KFYR-TV North Dakota's NBC News Leader

Dick Heidt
dheidt@kfyrtv.com

Blurring Lines
6-26-09

The death of Tim Russert was disheartening for journalists. Tim was one of the finest examples of our profession. He was not afraid to be tough on those who looked for publicity on his Sunday morning show. The questions were not softballs lobbed at publicity seekers. They were questions you and I as Americans wanted answered. Tim Russert was a news man. He WAS NOT an entertainer.

Twenty four hour news channels have distorted the lines between those two professions. There are a lot of people on those channels these days who the audience equates with news and journalism. Nothing could be farther from the truth. These talk show hosts are nothing more than entertainers seeking ratings while promoting their own biases. Tim Russert and any other true journalist would not use an hour long show to constantly praise or tear down the administration, the judicial system, the oil industry, mom, apple pie or the flag. There is not one shred of fairness or objectivity to be seen in the bulk of these shows. I am not pointing a finger at any one show. They are there – on both sides of the equation. My main concern is that people think they are news shows. They ARE NOT news shows. They are entertainment designed to draw an audience. Small town news in rural America works hard every day to be objective and simply present the facts. That is our job. Then it is up to you the viewer to decide what is going on and form your own opinions.

One scary thing about all this – our own network – NBC will be looking for someone to succeed Russert in the anchor chair of Meet the Press. Many names are already being bandied about. Some of them are “real” news people who would continue Russert’s fine tradition of journalistic excellence. Others, however, are from the entertainer group. I, as a 40 year veteran of the local news business, hope NBC will look to continue to provide news, not opinion, when they name the permanent successor.

I`d Rather Do It Myself!!!
3-21-08

This may be sacrilegious for someone in the media business, but I often wonder how we used to get along before there were 24 hours news networks. Okay, I admit – that’s tongue in cheek. Is it only me or are other people tired of news networks telling us what we just saw, what it meant and how it should influence our daily lives?

The debates with presidential candidates are the prime example I am talking about. The commentators come on and say, so and so better do this or else they’re going to slide in voter approval. Then the candidates come out and answer all the questions and do a little stumping. Then the commentators come back and tell us what the candidates just said. Thank you – but I do believe I have enough intelligence to kind of figure out where they were coming from. After all, I have to vote for one of them and I’d like to decide for myself where he or she stands on the issues that are important to me. And, I also know how to decipher what they said on those issues important to me. I was listening too and I don’t need a news nerd to tell me what they said. Thanks, but I heard for myself. Move on.

There, I feel better already. May you have confidence in your vote – trust your heart and your convictions.

Music to My Ears
2-15-08

Technology is wonderful! Yes, I know that I am from a generation that is a bit wary of all the “new fangled do-dads”, but I have found some things I have really taken a hankering to!

I am a huge “oldies” fan when it comes to music. Over the years I have amassed hundreds, probably thousands, of songs on reel to reel tapes. Then it was time to start all over again with cassette tapes. It was great tracking down 45s and albums to get that all done and then along came cds. Nope – I’m not going to get into that. Oops – my car has a cd player and no tape deck. Ok, buy the cds --- boy there sure are a lot of songs I don’t want to listen to … what are these little music players my daughter wants for Christmas? An ipod?

Hey, they’re pretty neat – I can see some good points to having one of those – I’ll put all my favorite songs from my cds onto one of those and all the songs will be great --- not a bad one in the lot. The holidays come along and darned if I don’t get one of those. All of a sudden I have 1200 songs on the contraption. Unfortunately as I go through Billboard’s top hits from 1954 to 1983, I come across another couple hundred songs that I just have to have. It just so happens that there are companies on line that sell songs -- companies like I-tunes. No problem, I get into that and pretty soon I have rounded up most of the songs I still felt I needed. At 99 cents a pop that wasn’t bad!.

Now I am the proud owner of what is probably the most eclectic collection of songs ranging from A (Andy Williams and Aerosmith) to Z (Zeppelin as in Led Zeppelin).

So far I’m at 1,466 songs and still searching for any of those long forgotten gems that I need to add to the collection. Which reminds me, does anyone have good copies of some local classics -- You Rule Me and Our Day Will Come by the Cornerstone out of Grand Forks? And how about Streak of Lightning by Kenny Ciavarella and his band out of Mandan (Jay Rees and the Monarks)? They would really add to my collection!

Hope you can find something that pleases you and that you can enjoy it with a passion!

If We Were All Just A Little Nicer
1-23-08

A person has to wonder sometimes – what in the world are we leaving for our kids and grandchildren? I’ve never been a Chicken Little type who runs around shouting that the sky is falling, but things aren’t very bright right now.

We are engaged in ground action wars in two countries; energy prices are surely driving some households into serious debt, or actual financial ruin; voices from everywhere are saying we are destroying the ecosystem known as the earth; and we seem to have lost our ability to be a nice society.

The scary thing about the two ground wars is that there is additional saber rattling indicating that we aren’t happy with Iran and North Korea either. The energy prices hit home last week when the gas and electricity bill arrived. We’ve all been paying three dollars a gallon for gasoline for some time and now the heat and electricity bill more than doubled in a 30 day period. That’s not a nice surprise for anyone but I can’t imagine what it does to people on fixed incomes. And, of course, there’s the environment. A lot of people say we are killing this planet and that things have to change. I know the U-S is an easy target, but why are we the bad guys on this one? Why aren’t we leading the way? Then there’s the problem of being nice to others. The world seems to be full of crazies who don’t like this person or that one; road rage reports come from everywhere; there are shootings over the most absurd reasons or for no reason at all; and adults and children seem to have no respect for others. Are these things all happening because we as a people just don’t care anymore or is it because we are so busy that the important things in life are slipping by us?

Whatever the reason, here’s hoping that we can all take a deep breath and analyze where we fit into this. I know it may sound a little Pollyanna-ish, but if we were all just a little nicer, the world would become a better place. Then maybe some of these problems could be solved with good discussion and the world would become a little less foreboding for our kids and our grandchildren.

The Joy of the Season
12-20-07

While I have a strong dislike for winter, Christmas is my favorite time of the year. Thanksgiving usually starts the season and it seems like memories come flooding back over that five week period. Memories of days past, of family members who are no longer with us, of how lucky we are to be where we are right now. I firmly believe that with my health, a great family, good friends and a job that puts a shelter over our heads and food on the table, life is good. We are not wealthy, we are not famous, we just have a good life and what more could people ask for? It’s hard not to smile.

The season can become too rushed for people. They feel overwhelmed by too many things to do. It’s true, the season can really come crushing in on you. Please, don’t let it. The sun will rise tomorrow no matter what. Step back, take a few deep breaths and enjoy that which you have been given. It’s a time for reflecting, it’s a time for accepting your place in life, it’s a time for enjoying. May yours be a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I Still Don’t Understand
11-20-07

Don’t know why I can’t seem to get it through this thick head of mine …. but I still don’t understand why gasoline is cheaper everywhere along the line to Minneapolis!

I had the opportunity to visit the Twin Cities last week. I left the Twin Cities of Bismarck-Mandan Thursday after filling up at a price well over $3.00 a gallon for regular. Just to be on the safe side, I topped off the tank in Fargo for about 18 cents a gallon cheaper. After hitting Golfsmith, the Mall of America, Ikea, several fine eating establishments and Southdale, I veered into a Minneapolis gas station prepared to pay through the teeth. Imagine my surprise --- $2.99 for regular! Pleasant surprise and well appreciated … after all there was a bit of cash dropped at all those aforementioned places!

Most travelers from Bismarck to Minneapolis, especially if they have the Mrs. with them, seem to stop in a tiny town called Albertville on the way back home. It is, for those who don’t know, the site of a huge outlet mall that seems to be a magnet for shoppers. I was prepared for the shopping, but I was surprised by the price of gas. Here, out on I-94, where prices have been known to be extremely high gasoline was $2.94!

After the obligatory shopping stop, we headed home and I wondered if maybe somehow there had been a nice decrease in prices. Five hours later, Bismarck and it’s regular gasoline price well over $3.00 a gallon! I know I have irritated a few station owners with constant gas price news stories …. Nonetheless ….. I still don’t understand.

Thank Goodness, We Landed!
10-26-07

Ok …. I’ve let my ire sit for almost two weeks …. Now I have to tell you about the plane trip to and from he#$@^!!!!

We had business meetings scheduled in Dallas recently. Several weeks early, I got a travel agency to get me to Dallas in time for a Sunday night session. The Thursday night before my flight a recording tells me that my flight to Dallas has been cancelled because of operational problems. The recording set up another flight, but unfortunately it didn’t fit my schedule. No problem … I had the travel agency get things straightened out. Sunday morning the passengers sat quietly at the Bismarck airport for an 8 am flight. Oops .. a delay of at least an hour. Word circulating the airport was that the wake up call for the crew was for a 9 o’clock flight. The one hour delay was enough to screw up a ton of connecting flights out of Minneapolis, including mine.

I haven’t been flying much lately so I was somewhat surprised to get off the plane in Minneapolis and see that the airline had a nice little cart complete with re-scheduling equipment. They got me booked on a flight to Dallas that coincidentally had the same time, etc., as the one the recording said was cancelled. I got to Dallas in plenty of time. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for my clothes! The Sunday night event was supposed to be with jacket. Luckily I had dress pants on and a mock neck shirt – at least I didn’t look completely out of place. After the Sunday night get together … still not clothes. The same after calls at 3 am Monday, 8 am Monday, noon Monday and 5 pm Monday. Monday attire was supposed to be tie and coat. The dress pants and mock shirt were called on again. . Supposedly one of my bags came in sometime Monday and then maybe the second one appeared late Monday afternoon, but the airline didn’t see a real need to rush my clothes into town. The airport was a $50 cab ride from my hotel. A sympathetic luggage status representative got the okay for me to get some reimbursement for buying a few things and a colleague loaned me a shirt and a tie. Figuring I might see my luggage back in Bismarck in a few weeks, I was overwhelmed to find it on my bed at about 10 pm Monday evening. Needless to say, my colleagues were pleased to see me with fresh clothes Tuesday.

I had a late flight out of Dallas but when I got to the Dallas airport I found plenty of other people waiting in lines because of problems in Minneapolis. All the flights, including mine, were backed up. I decided to see if I could get out earlier on one of the other flights. Lo and behold .. a harried-looking angel in airline garb bumped me up a flight. We made it to Minneapolis without incident only to find that my flight to Bismarck was backed up at least an hour. No problem … I could get a nice meal and relax while listening to my ipod. About 10:30 we boarded. Then we sat on the tarmac for another hour as airline workers did whatever airline workers do to airplanes. About 11:30 or so were in the sky with next stop Bismarck. But, as we started our descent into the city, the pilot came on and told us there was some ceiling problems and if things didn’t clear up over the next 20 minutes, we’d have to divert to another airport ------- you guessed it ……. Minneapolis. Groans and I’m sure some hurried prayers and thank goodness, we landed!

Like I said, I haven’t flown anywhere in several years. It might be several more before I do it again … but if I do, it probably won’t be through Minneapolis! Northwest, my bill for what I had to buy is on the way. Please reimburse me.

Here’s hoping your trips get you where you want to go with a little less stress and worry.

Congratulations To Our Newsroom! Two More Emmys!
10-24-07

Monica Hannan and her crew and Chief Meteorologist Kevin Lawrence had their efforts recognized by their colleagues and peers this past weekend. The Upper Midwest arm of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored KFYR-TV for best evening newscast in its market size and Kevin was named best weather talent in competition with forecasters in all market sizes.

The emmys are different from other awards in that you can enter the competition, but you aren’t eligible to win unless you receive a final nomination from judges. KFYR-TV has been privileged to be nominated in the newscast category every year since 2001-2002. This year’s award is our second. The winning newscast covered a late March snow and ice storm that caused plenty of trouble across the state, but didn’t stop a convoy of returning soldiers from reaching home in Bismarck after a long deployment overseas. Kevin’s award is also his second in four years. What is particularly pleasing about his award is that he competes against weather personalities in all market sizes. His competition came from nominees from Minneapolis and Sioux Falls – both considerably larger television markets than Bismarck-Mandan.

Good work crew …. Congratulations ...and keep up the good work!

I May Never Go To A Live Buffett Concert
10-05-07

Does it ever irritate you that we don’t seem to get big name entertainment in this area? Sure, we can always drive to Minneapolis or Denver, but that can be a pain and very expensive. The Fargodome used to get a lot of big name entertainers, but with a change in direction a couple of years ago – things have slowed down on that front. I’ve enjoyed Neil Diamond (ok, I’m older than the average bear), the Rolling Stones, (they’re older than me, but still put on a great concert), Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, Johnny Lang and James Taylor at the Fargo venue over the past several years. But, with few exceptions, big names like that aren’t coming to Fargo anymore either.

We hear that big name entertainment is asking too much money to come to smaller, out of the way, places like North Dakota. It’s not just the small venues though! I’ve always held out hope that Jimmy Buffett would come to Fargo, Grand Forks or Bismarck sometime. Yes, I became somewhat of a Parrothead many years ago and I’ve heard he puts on one of the best concerts around.

Giving up hope that he might end up in North Dakota, I’ve been scanning other venues and looking at ticket prices. I thought it might be reasonable to catch his act in Las Vegas – he usually plays there twice a year. I was hoping for reasonable prices in the big city. Checking out the ticket sites on the internet I was surprised by the big numbers on Vegas tickets! At least $500 for two good tickets … and of course, some ticket hounds gobbled all those up in the first 10 minutes of sales. They’re available now for anywhere from $800 to $1,900 on various auction sites. Let’s see, at least $400 for plane tickets to Vegas, another $600 or so for the hotel stay needed to get the required cheap airline ticket, and then ?????? for spending money. All of a sudden those two tickets become a lot more than expensive! It has led to the sad realization that I may never go to a live Buffett concert.

By the way, if tickets are that expensive for someone in the glamour and glitter of the fastest growing city in America, what would Buffett tickets in North Dakota cost????

Street Fair – A Downtown Tradition
9-14-07

Is it my imagination or is there less buzz about the Downtown Street Fair this year? I have always enjoyed the event as a major happening for the area. The fair is “Bismarck at the end of the summer season” for me. I guess I haven’t really seen much publicity on the event and looking out my office window on Friday morning, September 14th, I am somewhat amazed by a smaller crowd than I expected.

After all these years I still find the Street Fair very enjoyable. It’s always fun to check out the crafts and see if there are some new gadgets that HAVE to be purchased – you know one can never have too many personalized golf markers. And, of course, those little metal whirligigs that you put on a hook in your yard and the wind blows them around – well, they catch my attention too.

The Street Fair wouldn’t be complete without a tour of the food too – there’s the knoephla and kraut, the taco in a bag, the corn on the cob and maybe some mini-donuts too. Downtown visitors often leave with that uncomfortable “stuffed feeling”, but what the heck – it only happens once a year!

Let’s hope the absence of a lot of pre-publicity was only an oversight this year and that the area isn’t taking the event for granted. Hopefully by Saturday evening the streets will have swelled to hundreds and hundreds of visitors. Community events are great for camaraderie and for the area … let’s value what we have and hopefully help good things like the Street Fair flourish.

Our Astounding Growth
9-06-07

Bismarck-Mandan’s growth over the past two years has been nothing short of astounding. We have seen stores of every sort move into the area. The national chains residents always hoped for popped up almost overnight. Local businesses realizing the importance of keeping “up to date” did remodeling with some even moving to new “digs.”

There are rumors of even more new businesses coming to town. What this all means is that Bismarck and Mandan are booming. We are seeing “Help Wanted” signs in many windows and I think we may not have enough people around to fill all the open positions. I think we can all point to a favorite store that doesn’t have quite the same “speedy” lines they used to have. It’s not that they don’t want to speed things up, it’s just that they can’t find enough workers.

Being a native of Mandan, it is interesting to observe the changes occurring in that town. A few key anchor stores on that city’s Main Street would be an absolute boom to the metro area. It’s not much of a jaunt to businesses on the strip and extending the trip a few more miles is just as easy as driving to north or south Bismarck. Everyone would benefit if Mandan’s business district came back to life. Here’s to someone being able to put the package together that makes Mandan’s Main Street the bustling area it was when I was growing up there.

Living in North Dakota
8-29-07

It’s amazing that summer is almost behind us with Labor Day just around the corner. The summer has been a decent one for North Dakota. Western North Dakota, known to be dry in recent years, has survived 2007 with a goodly amount of rain. That has meant good crops and a bountiful harvest. Severe weather was at a minimum until last week’s tornado tore through Northwood. From the scenes depicted in the video, the city was lucky to escape with only one fatality.

North Dakota’s economy has been decent despite all the turmoil around the world. We have escaped the housing slump other parts of the country have had to endure because we didn’t create a false economic environment with stupid housing loans. The one burr under our saddle has been the price of gas. We’re number one is not something we wanted to hear when it came to the price of gasoline. Nonetheless, we are number one in cost in the lower 48. And it just seems to keep going up. It’s 3.24.9 for regular in Bismarck and that may curtail some travel for Labor Day. Hopefully the miraculous price drop that follows most holidays will occur again and then we can take those last trips of the summer.

Here’s hoping your summer has been a good one!

A Great Job
8-03-07

August 1st was the kind of day that local newsrooms thrive on.

Smoke was spotted in a field south on Washington Street in Bismarck and word spread quickly that a small airplane had gone down and was burning. Things like that don’t often lead to a story with a happy ending, but Bismarck was lucky – damage was limited to the plane and a bit of wheat.

The adrenalin was working overtime in our newsroom as crews were deployed in rapid fire succession. A photographer and reporter were sent to the scene .. a second photographer followed in a matter of minutes. That was followed by our live truck. At the station the news crew here was gathering information as quickly as possible and two special reports were on the air with anchor/news director Monica Hannan within minutes after the accident. Each one had information that we were able to get because of our personnel at the scene, phone calls from witnesses and phone calls to law enforcement officials. In a short period of time, our live truck, which was having mechanical problems, was jerry-rigged together by our engineering staff, and reporter Retha Colclasure was live two different times from the scene with even more information. She followed that up with live inserts in our 5 and 6 pm newscasts, including an interview with the pilot who she had coincidentally done a story with a few weeks before.

During all this time, the same information was being fed to our website for anyone with a computer to see and it was also available on a cell phone through out site kfyrtv2go.com. A great job from the newsroom, our engineering people and our control room staff – it’s the way things are supposed to happen when you get breaking news.

I was very pleased with everyone concerned and the best part of it was – we had big news and there was no tragedy to report. That’s the way it should be!

KFYR-TV Plows Forward
7-25-2007

We’re always looking for ideas from our viewers. We’d like to know what you like and don’t like about our product – let us know! We aren’t stodgy, old, set-in-our ways folks. We want to make our product as palatable as possible for our tried and true viewers and for people who may have just started watching us. Drop us an email, give us a call, let us know what you’re thinking!

The world is changing and expanding at a break-neck pace. Bismarck is growing almost beyond description!

We like to think we’re part of that change and growth. Our website is an example. It is constantly a project in change. We’ve added a lot of new things in just the past two weeks. Aside from this blog thing, we also have NBC video, strange story video, and a new page where you can keep on top of what our early morning show, Country Morning Today, is doing. How about bargains, do you like them? Our Double Dollar Fridays promotion is nothing more than an old fashioned auction. We’re just coming off two very successful certificate sales for an amusement park and a golf course. There will be more hot items over the next couple of months. Check it out – the coupons will save you money in a variety of areas. And we’re getting a lot of comments from the people who have found our site kfyrtv2go.com on their cell phones. We’ve had stories of people getting a look at our news while on vacation on the West Coast and from golfers who have checked the radar to see if they were going to get their round in before rain. Check it out – if you have the right kind of phone, it’s a small price to pay for up to the date info.

We also have some major construction things going on at our St. Anthony transmitter. That will be fodder for another day.

Again, I invite you to talk to us. Until then, keep watching!

The 800 Pound Gorilla
7/20/07

Obviously the whole website thing is something that’s been around for a long time. Here at KFYR-TV we’ve evolved over the past five years and about 18 months ago we decided to jump into things with both feet. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into making our website modern and something useful. Fact of the matter is – television isn’t the only avenue available for people to get information. We realize this and we want to be the 800 pound gorilla that’s goes everywhere with you and provides the information you want.

You can get us on television, of course, and many of our newscasts are available on radio on 1270 News Talk. That’s been going on for a long time. While we continue to focus on our main job, we also realize that media has become a multi-platform arena. We’re working on many other projects to make sure we are providing modern service to a modern audience.

We’ve expanded our website so you can get KFYR-TV’s news, weather and sports anytime of the day. And though it pains me as a television journalist to tell you this, we’re actually putting news on the website before it reaches the airwaves during our regular newscasts. Until recently I always had the notion that the “big stories” should be heard first on one of our main newscasts. Well, times change and old notions have to also!

Our website also provides national news and video from stories all over the world. Our website even has past episodes of primetime NBC programming. We’ve also have meandered into the cell phone arena and have various elements of our website available on web enabled phones. While I think you’ll find all of the information we’ve provided for cell phones valuable, I think you’ll especially like the instant availability of updated weather info, especially during stormy times.

We want you to be able to get KFYR-TV info anywhere you go and whenever you want it. Enjoy and feel free to ask us anything about what we’re doing. We’ll answer your questions in a timely manner and who knows -- maybe some of your comments will be used to fill this space.

Talk to you soon.

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Sister Stations: KMOT in Minot, KQCD in Dickinson, KUMV in Williston