A years and a half ago, in a series of pieces I wrote about people who had huge impacts on my life, I devoted a story to Bob Richardson. Bob owned KEYJ, my first radio station. He hired me when I was in high school. He started me on my first career and my most enduring avocation and side hustle – and in a lot of ways, played an exceptionally disproportional role in me becoming who I am today.

Bob – he was always “Mister RIchardson” to me, well into adulthood – died on Monday, apparently after complications to heart surgery in Fargo. He was 93.

And among “pillars of the community”, Bob was a titan:

    He married Norma Rolle September 2, 1952, in Glen Ullin, ND.  They lived in Jamestown, ND, while they were in college.  They moved to Moorhead, MN, for one year before returning to Jamestown.

     Richardson was sports and staff announcer at KSJB radio in Jamestown while a student at Jamestown College.  He was then assistant manager of the classified ad department at the Fargo Forum.  Returning to Jamestown, he was one of the organizers of KEYJ (now KQDJ) radio in 1954 and became sole owner of the station in 1968.  He sold the station in 1980, after which he became Director of Development, Alumni and Public Relations at Jamestown College, then Vice President of the Jamestown College Foundation, retiring in 1999.  He was part-time Development Director of the Jamestown Area Foundation and an Associate of the Borr*Strawhecker Group Resource Development Counsel from 1999 to 2004.   He was instructor of Jamestown College radio courses from 1956-1960.

     Richardson was active in many organizations, serving as President of the Jamestown Chamber of Commerce; the North Dakota Chapter of the National Society of Fund Raising Executives; the North Dakota Broadcasters Association; the Jamestown Twilight Baseball League; North Dakota Amateur Baseball Association; the Jamestown Volunteer Firemen’s Association (he was a volunteer fireman for21 years); the Jamestown College Alumni Association; the Jamestown Airport Authority; Jamestown Quarterback Club; North Dakota Independent College Fund; and chairman of Republican Party Districts 48/29.

Did I say I was done?

     He also served as Assistant Chief of the Jamestown Fire Department, a Trustee of Jamestown College, and was a member of the Jamestown Industrial Development Commission board, North Dakota Association of Nonprofit Organizations board and a member of the Jamestown Eagles Lodge.

And he taught a couple generations of high school kids, myself included, not just how to do radio – that’s easy – but how to expect better of ourselves, how to live up to responsibilities from getting the news right to being a solid member of the community, and how to think.  

So much of what I am, I owe to Bob. (And this guy. And this one. And my father, of course, who is at least still with us).

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Thursday, January 30th, 2025 at 5:08 am and is filed under Memoriam. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.