Millage Goes Back to School

Long-time news executive Mark Millage is leaving broadcasting to head Kilian Community College in Sioux Falls. Millage has been with the KELO-land stations, based in Sioux Falls, for some 25 years, most of them as News Director.

KELO-TV is the flagship station for a network of transmitters that cover most of South Dakota. Millage was tapped from among more than 40 applicants to become President of the two-year school.

I don’t know a lot about Kilian Community College – or Mark Millage – but they both have good reputations. According to the news release posted by the college, the school was formed as a “joint venture” by Augustana College and two other institutions that used to be known as Sioux Falls College and the North American Baptist Seminary.

I met Tom Kilian in the 1980s when I was with South Dakota Public Broadcasting. He’s the long-time South Dakota educator for whom the institution is named. He is a class act.

Good luck to Mark Millage and Kilian Community College.

Roy Jorgensen (1918-2008)

We were saddened this morning (3/26/08) to learn that good friend Roy Jorgensen of Vermillion, South Dakota died on Easter Sunday in Sioux Falls. He was 89.

Among the first to welcome Karen and me to Vermillion when we moved there in 1985 were Roy and Helen Jorgensen. Roy was an engineer for South Dakota Public Broadcasting in Vermillion, where he was pretty much in charge of technical operations for KUSD Radio. He had been with SDPB since the 1960s.

Already in his late 60s when I first came to know him, Roy was an avid ham radio operator (WØMMQ), and he introduced me to “packet radio.” I was amazed at his insatiable curiosity about things and his willingness to try something new. The conversion into digital electronics was a joy for Roy.

Roy and I also worked together on Lion’s projects, so it was a special delight to see him and Helen when Karen and I made an unexpected side trip to Vermillion two years ago. Good friends Vern and Joan Holter had invited us to join them at the Lion’s Pancake Supper, and among the folks we were able to see and visit with again were Roy and Helen. It was sheer delight!

We were also pleasantly surprised to learn, when we moved to the Black Hills, that Roy and Helen’s daughter and son-in-law, Ann and Ken Froelich, also lived in Spearfish.

Roy was born and raised in Yankton. And as I read through his obituary, I thought of how very much Roy Jorgensen typified the ex-GI’s that fellow broadcaster Tom Brokaw -- also also from Yankton -- wrote about in his book The Greatest Generation.

A World War II veteran who saw Signal Corps service in New Guinea, Roy repaired aircraft radios and other equipment as planes returned from combat missions. After the war, he came home, got on with his life, raised a family, and became an active member of his community – helping so many others along the way.

In amateur radio parlance, Roy is now a “Silent Key.” Throughout his life, he conveyed kindness and helpfulness to all – not just in his messages, but in his actions.

73 old friend.

Spearfish may get public station

(Originally posted February 28, 2008)

It won’t be happening anytime soon, but a full-service South Dakota Public Broadcasting FM radio station is being planned for the northern Black Hills. It would be located in Spearfish.

The Federal Communications Commission has granted a permit to SDPB for construction of a 6,000-watt radio station that would replace the low power FM translators that serve Belle Fourche (91.9 Mhz) and Spearfish (91.1 Mhz). The new station will operate at 91.9 Mhz.

This is great news for those of us who often have to resort to the Wyoming Public Radio station at Sundance for a reliable signal. It’s difficult to hear the two translators outside the city limits of Belle Fourche and Spearfish. And the terrain of the northern Black Hills doesn’t allow a good signal from either Rapid City or Faith, the two nearest SDPB full-service stations.

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The transmitter for the Spearfish station will be located at an existing tower site in north Spearfish. You may click on the map at left to see a larger image of the planned coverage area. Programming will duplicate KUSD-FM, the SDPB flagship station at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion.

The construction permit was granted on January 17, 2008 and is valid for three years. It will likely be toward the end of that three-year period before the station is operational.

South Dakota Public Broadcasting operates a statewide network of radio (NPR) and television (PBS) stations.

Remembering Russ

(Originally posted February 15, 2008)

We lost a friend a few weeks ago.

Russ Bailey passed away January 27th at the United Retirement Center in Brookings, South Dakota. He was 77 years old. Our condolences go out to the entire Bailey family.

Many South Dakotans will remember Russ from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s as an on-air spokesman for South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

A native of Beverly, Massachusetts, he and his wife Marge were married in 1955. A career Air Force officer, Russ had assignments throughout the United States, Japan and Germany. After he retired as a Major, and they made their home in South Dakota, Russ became a key player in helping organize the Friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting. He remained affiliated with Friends for some 20 years.

It was my good fortune to work with Russ during some of those years. He was an honest, no-nonsense fellow with a heart of gold. He spoke his mind and had the courage of his convictions. He was highly regarded by his many friends and colleagues throughout public broadcasting.

His obituary touched upon his varied career and the many activities for which he volunteered. Russ Bailey made the world a better place, and we’re all richer for having known him.

Kudos to KBHB Radio

(Originally posted on July 8, 2007)

Extremely dry conditions in the southern Black Hills, coupled with hot temperatures and gusty winds, are hampering firefighters trying to subdue the “Alabaugh Fire” about five miles southwest of Hot Springs.

We’re saddened to learn that one person has been killed and two firefighters injured in incidents related to this fire. News reports say 27 homes have been destroyed by the wildfire, apparently started by lightning in Alabaugh Canyon.

We first learned of the fire Saturday night (July 7th) in Crawford, Nebraska, where we heard a public service radio dispatcher announce an appeal for assistance in fighting a wildfire in Fall River County South Dakota.

Sunday afternoon, as we drove north from Crawford, Nebraska to Spearfish, South Dakota, I listened up and down the radio dial seeking information about the fire.

I first tried the Hot Springs AM radio station at 580 on the dial. I heard nothing but country music. Switching to KOTA in Rapid City, I heard the CBS network news at both 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m., leading their newscasts with information about massive wilfires in the western states, including South Dakota. They reported the death related to the fire near Hot Springs, but there was little detail. We heard no local follow-up on KOTA following the network news. Admittedly, I was hop-scotching across the dial -- hoping to hear something, and I may well have missed coverage by stations. But I doubt it. I was trying all afternoon, but with little success.

At 4:00 p.m., an ABC network news report over KBHB Sturgis told about the evacuation of homes in the Hot Springs area, along with an excerpt from a fire official with a few details. Following the network news, KBHB’s Gary Matthews provided the only substantive local information we could find about the fire. It included more depth and greater detail than contained in the ABC network report. And it was the ONLY local radio report about the fire that we could locate on our car radio.

Our hats off to KBHB in Sturgis for providing these reports (we heard subsequent updates) and for caring enough to provide news and information that affect residents of the Black Hills region.

I know the story was picked up by the Associated Press, and KOTA-TV, the KELOland stations, and others have undoubtedly carried the story, since there is evidence on their web sites that their stations have broadcast the story.

But Sunday afternoon, some 18 hours after the fire was first reported, radio listeners in western South Dakota were hard pressed to find ANY information about the incident.

Alas, lots of radio stations are largely automated, especially on weekends, playing music fed to them via satellite. They provide little, if any, local and regional news reports. We know of at least one Black Hills radio station whose newscasts rely on newspaper clippings – often from yesterday’s edition!!

It is sad that so many radio stations offer so little original news reporting.

Kudos to KBHB and Gary Matthews for recognizing that local news and public affairs reporting is a key ingredient in providing real service to their listeners – not just canned music and network programs.