“We Wanted to Hand Them…A Little Bit of Flair”: Celebrating 15 Years at KVRR

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It’s been 15 years in the making!

This month marks the anniversary of KVRR-FOX TV being on the air.

It wasn’t easy…a brand new team, some competitors…coming together to build a unique newscast for the Red River Valley.

I talked with those four anchors and the man who brought them together for a look back at where it all started.
 
It was the first of its kind in the Red River Valley.

A news cast at 9:00, a move that made this news team stick out from the rest.
 
Austen Schauer, former KVRR anchor,  says, “9:00 news…that was the niche.”
 
“We were different right away. We started at nine, everyone else was starting at 10. I think that was a big thing right there, just being different,” says Jeremy Jorgenson, former KVRR sports director.
 
KVRR or Fox as it was known then, went on the air in July of 2000.

It was a brand new team of players, the ones you saw every night and the ones behind the scenes.
 
Jorgenson says, “I think we got off to a good start. We had a solid anchor team and I think that helped a lot.”

Former news director Jim Shaw says, “I was really afraid that when I took that job that nobody would want to work there. I mean we were completely unknown.”
 
Jim Shaw, who was the news director at the station for 14 years, assembled the all-star team.

Shaw who was a longtime reporter for WDAY, brought Austen Schauer and Kip Hines with him.

He also recruited former KVLY employee Amy Hockert as well as Jeremy Jorgenson who worked at a station in Idaho.

Shaw says he was pleasantly surprised with the amount of interest he received.
 
Shaw says, “Even some people I even challenged them, like Austen. I even said ‘Are you sure you want to do this?’ Because he was pretty secure; he didn’t need that job. He said yep, I’m in and I’m like, ‘great!’.”
 
“I think the great thing about going over to KVRR at the time is you did not follow in anyone’s footsteps, so you could basically make your own mark,” says Schauer.
 
But starting a news station from the ground up does come with its doubts.
 
Former KVRR meteorologist Kip Hines says, “We’re starting something from nothing basically. We had to gain viewers and you had to gain them right away .”
 
“To start a station in this market and probably every other market is very dangerous. It’s high-risk and is prone to failure.,” says Schauer.
 
Even though they faced many challenges, Shaw says that being in the news business; you have to be prepared for the unprepared.
 
Former KVRR anchor Amy Hockert says, “I remember having rehearsals. So prior to even going on air, we’d send reporters out and we’d have the producers ready to go and we’d put together and build these shows that would never see the light of day.”
 
Shaw says, “You can’t get an extension. The news has to go on that day at 6 and 9 and whatever problem you’re facing, you have to overcome it, and get that show on the air.”
 
It wasn’t just about delivering the news, this team wanted to leave a lasting impression.
 
Hines says, “We wanted to hand them a little personality, a panache, if you will, a little bit of flair, so that in between stories they knew we were having a good time so hopefully at home they were having a good time, as well.”
 
Hockert says, “It was relaxed; it was just great, the camaraderie. It was really an almost magical time, a very special time in my career.”
 
There may be new faces to KVRR, but like the saying goes, the show must go on.