The new KHNS general manager said this week she is "really looking for something different."

Kay Clements of Point Reyes Station, Calif., started into radio by helping launch a station there in 1995. She starts here in January. Clements accepted the job Tuesday, topping 12 other applicants including the station’s founding manager, Debra Schnabel of Haines.

"I really enjoy small communities, and I like knowing the people I live around and with," Clements said. "I’ve been looking at jobs online, knowing that I would like to continue with radio, so I’ve just been exploring some of the options that came up. Haines was really appealing to me, because of the size. The location was a little scary at first, but I can’t imagine any place as beautiful."

Former general manager John Hedrick resigned in August.

Broadcasting board chair Russ Bowman said Clements had impressive experience as the co-founder and station manager of KWMR in California, where she coordinated the daily operations of a seven-person staff and handled grant writing and major gifts responsibilities.

Bowman said there were three finalists for the position. After one candidate pulled out, Clements and Schnabel remained as the final two candidates out of 13. They completed phone and in-person interviews with a hiring committee that included Bowman.

Bowman said Clements will earn $45,000 annually, the peak of the advertised range for the position. Bowman said KHNS had a stronger applicant pool than his previous time serving on a committee to choose its general manager. "Hiring somebody is a very delicate dance," he said.

KWMR claims 100 volunteers and a budget of $430,000..

"I just got connected with this group of people, and we started working together on it," she said. "I’d never done any radio before, but it was a really fun project, just to create something from scratch like that and then have it be a really wonderful little station years down the line. It’s been a really satisfying project."

Clements also hosted two shows, with an emphasis on classic country, folk, honky-tonk and rockabilly tunes. She previously had worked as a Shiatsu therapist, a Japanese style of massage.

Clements spent less than a week in Haines, and said, "The more I talked to people, the more at home I felt."

"I want to get to know exactly how the station operates," she said. "Everybody is doing such a good job, but I understand they’re a little understaffed, so I want to make what changes to alleviate that kind of pressure first, and then really look at the vision, going forward, what we want to do."

Clements, who also has lived in Australia and France, will make the move to Alaska with her Scottish border terrier, Pete.

She is looking for a place to live and said the January weather will be "trial by fire."

Clements is looking to bring stability to KHNS.

"I know that it’s a community radio station and it wants to remain a community radio station, and I have no desire to make it anything else," she said. "It seems to have undergone a lot of changes in the last couple of years, so I’ll just look at what’s the best thing going forward."