Morning talk show ‘Good Morning Indian Country’ to focus on local and national Native issues

photo by: Lawrence Arts Center

The morning talk show "Good Morning Indian Country" will have its debut show March 2, 2022.

The idea for a morning talk show that centers on the Native American community came to powwow organizer and dancer Freddy Gipp in the early days of the pandemic, when many were stuck at home and isolated.

Now, about two years later, “Good Morning Indian Country,” a weekly morning talk show streamed live from the main stage at the Lawrence Arts Center, is about to make its debut. The six-episode pilot will feature news, performances and interviews that raise awareness about what is impacting Indigenous communities across the country and serve as the “morning radio for the reservation,” according to the program website.

Gipp said he got the idea for the show at the beginning of the pandemic, when powwows were canceled and that opportunity for people to gather was cut off. Gipp said Ruben Littlehead Sr., a well-known powwow MC, started doing Facebook broadcasts in the morning as he started his day and went through the news, and that a lot of people were tuning in.

“He was just making coffee, looking at his feed, talking to people, giving shout-outs, but because he’s so good at what he does people really appreciated that,” Gipp said. “And so for me it clicked, I was like, why not have something like this continuously?”

Gipp said he talked to Littlehead — who went to Haskell Indian Nations University and has been the MC at one of the country’s biggest powwows, Gathering of Nations — about hosting the morning show, and then pitched the idea to the Lawrence Arts Center. The show has since received support from Humanities Kansas, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Douglas County Natural and Cultural Heritage Grant Program, according to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of performing arts for the Arts Center.

Gipp, the show’s artistic director and creator, said the show will focus on Native issues, both local and national, and that Littlehead will host guests in the areas of health, education and business. He said the show will also include weather reports, powwow updates and other happenings.

Gipp, who grew up in Lawrence, said that in addition to highlighting stories that would otherwise go unnoticed, the overall goal of the show is to develop educational opportunities for Native American students in journalism, production and content curation. Because Lawrence is the home of Haskell Indian Nations University, Gipp said the city is in a unique position with its concentration of diverse tribes.

“Our goal, our vision is to really just try to build this opportunity up for others,” Gipp said.

Melissa Greene-Blye, assistant professor at the University of Kansas School of Journalism, will also be involved with the project, and the show will be assisted by five interns, according to the program website. Gipp said the show was a collective effort among institutions, and that interns included both KU and Haskell students.

The first two guests scheduled for the show are Jordyn Gunville and Chago Hale. Gunville, of the Cheyenne River Nation, works in community health, and Hale is the gaming commissioner for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.

In addition to support for the pilot, Gipp said the show has already received another grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to help support a fall season, and he hoped the show would be able to become permanent in the future. The pilot season of the show will begin Wednesday.

“Good Morning Indian Country” will run from 9 to 10:30 a.m. every Wednesday from March 2 through April 13. The show will be streamed lived from the Arts Center, and a link to listen to the show is available on the Art Center’s website, lawrenceartscenter.org.