American broadcaster
Helen S. Duhamel
|
---|
Born
| November 26, 1904
|
---|
Died
| November 8, 1991
(1991-11-08)
(aged 86)
|
---|
Citizenship
| USA
|
---|
Education
| St. Mary's Catholic School
,
St. Agnes Academy
|
---|
Occupation(s)
| businesswoman, broadcaster
|
---|
Spouse
| Francis A. "Bud" Duhamel (1902?2000)
|
---|
Helen S. Duhamel
(November 26, 1904 ? November 8, 1991) was an American businesswoman and broadcaster, best known for saving the Duhamel Company from bankruptcy and establishing a cluster of radio and television stations in western
South Dakota
and
Nebraska
in the United States.
[1]
Early life
[
edit
]
Helen Duhamel was born on November 26, 1904, in
Windsor, Missouri
, and moved to northwestern Nebraska when she was two years old. There she grew up on a
cattle ranch
on the
White River
north of
Chadron
. Her schooling began at
St. Mary's Catholic School
in
O'Neill, Nebraska
, and was completed at St. Agnes Academy,
Alliance, Nebraska
.
[2]
[3]
In 1920 at age 15, Helen moved with her mother to
Rapid City, South Dakota
. There she met Francis A. "Bud" Duhamel (1902?2000), marrying him in 1924 at age 19.
[3]
She graduated from
Rapid City High School
in 1922.
[4]
The Duhamel Company
[
edit
]
Marrying Bud introduced her to the Duhamel family business, which had started as a hardware store in Rapid City in the early twentieth century. Selling everything except groceries and threshing machines, the Duhamel Trading Post specialized in
saddle
making,
[5]
becoming the largest U.S. supplier of saddles by
World War I
.
[6]
During the
Great Depression
, Mrs. Duhamel became the company's bookkeeper, and her business acumen is credited with keeping the company out of bankruptcy.
[3]
Radio
[
edit
]
In 1943, aware of the use she had made of radio advertising for the family business, Duhamel took an interest in radio station
KOBH
(1380
AM
) and began buying its stock. At the time, KOBH was the only radio station in western South Dakota, and it was located directly across the street from the Duhamel Trading Post in Rapid City. Its studios were on the 10th floor of the
Hotel Alex Johnson
, while the station's offices were on the 11th.
[2]
[3]
[6]
[7]
Originally broadcasting with a very limited licensed power of 150 watts, in 1944 KOBH sought approval from the
Federal Communications Commission
to move up to 5000 watts, which would dramatically expand the territory it could reach. Asked to help, U.S. Congressman
Francis H. Case
sought military support. He discovered that
U.S. Army Air Corps
airplanes based at the recently established Rapid City Army Air Base (later renamed
Ellsworth Air Force Base
) used KOBH as a navigation beacon while training for European
strategic bombing during World War II
. With Pentagon backing, Case convinced the FCC to grant the more powerful license effective January 1, 1945. The call letters changed to KOTA, the last two syllables of "Dakota".
[2]
In 1953?1954, an out-of-state investor was maneuvering to buy KOTA. To counter this, Duhamel bought all outstanding stock and established Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises as the corporate entity.
[2]
[3]
[6]
Television
[
edit
]
In 1955, Duhamel oversaw the creation of
KOTA-TV
, only the second television station in South Dakota at the time. In order to supply programming, she erected a chain of
microwave transmitters
to bring live TV signals to Rapid City for broadcast over KOTA-TV. Upon completion it was then "the world's longest privately owned microwave system."
[2]
[3]
In 1966, Duhamel became a partner in South Dakota Cable, and began installing
cable television
in western South Dakota.
[2]
Approached by rural residents of the western
Nebraska Panhandle
about expanding television coverage there, she decided to expand to the south. Although she originally established it in
Hay Springs, Nebraska
, she moved KDUH-TV to
Scottsbluff, Nebraska
, in 1981.
[3]
With this and other expansions, Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises came to operate the original AM radio station, an FM radio station, and four television stations, with a transmission area that extended into eastern Wyoming and Montana.
[2]
[3]
Recognition and awards
[
edit
]
In 1961, Helen Duhamel was elected president of the South Dakota Broadcasters Association. She was not only the first woman to hold that position, but the first woman in the United States to hold the comparable top post in any state broadcasting association.
[2]
[3]
Helen Duhamel received numerous awards, including the Alfred P. Sloan Radio-Television Award for Distinguished Public Service, the
McCall's
Golden Mike Award (1957),
[8]
and a letter of commendation from the President of the United States for the public service work of the Duhamel stations during the June
1972 Black Hills flood
. She was selected for the South Dakota Broadcasters' Association Hall of Fame in 1976 and the Nebraska Broadcasters' Association Hall of Fame in 1992.
[2]
In 2002, she was inducted into the
Association for Women in Communications
Hall of Fame.
[7]
End and successor
[
edit
]
In the same year that she and Bud celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary, Helen Duhamel died in Rapid City on November 8, 1991.
[2]
Her son, Bill Duhamel, succeeded her as president and general manager of Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises.
[2]
After
Schurz Communications
acquired KOTA-TV in 2014, the Duhamel radio stations were sold on January 1, 2019.
[9]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Legacy Helen S. Duhamel - SD Hall of Fame Programs"
.
sdexcellence.org
. Retrieved
2020-05-04
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
Switzer, Mary Kay (2004). Sterling, Christopher H. (ed.).
The Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Radio Vol 1: Entries A-E
. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn. p. 813.
ISBN
978-1-57958-431-3
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
"Helen Duhamel: Hall of Fame 1992"
.
Nebraska Broadcasters' Association Hall of Fame
. Omaha, Nebraska: Nebraska Broadcasters' Association. 1992
. Retrieved
April 10,
2012
.
- ^
"Obituary for Helen S. Duhamel (Aged 86)"
.
Rapid City Journal
. Rapid City. November 10, 1991. pp. C2
. Retrieved
March 5,
2022
.
- ^
Duhamel, Helene (December 28, 1999).
"Knowledge of a Century"
. Rapid City Journal. pp. A9?A10
. Retrieved
June 23,
2023
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Duhamel Company History"
. Foothill Ranch, California: Vintage Gun Leather
. Retrieved
April 10,
2012
.
- ^
a
b
"Helen S. Duhamel - 2002 Inductee"
.
The Association for Women in Communications Hall of Fame
. Alexandria, Virginia: Association for Women in Communications. 2002. Archived from
the original
on April 23, 2014
. Retrieved
April 10,
2012
.
- ^
"Golden Mike Awards,"
Arcane Radio Trivia. Retrieved Jan. 13, 2023.
- ^
Zionts, Arielle (January 10, 2019).
"Duhamel Broadcasting sale 'bittersweet' after 75-year history in the Black Hills"
. Rapid City Journal
. Retrieved
20 July
2020
.
External links
[
edit
]