Deadwood's Sheldon Jacobs was a broadcaster...and more!

Sheldon Jacobs

Sheldon Jacobs, who played football and ran track at Deadwood (SD) High School in the 1940's before pursuing a career that brought him considerable success in broadcasting, finance, and publishing, has died (3/20/15).

His obituary was published this morning (3/25/15) by the Whitney & Murphy Funeral Home in Phoenix, Arizona, which is handling funeral arrangements.

Long-time Lawrence County resident Hank Frawley said the Jacobs family had lived in Deadwood for several generations.  Jacobs’ grandfather, Sidney, was a successful local businessman in Deadwood.  The Jacobs family would eventually operate numerous retail stores in the northern Black Hills and in Rapid City.

“It was Sidney Jacobs who advised my grandfather, Henry Frawley, to send my dad and uncle to school at Notre Dame,” said Frawley, who well remembers the Jacobs family.

After attending the University of South Dakota in Vermillion for one year, Sheldon Jacobs transferred to the University of Nebraska, picking up a degree in Business.  Then it was off for a stint with the Army during the Korean War.  He used his G.I. Bill benefits to learn to fly while also earning a Master’s degree in statistics and retailing from New York University.

In July 1973, after Jacobs and his brother, Doran, chose not to return to Deadwood to run five area clothing stores owned by their parents, the Wall Street Journal featured the parents, Bert and Ruth Jacobs, in a front page story.

Sheldon Jacobs went to work in the research department at the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in 1961 and was later associated with the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), where he headed a division involved in analyzing viewership and developing sales strategies.

According to his obituary, published by the Whitney & Murphy Funeral Home in Phoenix, Jacobs published his first book in 1974.  The publication, “Put Money in Your Pocket,” launched his career as publisher of a long-running investment newsletter, “The No-Load Fund Investor.”  He also appeared on the NBC “Today” show to discuss his book. Jacobs' investment newsletters were highly popular for decades.

His obituary also noted that Jacobs was included “on a Sunday Morning edition of the Wall Street Journal Report “that featured three men who had been success in their second careers.”  The other two were Ray Kroc of McDonalds Restaurants fame and Colonel Harland Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Jacobs and his wife Bette’ lived in both Arizona and New York.  His strong work ethic was reflected in the fact that the day before his death – at age 84 – he gave a speech in Minneapolis to an investment club.

Jacobs will return “home” to be buried at Mount Moriah Cemetery in Deadwood.

To read the entire Sheldon Jacobs obituary, visit the Whitney& Murphy Funeral Home website.

Broadcaster Ray David passes away in North Dakota

Ray David (1925-2014)

Ray David has died.  The 88-year-old combat veteran of World War II passed away last Tuesday (9/30/14) in Minot, North Dakota, where he had been living in recent months as his health declined.

Many residents of Wyoming, Nebraska and the Dakotas will remember the tall and handsome Ray David and his beautiful wife, Shirley.  In Nebraska,  Ray first arrived in Chadron to take over as manager of the old Pace Theatre (now The Eagle) in the mid-1950's.  Most of his professional years were spent in North Dakota.

Although his years in Nebraska were few, Ray David went on to a successful career in broadcasting and politics.  But what’s really remarkable is how this humble but creative kid, born into an impoverished Kansas farm family  and raised in the Oklahoma panhandle and western Colorado, would pursue life with a passion and fight his way to success.

Dropping out of school after the 8th grade, Ray worked at a variety of jobs in Oklahoma and Colorado, before taking off to California and a short stint as a machinist’s helper in the Mare Island Shipyard at age 16.   By then, World War II was in full swing, and Mare Island was abuzz with ship construction and repairs.  Alas, California law required a waiver from Ray’s parents in order for him to maintain his job – but since his parents lived in Colorado, they could not sign the waiver.

But they could and did later sign a letter approving his underage entry into the Army Air Corps, where he could serve his country and be close to one of his loves – aviation.  But the Army, being the Army, had other ideas, and he ended up in the infantry and was part of the D-Day invasion of coastal France in June 1944.

 

Most remarkable about his story is the fact that Ray David – wounded both in France on D-Day and six months later at the Battle of the Bulge – could later be so candid about the anguish of losing friends and his own struggles while battling the demons of war,

Many years later, Ray wrote about the war-time experience of meeting up with his old buddy Jack Harp while on sentry duty in the heavily wooded hills on the eastern edge of the Ardennes Forest.

Ray David (right) with a World War II buddy.

“The enemy was on top of us before we knew what was going on.  Jack alerted his Company Headquarters on the field phone.  When all the heavy fire power started coming in, Jack was hit in the shoulder and chest.  In agony and pain he jumped up to get back to the medic at his CQ.  He was hit by shrapnel from a phosphate shell; it hit him in the right side of his face and neck,  The burn and wound had to have been excruciating.  Poor Jack tore my field jacket from my shoulder, as I held him trying to apply sulfur power in his wounds and give him a shot of morphine from his medical kit.  All the while he screamed for help from his mother, God, and the medics.  Within a few minutes, he was gone.  I was stunned, absolutely stunned.  I had witnessed other similar situations, but Jack was like a brother.

The next few days were a blank.  I don’t believe anyone can fully grasp the horror and the awful feeling, without actually being in the midst of fear, confusion and the loss of mental focus as the screams, moans and begging for help fill the air leaving an indelible scar on your memory.”

Although he survived the war, Ray David's personal life was turned upside down. His wartime  experiences and traumas resulted in electric shock and insulin treatments and “Ice Baths.” Ray’s candor and honesty as he wrote about these incidents in later years is truly moving.

But he pieced his life together into a successful career.  His years with the Black Hills Amusement Company led to a variety of jobs in Rapid City, Newcastle, Hot Springs, and Chadron, where he managed the Pace Theatre and the Starlite Drive-in.  During these years, he married Shirley Wilcox of Hot Springs.

Vehicle for promoting the Starlite Drive-in

  

In Chadron during the mid-to-late 1950's, Ray became extremely active in promoting the community, helping re-arrange the 9-hole golf course at the Country Club, raising money for the college, and volunteering to do promotional work for the International Parks Highway 385-85.   A few folks may remember Ray sitting atop a 50-foot pole for 11 days to raise money for a new wing at the old Chadron Memorial Hospital.

But his many successes led Ray David away from Chadron to Williston, North Dakota, where he went to work for the Chamber of Commerce for a while.  Then he started a 16-year-career in broadcasting with KEYZ in Williston, which led to ownership of stations in Dickinson as well.  He would later serve on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Broadcasters.  His broadcast ownership allowed him to expand the scope and depth of community promotion. 

Despite his lack of a formal education, Ray also served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of North Dakota-Willison, where he taught Public Speaking and Public Relations.  He served two productive terms as a State Senator in the North Dakota Legislature. 

We had the pleasure of getting reacquainted with Ray David in recent years, exchanging e-mails and sharing stories about broadcasting and Chadron in sometimes rather lengthy telephone calls.  His was a truly remarkable life.

Remembering Susan Farmer

Susan Farmer was one of the few people I’ve known who could simultaneously project a sense of shrewdness, great wit, and understanding.  She was attractive, bright, and articulate.  She was tenacious…and she had a wonderful sense of humor.

Susan was a public broadcasting colleague.  From the late 1980’s until 2004, she was president of WSBE-TV in Providence, Rhode Island.  She died one month ago – on Monday, September 16, following a long battle with cancer.  She was 71.

Like many who knew her, my initial and abiding reaction to the news of her death was one of loss – even though it’s been years since I talked or corresponded with Susan.  So I’m left to revel in the memories of some good times we shared over the years.  From a Corporation for Public Broadcasting leadership workshop where we first got to know each another – to the many years we worked together within OSBE, the Organization of State Broadcast Executives.

OSBE is comprised of public broadcasting executives from some 25 states that are each served by a statewide network of public broadcasting outlets.  Many are in the wide open spaces, like Wyoming, Nebraska, the Dakotas, and Oklahoma.  But a single station, WSBE-TV in Providence, dominates the entire – if diminutive – state.   And so it was at OSBE that I got to know Susan.

Did I say she was shrewd?  Witty?  Articulate?

Absolutely.  But most of the memories I carry of Susan are of a dedicated professional with a mischievous smile and an infectious sense of humor. 

A pair of scissors and Jack McBride’s necktie were key ingredients for a bit of legendary laughter at several of our OSBE meetings.  And I still chuckle when I recall one starlit night in Virginia when Susan and I, along with Rod Bates and a small cadre of other OSBE golfers, rushed to finish our game before dark….unsuccessfully.  

Our laughter in the darkness left little possibility of ever actually hearing where our golf shots were landing.  We couldn’t see.  But we could laugh…..and we did.

Susan Farmer was passionate about her work.   Rhode Islanders identify her as the one person who saved Rhode Island public television in the early 1990’s when funding for the network had been yanked.

She was a joy to know and work with.  I think you’ll understand why, if you take a few moments to sort through portions of this online tribute to Susan Farmer:  If You Knew Susie.

Some of her colleagues shared their thoughts and memories of Susan in the following excerpt from the WSBE-TV program A Lively Experiment (below), which Susan had created many years ago.   It's a fitting tribute to a classy lady.

Charles Rook retires from a career in broadcasting

Ex-Chadronite reflects on excellent broadcasting career

By CON MARSHALL

Charley Rook says he was “very, very lucky” during his career as a radio and television news director and anchorman.  But he also credits his upbringing in Chadron with helping him make the most of the opportunities that were afforded to him.

                Rook is a 1954 graduate of Chadron Prep.  He was back “home” during Fur Trade Days in July, renewing acquaintances with friends and also taking stock of the town that he said he’s come to appreciate more and more while working and living in much larger cities.

                “A lot can be said for growing up in a place like Chadron,” Rook said while sipping on iced tea at the Country Kitchen. “This is a place where God and Country are important, where honesty and fairness are appreciated and where a strong work ethic is learned and carried out.  I tried to live by those values because I really never knew any other way.”

                Charley and his brother Johnny were born in Ohio, but their family moved to Chadron when they were in junior high. Their father, Gordon, was a Chadron native who was a diesel locomotive-electrician for the Chicago and North Western Railroad.  Their mother, Della, was a native of Kentucky. Johnny graduated from Prep in 1955, one year after Charley.

                Charley notes that he wasn’t a good enough basketball player to get much playing time on any of the three Class C state championship teams that Archie Conn coached during the 1950s, but he liked football and believes he received all-Northwest Nebraska Conference honors as an end on the Junior Eagles’ football team his senior year. 

                Both brothers made it big in broadcasting—Johnny in radio while Charley switched to television and was an anchorman at major stations in both Chicago and Los Angeles before spending 20 years at a station in Spokane-Coeur d' Alene, where he is now retired.

Early in their careers, both worked at KOBH Radio in Hot Springs where they “did about everything.”  While Charley made his mark as a radio and TV news anchor, Johnny had a knack for picking hot tunes before they were hits and he became a renowned radio programmer and station consultant.  Wikipedia has three pages on Johnny’s career. He lives in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho, only about 20 miles from Spokane. (See separate story).

                Charley has no regrets about how things turned out for him, and while he was being  interviewed, mentioned two things that he feels helped put him on the  road to success.

                One, he said, was at the District 6 Declamatory and One-Act Play Contest that Chadron State College hosted when he was a junior at Chadron Prep.  The competition included radio newscasting and Charley won first place, sparking his interest in broadcasting and boosting his confidence. 

                The second was being able to work for his uncle Claude (Bud) Rook, the founder and owner of ABC Electric in Chadron during the summers and at other times when an extra helper was needed.

                “I’m sure there are some people in Chadron who remember him,” Charley said. “He was a good mentor for me. He was a taskmaster who had that work ethic which I so much admire to this day. Bud also believed if you worked harder than the competition  you could succeed in America, the greatest country the world has ever seen.

“Quite a bit of this rubbed off on me and I still believe it, even though things about this country have really changed over the years and in my estimation, not always for the better.  The nanny state and political correctness come to mind."

                Charley said some of “Uncle Bud’s training” helped him excel while he spent four years in the Navy immediately after graduating from Prep.  First of all, because of his experience as an electrician in the ABC Electric shop, Charley became a shipboard electrician on destroyer escorts in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. By the time he was discharged, he had an E-6 rating, something few sailors accomplish during a four-year hitch.

                “I made E-6 because I studied hard for the tests that we took.  I was told that if I stayed in the Navy I could probably become an officer. It was tempting, but I decided if I could do well in the Navy, I could probably also do well in the outside world so I got out.”

                After his discharge, Charley enrolled at Chadron State College in the fall of 1958, but stayed just one semester and part of the spring term. Johnny was working at KOBH and the Hot Springs station needed a weekend announcer.  Charley took the job and was soon hooked on radio broadcasting.

                Since the name Johnny Rook was already well-known to KOBH listeners when Charley went to work there, it was decided he should use a different last name.  Thus during the rest of his career—nearly 50 years—he was Charles Rowe to his listeners and viewers.   

                After only a few months at KOBH, he accepted a radio position  in Cheyenne. He said he definitely got lots of experience there.  He put the station on the air in the mornings, was often still there to give the noon news and then spent the afternoons selling spots, or ads.

                His stint in Cheyenne was cut short when some "high rollers" from San Francisco hired him to help build and set up programming for four new Northwest radio stations in Boise, Idaho, and Salem, Eugene and Medford, Ore.

                His next stop, still in the early-1960s, was at KYMN, a 50,000-watt station in Portland, Ore., where he was strictly a newsman. He was there a couple of years and enjoyed his work but realized television people were making more money.

                    Rook took a chance and in 1966 accepted a newscaster job at a tiny TV station in Coos Bay, Ore.  Within six months, he was promoted to the company's flagship station in Eugene as news director and anchor.

                Then just a few months later in 1967, he received a big break in his career.  He was offered a news anchor and capitol correspondent position at KXTV in Sacramento. That was shortly after Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California.

 

“It was my pleasure to interview him three times in the two years I was at that station,” Charlie said. “He was great to interview and I was one of his admirers long before he became president.”

           Charley said he was not planning to leave Sacramento, but he went to Chicago in 1969 to visit his brother and his mother, who had moved with Johnny to the Windy City.

                “By then, Johnny was programming WLS Radio, a top Chicago station, and really making a name for himself.  While I was there, he lined up an interview for me with WLS-TV, which was owned by ABC. They offered me the job of anchoring their first-ever weekend newscast and filling in for their weekday anchors.  The pay was very good, so I left Sacramento and moved to Chicago.”

                Charley remained at WLS-TV for four years.  During two of those years, he also wrote and delivered three newscasts a day for the ABC radio network nationwide.

                One of his most memorable experiences in Chicago was working in the same office area as Paul Harvey, one of the nation’s preeminent newscasters for nearly five decades.

                “He would sometimes walk by my glass door, see me inside, open it and say ‘Hi Charles’ as he was leaving from work. 

“Sometimes, I’d go down the hall and watch him do his newscasts. He had the darnedest system. He had papers scattered all over his desk and would randomly pick one up and read it with that great voice of his. I never could figure out how he decided which story to use next.  It never seemed that he had the stories in any kind of an order, but it worked for him.”

                Charley said he was “never enamored” with Chicago, calling it “a corrupt city that’s still that way.” So when his contract ended he moved to KTTV, a major independent station in Los Angeles, and soon became its sole news anchor. KTTV is now owned by FOX.

                “I was there for eight years and had a great time,” he said. “I guess this was the ‘biggest job’ I ever had when it came to audience size.  But after a while, I began dreaming about having my own radio station, so in 1980 I moved again.  While in LA, I worked hard to obtain a permit to put a new FM station on the air in Lincoln City/Newport, Ore., right on the coast.

                “Building and managing the station was probably the most fun thing I have ever done and we put a superior product on the air. We won more than a dozen Associated Press statewide awards and a couple of national awards for our news coverage.  But I realized while I was having great fun, I wasn't making much money.   So I sold it and began looking for a television news position in the Northwest.”

                Charley didn’t get much time off after selling the station.  Within a few weeks he was hired as an anchor at KREM-TV in Spokane, Wash., and spent the last 20 years of his career there.

                “Our ratings were top notch and I enjoyed the staff at the station, even though I had a constant battle with some of the activist-liberals in the newsroom to make sure we were telling both sides of the story. Maybe that's why the 5 p.m. news at KREM, which I co-anchored for the full 20-years, was constantly number one. I finally retired when I reached 72 and that was five years ago.

                “I had a good career and I don’t have any complaints. I always enjoyed preparing myself for the job on a daily basis and then getting it done.” he added.

                He remains in Spokane after retiring and calls himself “a neighborhood volunteer" who is heavy into the Tea Party, Heritage Foundation and the National Rifle Association.

                He said he’s dismayed that the national media is so biased to the left and he tries to do what he can to maintain and promote the conservative viewpoint.

                Along the same lines, he said he greatly enjoyed his visit to Chadron and the chance to meet up with a number of his high school friends again.  Most of them, he noted, seem to be holding on to what he describes as “this country’s traditional values of honesty and hard work.”

(Thanks to good friend Con Marshall for sharing this story, originally written for the Chadron (Nebr) Record)

Remembering the tenacious Helen Thomas….and KLRN-TV

The death earlier today (7/20/13) of veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas at age 92 caused me to reflect a bit on her remarkable career.  And especially her tenacity, something I had asked her about some 40 years ago when she visited KLRN-TV in Austin/San Antonio.  I was News Director at the station, and she was in the studio for to be interviewed on our Newsroom 9 newscast.  

I don't remember why she was had come to Austin, but between the allure of the Johnson family name and the robust political activity that seemed to emanate and swirl around the University of Texas campus, we often had lots of media folks visit us.  Former NBC newsman Ron Nessen, who'd taken the job as Press Secretary for President Gerald Ford, was also in town at about that same time.  Lots of media figures came and went.

Helen Thomas in her earlier days

Helen Thomas, who worked for United Press International (UPI) for 57 years,  chalked up many firsts in her career.  She worked her way up to manage the UPI Washington bureau -- the first woman to hold the job.  She was the first female member of the "good ol' boy" Gridiron Club, and she also was the first woman to serve as president of the White House Correspondents' Association.

I asked her if her colleagues in Washington thought she was a bit aggressive…..perhaps too pushy, when interviewing folks.

"If I were a man, they'd just say I was tenacious," she retorted.

Of course, she was exactly right, and I've never forgotten her response.

Born in Kentucky and raised in Detroit, Helen Thomas apparently caught the journalism bug in high school and went on to graduate from Wayne University there before moving to Washington, D.C. to seek her fortune.  In 1943 she took a job as a copy girl with a local paper, but soon thereafter joined UPI as a reporter.  She ended up covering 10 different presidents over some five decades.   She died this morning in her Washington apartment.  Interestingly, the funeral for Helen Thomas is planned for Detroit, which seems itself to be on an economic deathbed, having declared bankruptcy last Thursday.

As I pondered the Helen Thomas interview, it brought back memories about KLRN-TV and KUT-FM radio.  Back in those days, KLRN-TV served both Austin and San Antonio.  It was a owned by a nonprofit corporation (Southwest Texas Educational Television Council), while the radio station, KUT-FM, was licensed to the University of Texas.

In the mid-1970's, when we unveiled our new weekly KLRN-TV public affairs program called This Week, the late Bob Schenkkan,  who was our General Manager, sought feedback about the program from his friend, Texas native Bill Moyers.  Moyers had already made a name for himself in politics and journalism and was well entrenched at WNET in New York.   Bob had sent Moyers a videocassette of the program, and Moyers responded by saying "I looked at THIS WEEK and liked it.  It's a good concept.  With the right budget for film, it could be the format for an exciting an informative weekly program."

Alas our film budget never increased.  Portable videotape was emerging in local markets, and our slender budget was incapable of making the capital outlay it required.  This Week, which had been a subject of some ridicule because its name wasn't deemed terribly original, didn't last long.

But go tell that to ABC News.  Within a few years after the demise of our local This Week program, ABC latched on to it and has been running with that title for more than three decades.

As I rummaged through other notes from the KLRN years, I also happened across an article and photo about a panel show I moderated with members of the Commission on Critical Choices for Americans --  another political group that found Austin an attractive gathering place.  They were in town to talk about "Man's Nature and Institutions." Panelists included Harvard Professor James Q. Wilson, Dr. Irving Kristol, editor of The Public Interest magazine, University of Northern Illinois professor Martin Diamond, and UCLA professor Dr. Thomas Sowell.

Sowell, Diamond, Miller, Wilson and Kristol are shown above in the KLRN-TV studio (May 1974).  Diamond, Wilson and Kristol are all deceased, but Sowell and Miller are still with us.  Thomas Sowell remains vitally active as a syndicated newspaper columnist.  Miller, when not in front of his computer, regularly reads Sowell's columns in the Rapid City Journal before crawling atop his Trek for a bike ride along Spearfish Creek in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Friend and veteran broadcaster Jack Miller dies at 79

Note:  We lost a good friend recently.  Unfortunately, we neglected promptly posting his obituary.  This posting corrects that oversight.  Earlier stories on this site told a bit about Jack and his achievements at KCSR in Chadron, Nebraska and KCOL in Fort Collins, Colorado.  Now, we offer Jack's obituary as it appeared in numerous publications.

John  J. "Jack" Miller

John “Jack” Joseph Miller, 79, of Fort Collins, Colo. passed away April 14, 2013, at his home with his family by his side.

Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. April 17 at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fort Collins with full military honors. Interment will be held later at Roselawn Cemetery.

Jack was born in Randolph on Dec. 6, 1933, to Steven and Genevieve (Abts) Miller. He graduated from Norfolk High School in in 1951 and served in the U.S. Navy as a radarman for nearly four years.

Jack started his career in radio broadcast as a salesman for WJAG Radio in Norfolk in 1956 and was promoted as general manager for KCSR Radio in Chadron in 1959. From there, he was vice president and general manager of KCOL AM/FM Radio in Fort Collins. Once KCOL was sold, Jack became a business development manager for KUAD-FM in Windsor, Colo. and continued to work in the radio broadcast industry until he retired in 2003.

He was a past commander of the American Legion in Norfolk; past president of the Rotary Club in Chadron; served on the Board of Directors for the Community Hospital in Chadron; and was president of the Board of Education for Assumption Academy.

Church was always an important part of Jack's life, keeping active at St. Patrick's Church in Chadron and St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fort Collins. He served on St. Joseph's Parish Council and was an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion for many years. Jack was a member of the Knights of Columbus; served on the Board and was past president of the Fort Collins United Way; was active in and assumed leadership positions with the Fort Collins Rotary Club; past president of the Colorado Broadcasters Association; participated in Larimer County Extension Services and the Northern Colorado Better Business Bureau; part of B.P.O. Elks #804; past president and on the board for the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce; and was a well-known member of the Chamber's Red Carpet Committee for many years.

Jack loved woodworking and enjoyed spending time outside in his yard. He was an avid fisherman and received a Master Angler Award.

In 1955, Jack married Constance Palecek in Norfolk and they were blessed with eight children.

Survivors include: his wife, Constance; twin brother and sister Jim Miller and Jeanie (Miller) Sellars of Norfolk; brother Michael Miller of Cushing, Okla.; sister-in-law Liz (Abler) Miller of Norfolk; children Steve (Vicki) Miller, Colo., Julie (Paul) Anderson, Wisc,., Michelene Miller, Colo., Mark (Kristin) Miller, Colo., Jacque Miller, Colo., Kelley (Steve) Spight, Colo., Susan Miller, Colo. and Alison (Max) Rodriguez, Colo.; 15 grandchildren; and five great grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents, and nephew Dick Miller.

Condolences may be shared at www.goesfuneralcare.com. Memorials may be made to St. Joseph's School in care of Goes Funeral Care.

Dean Herbst (1923-2012)

We belatedly learned last week about the passing of Dean Herbst in Austin, Texas.   She was 88 years old.

While I didn’t know Dean well, I worked for her husband, Harvey, at KLRN-TV/KUT-FM in Austin back in the 1970’s.  I knew that she had spent time working overseas as a young woman, but I had no idea just how varied and remarkable her career was until I read her obituary.

Born in Houston, Dean Finley grew up in Austin and graduated with a degree in Journalism from the University of Texas in 1944.  She moved to New York City and worked in the publicity department of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 

After her father died in 1946, she returned to Texas and went to work for the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.  But the position “of her dreams” was offered to her in 1951 when she took an assignment with the State Department as an Assistant Information Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan.

According to her obituary, Dean was the only ranking woman in the Kabul diplomatic corps.  “She established a school and library for women.  At the request of the Queen of Afghanistan, she offered an informal seminar for wives of Afghan diplomats who were going to serve in foreign embassies.“

By 1955, Dean had returned to the American-Statesman and renewed her acquaintance with Harvey Herbst, who worked for one of the local television stations.  They were married in August 1955 and had two children: Frederick Lawrence and Marian Alice.  As a stay-at-home mom, she wrote a novel entitled “Flight to Afghanistan."  She became deeply involved with the Theta Sigma Phi women’s honorary journalism fraternity and played a key role in establishing Women in Communication.

Dean Herbst conducted investigative research into Texas medical education as requested by the Texas Legislature.  She was later tapped to serve as Assistant Commissioner for Health Affairs for the Texas Coordinating Board of Higher Education and held that job until her retirement.

 

You’ll find more about this remarkable woman -- including some fascinating stories about her adventures as a journalist, a mother, and administrator -- on our Black Hills Monitor web site.

Our condolences to Harvey and the entire Herbst family.  Dean was quite a lady.

South Dakota and Public Broadcasting lose a leader

South Dakota has lost one of its outstanding citizens.

Charles "Eddie" Clay of Hot Springs passed away on the morning of October 4, 2012 at the Rapid City Regional Hospital after suffering a stroke.  He was 90 years old.

And most of those 90 years were dedicated to his family, his country, and his community.

It's sad to see the passing of such a remarkable person, and our heartfelt sympathy goes out to his wife, Clara, his daughter, Bobbi, and the entire Clay family.

We came to know Eddie through public broadcasting, which he championed in South Dakota for more than three decades.  He was president of the Friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting for 10 years, followed by a remarkable 18 years as Chairman of the Board of Directors for SDPB.  Those were years of great development and expansion for SDPB, which during Eddie's tenure became a truly statewide public broadcasting service.  Not surprisingly, Eddie's daughter -- Bobbi Kennedy -- has realized her own successful career in public broadcasting as an executive with South Carolina Educational Television.

Born in Missouri and raised in Iowa, Eddie served with the 8th Air Force in the Pacific during World War II.  Another assignment to Ellsworth Air Force Base allowed him to meet and later marry Clara May Hagen.  Eddie was also called up and served during the Korean War.

Eddie and Clara owned and operated Fall River Abstract in Hot Springs for more than 43 years.  He was devoted to Clara and Bobbi and his grandchildren.

Our sorrow at Eddie's passing  should be quickly tempered by celebration of his numerous and enormous accomplishments during his time on this earth. He was a champion for a wide array of community activities.  The list of his many causes is far too long to enumerate here -- and so we mention only a few.   They each elicited deep passion and commitment from Eddie.  He was not a half-way kind of fellow.  

We wrote the following when Eddie was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in 2007:

"A tireless worker in civic affairs, Eddie has provided vision and leadership to the Mount Rushmore Society, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, the Mammoth Site at Hot Springs, and numerous other organizations.

His service in the legislature and on Boards of Directors for many educational, tourism and arts organizations has been remarkable. A Mason for 50 years, Eddie Clay has been a role model for me and many South Dakotans. In addition to daughter Bobbi, the Clays have four grandchildren and four great children."

Eddie also served on the powerful Appropriations Committee in the South Dakota House of Representatives from 1967 to 1974.

Funeral services for Charles "Eddie" Clay were on Monday, October 8, 2012, at the Mueller Center in Hot Springs. 

You'll find a few photos and biographical information that we posted in 2007 in this Hall of Fame gallery.

KZMX Radio -- a mere shadow of earlier station KOBH

By Larry Miller

Another setback for journalism has occurred with news that the New Orleans Times-Picayune is cutting back to publishing a print version of the newspaper just three days a week.  That sad news was delivered by visiting southern friend Jimmie Ray Gordon, whose late husband Bob was a respected veteran wire service reporter and newspaper editor in the south.

I confess that one of my long-time pet peeves has been the abandonment of local community service obligations by radio stations in favor of becoming part of a larger corporate operation.  Typically, such stations rely on satellite programming and minimal overhead to meet the bottom line profit expectations of shareholders.  Serious local news coverage is often the first “belt-tightening” step.

Clearly, technology evolution and a bad economy have significantly and negatively impacted many newspapers and broadcasting stations – particularly those that were not well run in the first place.

In 1959, KOBH listeners heard local/regional news, and 

the station sponsored lots of events. Here, Rock 'n Roll

legend Eddie Cochran (left) receives an award as the

"#1Male Vocalist" -- chosen by KOBH listeners. KOBH

DJ John Rowe (center) presents award in Chadron, Nebr.

It was no big surprise, for example, to learn that KZMX Radio in Hot Springs, South Dakota, was slapped with a big fine last month (May 2012) by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for its “failure to make the stations available for inspection” and for “failure to operate in accordance with station authorization.”   The forfeiture was set at $21,500.

For those of us who remember the early years of the station, then KOBH-AM in Hot Springs, it stirred memories of a station that was once well-operated and reached a pretty good audience across the Black Hills and beyond, including many listeners in Wyoming and Nebraska.

We don’t know about the other properties owned and operated by Mt. Rushmore Broadcasting – licensee of KZMX-AM-FM – but the notice from the FCC seemed to make a compelling case that KZMX fits the profile of a station that “willfully or repeatedly fails to comply with…the provisions of the (Communications) Act.  They wrote the following in their Notice of Apparent Liability for Forfeiture:

On Tuesday, May 31, 2011, in response to a complaint, an agent from the Enforcement Bureau's Denver Office (Denver Office) attempted an inspection of the Station KZMX(AM) and Station KZMX-FM main studio, during regular business hours. The Stations’ main studio is located approximately one mile north of Hot Springs, South Dakota, and is clearly marked in large letters “KZMX” and a sign on the front door reads “Mount Rushmore Broadcasting.” The door to the main studio was locked and there was no staff or management present at the building. There was no contact information posted at the main studio location, consequently, the agent was unable to gain entrance to the main studio. The agent stayed at the main studio site for several hours, monitoring Station KZMX(AM), which was operating on the frequency 580 kHz, and Station KZMX-FM, which was operating on frequency 96.7 MHz.2 The agent telephoned multiple phone numbers, including two published phone numbers associated with Mount Rushmore and the Stations several times, but none of his calls were answered.3 During the time the agent was at the main studio location, an individual identifying himself as a former employee stopped by the main studio location and informed the agent that no one had been present at the main studio for more than a year.

On June 1, 2011, during regular business hours, the Denver agent returned to the Station KZMX(AM) and Station KZMX-FM main studio and again attempted an inspection of the Stations’ main studio. The agent stopped by the main studio several times throughout the day, during regular business hours. Each time, no employees were present and the agent was unable to gain access to the main studio.  Both Stations were in operation and during each visit, the agent telephoned several phone numbers associated with the Stations but his calls were not answered. The agent then visited a non-affiliated business in the area owned by the president of Mount Rushmore. After being informed that the Mount Rushmore president was in the area, the agent left his business card with an employee who agreed to have the president contact the agent, however, the agent never heard from the president.

You can go to the FCC web site to read their Notice of May 17, 2012 in its entirety, but it’s not a happy story.  Not for Mt. Rushmore Broadcasting, nor especially for the public, which apparently has been shortchanged by KZMX for a long time.

I received a copy of the FCC Notice from a long-time friend on May 19 – just a few days after it was adopted – so I thought I’d share it with a news outlet that purportedly covers news in the Black Hills region.   I sent a copy of the notice to the Rapid City Journal, which also owns the Hot Spring Star newspaper.  I was operating on the assumption that Hot Springs area residents were not likely to hear about the event from KZMX-AM-FM, and it seemed logical to me that the Journal might have an interest in the FCC action.  I e-mailed the notice to Kevin Woster at the Journal.

His response came two days later with a terse question:  “So what’s the issue?”

I replied that I thought the Notice of Forfeiture from the FCC was self-explanatory.  He responded that he gets a lot of mail, indicating that he hadn’t bothered to open or read the attachment.

Kevin is a good reporter.  I think he’s an even better writer.  But I was disappointed that nothing ever appeared in the Journal. Perhaps it was a pure editorial judgment call that this $21,500 forfeiture by a federally-licensed station in Hot Springs was too parochial – that the significance of the story was minimal.  And  maybe he’s right.

I never saw a story appear in the Rapid City Journal about the forfeiture.  Admittedly, I don’t read the Journal from front to back, so maybe I missed it.  Nor do I subscribe to the Hot Springs Star, where it may well have appeared. 

When I cranked up various online search engines to see just who might have reported the forfeiture, I found only the FCC website and…….Wikipedia?

The fact that Wikipedia somehow captured and shared information about the KZMX forfeiture order – and not the Rapid City Journal or Hot Springs Star – may well be a subtle clue as to why traditional media are struggling…….and online sources are thriving.  Even the likes of Wikipedia.

New kid on the block: Al Jazeera

Getting information these days is easy.  Getting good information is quite a bit tougher.

Watching Fox News and CNN, listening to the BBC and NPR, all offers a wide range of information and opinions, but much of it conflicts with other sources.  Who to believe?

This morning we read that Secretary of State Clinton has used Al Jazeera as an example of “real news.”   Not having been exposed to much of Al Jazeera, that’s hard to know.  Their image in this country has largely been that of purveying Muslim causes, much like Fox is viewed with by disdain by many liberals, and NPR is vilified by many conservatives.  Al Jazeera is making a big push to get into more cable television homes across the country.  It’ll be interesting to see how that turns out.

But you need not wander into the realm of international news to find a disconnect of facts.

We’ve been following events in Wisconsin, where a pointed conflict continues to evolve between unionized public workers and state government.  Folks I hear on Fox News talk about how public employees are compensated far better than their counterparts in the private sector.  Not true, claims the head of the AFL-CIO, who says public workers lag behind in salaries when compared to private sector workers – that they deserve a good benefits package to make up for that.

The task of trying to gather good information – at least through the media – seems fruitless.  Most of us soon get burned out on this approach, trying to sort out one radical claim from another.

That’s why it’s rather refreshing to find what appears to be more objective information shared from a surprising source:  Bill Gates.

Yesterday, we heard Gates, who’s long been an ardent advocate for education and health care issues, weigh in on public employees, state pension plans, and how they impact the delivery of quality education.

We’ve been tracking public employee retirement funds in several states – mostly reviewing what they say about themselves.  Reading their newsletters would cause one to well up with confidence that, despite hard economic times, “their” retirement fund is in good shape.  Not to worry.

Nonetheless, public pension funds are – and should be – a big concern for the whole country.

Take a few moments to explore the The Gates Notes to learn a bit more about this issue and others.  It offers seemingly unfettered data, unaccompanied by the hostile rhetoric that seems in vogue over on the news channels.

I probably won’t give up splashing around the “main stream media” for information, but I suspect I’ll be spending increased time “on-line” trying to harvest more accurate information.  That may not be easy either, but I find The Gates Notes to be a breath of fresh air.

And I don’t think I’ll miss the shouting and name-calling that permeates commercial broadcasting. 

Jack Shelley (1912-2010)

Jack Shelley died yesterday (9/14/10) in Ames, Iowa.  A veteran broadcaster and journalism teacher, he was arguably one of the best known Iowans of the past half-century or so.  He was 90 years old.

Many accolades for Jack have been offered by people who knew him well – and others who never met him, but remember his work as a long-time broadcaster at WHO radio and television in Des Moines.  He followed that with a distinguished career as a journalism professor at Iowa State University.

The Des Moines Register and ISU School of Journalism are among those who've posted a wealth of information about Jack, including some audio excerpts of memorable broadcasts, a few photographs, and a tribute compiled by Jeff Stein of the Iowa Broadcast News Association.

Jack was a teacher of mine at ISU, and I’ve written about him before in this Radio-TV Journal.  Now I’d like to offer a few more stories about this remarkable man.

I first got to know Jack in the late 1960s when he had already retired from WHO and had gone to Ames to teach broadcast journalism at Iowa State University.  I was News Director at KMA Radio in Shenandoah and met Jack at gatherings of the Iowa Broadcast News Association, for which he served as Secretary-Treasurer for many years.

Jack Shelley was a major influence in my deciding to leave KMA and return to school to work on a Master’s degree at Iowa State, which I did in 1969.  Like a long line of students who studied under Jack before and since, I became an ardent admirer.  I had known little about his work at WHO, but his reputation as a top-flight broadcast journalist and manager were well-known across Iowa.

After completing coursework for my M.S. degree, I chose to return to the Navy and signed up for Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island.  But poor color perception cut short my aspirations of a career in the active duty Navy, and I soon found myself back home – with a wife and two children, but no job.

I still remember Jack calling me one evening and saying, “Larry, there’s a job out in Sioux City that might suit you.  It’s not in news – it’s a job as a TV weatherman, and I remember you said you’d done weather before in western Nebraska.”  Within days, I interviewed for the job and was on my way to Sioux City as a weatherman at KMEG-TV, the CBS affiliate.  Jack’s help allowed me to become gainfully employed again, for which I was -- and remain -- deeply grateful.  I’m guessing he did that sort of thing for hundreds of ISU students over the years.  

Since leaving Iowa State in 1971, I’ve returned only once – in 1974 to defend my M.S. thesis before a graduate committee.   Remembering that trip back to Ames spurs other poignant memories of Jack, who served on my committee, going above and beyond the call of duty to help me.  By that time, I was working for KLRN-TV in Austin, Texas, and raising a family.  I was very “non-traditional” as students go.  Jack offered several valuable suggestions for my thesis regarding Armed Forces Radio and Television service.  Without that guidance and inspiration, I doubt that I would have persevered.  Jack was a major force in my pursuing and receiving a Master’s degree.

Perhaps the most poignant illustration of Jack’s graciousness came just a few years ago.  It was the spring of 2003, and I was in my final years of broadcasting, serving as President of the Pennsylvania Public Television Network.  I had gotten wind of Robert Underhill’s book, Jack Shelley and the News, published in 2002 by McMillen Publishing in Ames.  I immediately called the publisher and ordered a copy – but was soon overtaken by a desire to get in touch with Jack.

By this time, Jack was already a spry 90 years old.  I tracked down his phone number in Ames and gave him a call. 

And what a delightful exchange it was.

Despite years having passed since we last communicated, Jack answered the phone and it was like a segue from a commercial to the news.  He wanted to know all about what I was up to, and how things were going.  I asked about his Rotary activities, WOI, and other ISU faculty I remembered – folks like Jake Hvistendahl, Ed Blinn, and others.

Then I told him I’d ordered his biography from McMillen Publishing.

“You have?  When did you order it?”

“Just today,” I remember saying; whereupon, Jack – having celebrated his 90^th birthday just a few weeks earlier – announced that he was going to McMillen’s that very day. If they hadn’t already shipped the book, he would sign it for me.

Wow!

Underhill’s book, and the abundant obituaries and tributes pouring out for Jack Shelley are a testament to a life well lived.  And as I gaze upon Jack’s perfectly penned note inside the cover, I am very moved.  “For Larry, with happy memories of our time at Iowa State.  Best wishes… Jack Shelley, April 1, 2003.”

Happy memories, indeed.  Godspeed, Jack Shelley.