Tuesday, February 9, 2010

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Meet the Radio Staff

Bill Thomas
Director of Radio
Bill started at Prairie Public in 1999 as the first manager for the new network. He came to North Dakota from working in Lincoln at Nebraska’s Public Radio Network. Before that, like many people in media work, he moved around as his jobs changed. He’s worked in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois; Los Angeles; Washington, DC; and St. Louis. He started small community stations, managed national program distribution, has been a program director, a station manager and a network manager. In his spare time he gardens, cooks, plays music, reads, gets outdoors—and spends time with his wife and two daughters.

Dave Thompson
News Director
Since 1981, listeners to public radio in North Dakota have been waking up with Dave Thompson. He’s been the news director and Morning Edition host since KCND went on the air in September, 1981. Before that, Dave was a reporter/anchor with KNOX/Grand Forks, and KBOM/Bismarck-Mandan. Under his watch, Prairie Public’s radio service has won nearly 100 awards for news reporting. Dave is a native of Bismarck. He graduated from UND in 1978. Dave’s hobbies are karaoke, bowling, karaoke, music collecting, karaoke—and by the way, did we say karaoke?

Todd McDonald
Reporter/Producer
Todd came to Prairie Public after spending 13-years doing news in the realm of commercial radio. Todd has spent a lot of his time in newsrooms in northwest Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. Todd says “coming to Prairie Public is giving me a great opportunity to keep track of the happenings in the region and to make use of a great list of friends and contacts. Prairie Public lets me bring listeners the news, and the STORY that goes with the headlines.” When Todd’s not out with his microphone gathering information, he’s spending time with his wife, Lynette and son, Ian camping, doing backyard astronomy and continuing his search for obscure musics.

Skip Wood
Producer, Hear It Now
Skip was the news producer at Channel 4 in Fargo/Grand Forks for 22 years. He left to pursue various independent projects, including “The Next Governor,” a documentary for Prairie Public Television. Skip agreed to help out when Prairie Public’s “Hear It Now” radio production job became vacant and he found the work so interesting, he decided to stick around. Skip lives in Moorhead with his wife Stacy.

Danielle Webster
News Reporter
Danielle Webster joined the staff of Prairie Public Broadcasting as a radio news reporter in 2006. She delivers news from the Fargo area to Prairie Public’s statewide radio audience. Webster is a University of North Dakota graduate who worked as a feature reporter, news reporter and production assistant for the university’s “Studio One” news program. Her work on “Studio One” was nominated for a regional Emmy.

Merrill E. Piepkorn
Program Host, Hear It Now
Merrill was born in Stanley, ND, raised in Fargo, and attended Concordia College in Moorhead, earning a BA degree in Speech, Communication and Theatre Arts. For several years after college Merrill performed professionally with several musical groups, the most notable of which was Skunk Hollow. Following his career in entertainment, (he still performs occasionally), and previous to joining Prairie Public, Merrill worked in broadcasting and advertising. Merrill spends much of his free time with his son, Max. Tennis is high on the list, too. Merrill, his wife Connie, and Max live in North Fargo.

Duane Lee
Classical and Jazz Music Host
A Minneapolis native, Duane attended the University of Minnesota and started his broadcast career in the Twin Cities. Then a job as a sales representative for a check printing company sent him to North Dakota. “I decided after doing 19 years of that, I was tired of running around with a car all the time,” Duane says. He’s been with Prairie Public’s Bismarck station ever since. He is the host of Just Jazz on Friday nights and Classical Music weekdays, 9 a.m.-noon, in western North Dakota. Besides attending jazz concerts and the occasional festival, Duane enjoys bicycling, taking walks, and traveling.

Deanne Forster Willows
Production Coordinator

Mike Olson
Host, Into the Music

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