I admit it, I’m a Fish Head.
I loved producing the Alaska Fisheries Report, a weekly program for and about Alaska’s commercial fishing industry. It airs statewide — there are few places in Alaska where fish doesn’t have an important role in the culture, the economy and in the freezer.
From KMXT.org:
Alaska Fisheries Report: Maggie Wall signs off
November 9, 2020 — Usually, the news we report here at KMXT is about the community and not about us.
But we have some news to share with you about KMXT’s Alaska Fisheries Report, which has been Maggie Wall’s labor of love for many years. There are some changes in store for the show.
Listen as reporters reflect on Maggie Wall’s contributions to the Alaska Fisheries Report.
I am honored and humbled to receive so much praise from colleagues around Alaska. Thanks, everyone!”
“When Crab Was King”
“When Crab Was King,” was an oral history project of the Kodiak Maritime Museum. It was a special privileged for me to meet and interview so many of the fishermen and others involved in the historic–and dangerous– King Crab fishery.
