Lakeland News to celebrate a quarter century of television newscasts

Jul. 8—BEMIDJI — More than 100 reporters have come and gone since Lakeland Public Television began airing its Lakeland News nightly telecast 25 years ago this month. But two stalwarts have been there from the start — Dennis Weimann in the anchor role and Stacy Christenson doing the weather.

And those two will be front and center at 10 p.m. on Thursday, July 13, when Lakeland News hits the air for its official 25th-anniversary broadcast.

"It's the commitment from people like Dennis and Stacy and the resolve of the board, management and staff that has kept Lakeland News going strong for 25 years," said Bill Sanford, retired president and chief executive officer of the station, which now is known as Lakeland PBS.

Though the public television network began in June 1980, when KNMT Channel 12 — a CBS affiliate — closed down its Walker bureau in the mid-1990s, there was no local news being covered in northern Minnesota by any commercial television stations.

"This all reinforced the belief that local television news was not only needed, but possible to do and the support would be there," said Sanford, who then was director of engineering and operations.

He and Mark Brewer, Lakeland's program and production manager at the time, brainstormed about how the station could put together a local nightly television newscast on a minimal budget.

They came up with a plan and a budget and presented their idea to Emily Lahti, who was the general manager. Lahti supported the idea and brought it to LPTV's board of directors. In spite of concerns about the costs and staffing needs, the board approved the idea and asked staff to proceed.

"We thought this was a golden opportunity to not only provide that service but also as a means of expanding the credibility of the station," said Larry Stember, who served on the board when the bold decision was made. "Funding has always been a challenge and always will be for a public station. It was the hope that this would generate revenue as well. So it was a big leap of faith given our small budget."

Weimann was hired in March 1998, four months before that first newscast. He was no stranger to Bemidji. The Stillwater High School graduate came to Bemidji State University on a football scholarship and captained the Beavers while earning his mass communication degree.

He went on to work in television for three years at KXMC in Minot, N.D., and five years at KVLY in Fargo. He was the station's weekend sports anchor in 1998. He and his wife had a young daughter, and it was time to make a change.

"I was not making a lot of money in that role," Weimann said. "I needed a bigger role somewhere, whether it was in journalism or not."

Bob Smith, his former BSU professor, urged Weimann to apply for Lakeland's news director position.

"It was a gamble at the time, for sure," Weimann recalled. "A PBS station doing local news? But I was impressed with the people they had here. They weren't doing news, but they were doing productions, and the quality of it matched up with what I liked to see."

One of Weimann's first tasks was to hire reporters. He relied heavily on BSU graduates like Christenson, who was completing her mass communication degree. She started as an intern that spring, primarily reaching out in area towns for ideas for a weekly segment called Community Spotlight.

Christenson then joined the staff full-time as a reporter. She fell into the weather role quite by accident.

"There was no one to do the weather," she said, and Dennis asked if I was interested in doing that. I thought I'd give it a shot. That worked out pretty well."

First, she had to learn how to do the weather while also handling reporting duties. She shadowed KVLY's weekend weather anchor in Fargo and got the hang of things in a hurry.

"I came in fresh out of college," Christenson said, "and my plan was to do what everyone else has done. You're going to be here, get your experience and move on."

But that's not how things turned out. Stacy and her husband now have seven children, and she's been able to balance life by moving to part-time status, focusing only on weather reporting.

"I think being in it and working day to day you forget just how unusual this is and how much of a commitment the station made to undertake this," Christenson said. "PBS stations don't do this. It's a lot of money, it's a lot of resources to do a nightly newscast like this. But we're in that void in the state where there's no TV news coverage. So I think it fills a really big need."

While Weimann and Christenson have been fixtures at Lakeland News, the station has been a starting point for dozens of reporters, many of whom were BSU graduates. Most cut their teeth and move on after a year or two, and some have moved on to major market jobs.

One example is Dave Schwartz, who did sports at Lakeland before landing a sports position at a station in Shreveport and eventually spending 15 years at KARE 11 in the Twin Cities.

"Dave was more than just talented, such a good guy and such a willing learner," Weimann said. "I strive to bring in those kinds of candidates. We've also had some who have come in and were really rough when they started, and a couple of those are in major markets right now."

Although he was a veteran of eight years in television, Weimann recalls being a bit nervous when the camera light went on in July 1998.

"When the newscast got going I was like, 'Man, there's a different energy tonight than what I had experienced,'" Weimann said. "There was the newness of trying to pull this off, and we had a lot of people who were skeptical. Our management and board were very supportive, but there were people who thought we were going to last a year and then be gone."

But now, 25 years later, Weimann's successful Lakeland career has clearly proved the doubters wrong.

The public is invited to the Lakeland PBS offices at 108 Grant Ave. NE for an open house from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 13.

Guests can take a tour of the facility, learn about the history behind Lakeland News, and watch Weimann film the Nightly News Update live at 6 p.m.

Weimann and Christenson will be joined on the 10 p.m. newscast by Reid Ferrin, the station's first sports director who now lives in Atlanta.