Kelo-land News

About a year into my time at KJJC, I started looking around for my next stop.  (I learned growing up that it wasn't fair to look until I had been someplace for a year.)

There were interviews in Wisconsin, but no offers in either Madison, Fon du Lac, or Green Bay.  Then came an opportunity to talk with KELO-TV in Sioux Falls.

KELO was the CBS affiliate that essentially "owned" the entire South Dakota market.  There were stations in Sioux Falls, Aberdeen, Pierre, and Rapid City.  The last three re-broadcast the Sioux Falls signal and during my time in KELO-land each community had its own reporter-photographer.

I was hired to the Pierre bureau - covering state government year round and the annual Legislative sessions; covering agriculture (wheat and cattle primarily, but also issues affecting agriculture - like the 1988 drought); covering reservations in central South Dakota (Rosebud, Cheyenne, Standing Rock, and Lower Brule); outdoor stories (hunting and fishing), sports, and breaking news and feature stories that might happen in the center of the state (150 miles east or west of Pierre and north of Nebraska and south of North Dakota).

By the way, it's pronounced Pier.

KELO referred to our viewing area, that is the state, as KELO-land and as a reporter my stand-ups concluded with David Mossner, Pierre, KELO-land news.  Oh, and it's KELO like JELLO.

I started in the summer of 1986.  There was a raise involved, and I had a company vehicle (a GMC Jimmy 4X4 with the KELO logo on the side).  It was similar to my work at KWWL in that I was a reporter-photographer, but this time I also edited my own pieces then sent them via a series of microwave links back to the station in Sioux Falls.

The 150,000 square miles of territory were a challenge.  One skill I had to develop was how to write out a story in my reporter's notebook while balancing it on my leg while driving back to Pierre from where I shot the story.  One time, I made it back into my office at 5:40pm and was able to get the piece finished and in before the Big News (that was it's name) started at 6.  That was a rush!

The three years in South Dakota were in many ways the highlight of my broadcasting career - and I want to share a couple stories with you about it in one of my next blogs....

David Mossner, in Madison, Wisconsin for KELO-land news.