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Documentary charts the path of South Dakota broadcasting pioneers

Greg Huszar
/
Getty Images/First Light

This interview is from SDPB's daily public-affairs show, In the Moment, hosted by Lori Walsh.

If you're a listener of In the Moment, you can thank the broadcasters, producers, and engineers who came before. Radio in South Dakota owes its roots to the people who order tiny little radio parts and assembled them by hand to try out a brand new and controversial technology.

Voices of the Prairie is a documentary series on the early days of broadcasting in South Dakota. The first episode premiered earlier this month at the State Theatre in Sioux Falls. It tells the story of Verl Thomson, one of South Dakota's earliest radio pioneers.

Dr. Rocky Dailey is an Associate Professor at SDSU School of Communication and Journalism. He joins In the Moment to explain how Thomson took advantage of radio when it was still a new technology, and blazed a trail for broadcast journalists in South Dakota.

Carl Norquist is a producer and writer for In the Moment. An EMMY-winning producer, Carl previously worked for KTIV News 4 in Sioux City, IA. Carl is a Minnesota native and graduate of Augustana University with majors in Art and English.
Lori Walsh is the host and senior producer of In the Moment.