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Rodeo announcer Randy Taylor (Cherokee) knows what he’s talking about. He was a bareback rider for nearly 20 years. Forty years ago, the Oklahoma native was the first rider out of the chute at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nev. After a stint in college and then as a chiropractor, Taylor turned to announcing. His voice is now recognizable all over and on his nationally syndicated show, “Word With A Champ“. He just received the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism. He is also a dedicated advocate for Native American youth. Taylor is our December Native in the Spotlight.

 

Break 1 Music: Hooked on an 8 Second Ride (song) Chris LeDoux (artist) Chris LeDoux and The Saddle Boogie Band (album)

Break 2 Music: Hug Room (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:26 — 38.1MB) | Embed

The holiday gift-giving time is when many retailers make a bulk of their annual profit. Several Native entrepreneurs have just opened their doors and are hopeful that this season will propel them forward, despite some indications that shoppers are cautious. Others are veterans of the business world, but are also pinning a lot of hope on the public’s ability to make the most of holiday shopping. We’ll hear from both rookies and long-time Native retailers about what it takes to start and stay in business.

GUESTS

Amy Denet Deal (Diné), founder of 4KINSHIP

Ruth-Ann Thorn (Rincon Band of Luiseño Indians), entrepreneur and owner of Native Star

Jeremy Arviso (Diné, Hopi, Akimel O’odham, and Tohono O’odham), artist, designer, and entrepreneur

 

Break 1 Music: Dat One (song) The Delbert Anderson Trio (artist) MANITOU (album)

Break 2 Music: Hug Room (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:15 — 38.6MB) | Embed

After years of discussions, Taos, N.M. decided to remove Kit Carson’s name from a widely used park in the center of town. Carson’s renown as a Western frontiersman grew from greatly exaggerated tales in pulp novels and newspaper articles. Only later did his violent exploits against Navajos and other tribes emerge. He was among the main figures in the Long Walk, the forced march of 10,000 captive Navajos. More than a third of them died.

In Michigan, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removed a Washington Monument-style obelisk commemorating the construction of shipping locks on Lake Michigan. The obelisk sat atop the remainder of a burial ground. Lock construction destroyed the main part of the sacred area but the Bay Mills Indian Community and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians continue to hold ceremonies there. We’ll talk with tribal advocates about their years-long work to change how their histories are viewed by the public.

GUESTS

Jeremy Lujan (Taos Pueblo), Taos Pueblo tribal secretary

Jesse Winters (Taos Pueblo), Taos Pueblo second sheriff

Dr. Gregorio Gonzales (Comanche and Genizaro), tribal historic preservation officer for the Pueblo of Cochiti

Paula Carrick (Bay Mills Indian Community), tribal historic preservation officer for Bay Mills Indian Community

 

Break 1 Music: Take Your Troubles to the River (song) Vincent Craig (artist) Self-titled Release (album)

Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)

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Paiute and Shoshone tribes in California’s Owens Valley are facing a shortage of water — an issue that spans decades, but is now exacerbated by climate change. The city of Los Angeles, more than 200 miles away, is guzzling one-third of the groundwater in the region. The city’s diversion of water from the valley began in 1913. L.A. drained Owens Lake dry within a decade. The land, once lush with springs and streams, is now a parched landscape that hinders tribes’ access to culture and economic development.

Also, we’ll hear about how a proposed weakening of federal protections for the majority of the country’s wetlands could affect tribes. Tribes manage millions of acres of wetlands. The Trump administration seeks to limit the EPA’s authority on how it regulates pollution under the Clean Water Act. Scaling back those protections has potential consequences for much of the country’s sources of clean drinking water.

GUESTS

Daniel Cordalis (Diné), staff attorney with Native American Rights Fund and leads the Tribal Water Institute

Teri Red Owl (Bishop Paiute), executive director of the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission

 

Break 1 Music: The Four Essential Elements [Diigo Bee’iináanii] (song) Radmilla Cody (artist) K’é Hasin (album)

Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:48 — 38.3MB) | Embed

December is a traditional time for feasts, family, and giving, but the financial and time burdens of the holiday-heavy month, combined with the change of seasons and other factors, also make it a time ripe for breaks in a person’s mental health. We’ll find out how connections — with other people, cultural traditions, or spiritual foundations — can be a way to mitigate the added stresses of December — or any time.

GUESTS

Dr. Pamela End of Horn (Oglala Lakota), national suicide prevention consultant for the Indian Health Service

Kristin Mitchell (Diné), assistant project director for Project AWARE Wildcats (PAWS)

Dr. Jessica Saniguq Ullrich (Nome Eskimo Community and Native Village of Wales), assistant professor at the Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health (IREACH) at Washington State University

 

Break 1 Music: Little Sunflower (song) Chuck Copenace (artist) Oshki Manitou (album)

Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)

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Crow leadership are working toward revamping their tribal citizenship requirements. If their proposal goes through, any currently enrolled tribal citizens would be designated as having 100% Crow blood. The St. Croix Ojibwe Tribe in Wisconsin is seeing their first tribal enrollment gains in years after they got rid of their blood quantum requirement. They are among the tribes looking down the road and mapping a future away from the Indian blood requirement.

GUESTS

Levi Black Eagle (Apsáalooke), secretary of the Crow Tribe

Conrad St. John (St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin), chairman of St. Croix Chippewa Indians of Wisconsin

Jill Doerfler (White Earth Anishinaabe), professor of American Indian Studies at the University of Minnesota-Duluth

Cheyenne Robinson (Omaha), treasurer for the Omaha Tribe of Nebraska

Jonaye Doney (Aaniih), student at the University of Montana

 

Break 1 Music: Intertribal (song) Blackfoot Confederacy (artist) Confederacy Style (album)

Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)

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Cuts in grants and operating funds, federal staff reductions, and department disorganization – and the federal government shutdown – all took a toll on the work done by tribal museums this year. Tribal museums are a source of economic development for many tribes, but more than that they offer an authentic and more comprehensive picture of Native culture and history than their non-Native counterparts. As Tribal Museums Week gets underway, we’ll check in with tribal museums about their work and what they hope to accomplish in the current unpredictable environment for so many cultural institutions.

GUESTS

CC Hovie (Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians), public affairs and communications director for the Association on American Indian Affairs

Janine Ledford (Makah), executive director of the Makah Museum

Selena Ortega Chiolero (Tarahumara), museum specialist for the Chickaloon Village Traditional Council’s Culture and Historic Preservation Department

Stacy Laravie (Ponca), Indigenization director for the National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers

 

Break 1 Music: Conduit of Anguish (song) Geneviève Gros-Louis (artist)

Break 2 Music: She Raised Us (song) Joanne Shenandoah (artist) LifeGivers (album)

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State by state, tribes are staking out a share in the burgeoning online sports betting business. Places like Colorado, California, Wisconsin, and Michigan all have ongoing legal and political disputes involving tribes’ ability to expand casino enterprises into online sports books. We’ll look at how the clash between states, private companies, and tribes are raising complex questions over sovereignty, regulation, and jurisdiction.

GUESTS

Jason Giles (Muscogee), executive director of the Indian Gaming Association

James Siva (Morongo Band of Mission Indians), vice chairman for the Morongo Band of Mission Indians and chairman of California Nations Indian Gaming Association

Gary Pitchlynn (Choctaw), professor of law at the University of Oklahoma

 

Break 1 Music: Rumble [Remastered] (song) Link Wray (artist) Rumble [Remastered] (single)

Break 2 Music: Coffee (song) James Bilagody (artist) Near Midnight (album)

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 55:37 — 38.2MB) | Embed

Nine out of ten people seeking jobs say they have a side hustle — a second or even third job. An Express Employment Professionals-Harris Poll from October 2025 also says a higher percentage of younger job-seekers — Gen Z and Millennials —expect to be able to overlap their side jobs on company time. Money is a major factor – and the Bureau of Labor and Statistics reported this year that more employers are cutting hours. We’ll talk with some of those who are working multiple jobs about the ups and downs of juggling a side hustle.

GUESTS

Mikailah Thompson (Nimiipuu), owner of Beadwork by Mikailah and owner of Indigenous Creatives, LLC

Roberta Begaye (Diné), owner of Bitterwater Galerie

Stephanie Garcia (Santa Domingo, Laguna, and Isleta), owner of Pueblo Creations and Pueblo Collective Enterprise

Roxanne Best (Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation), businessowner and founder of R. Best Life: Yoga and Coaching

 

Break 1 Music: Working for the Man (song) Bluedog (artist) Red, White & Blues (album)

Break 2 Music: Coffee (song) James Bilagody (artist) Near Midnight (album)