SIOUX FALLS, SD – Gray Television, in September, formally purchased KDLT and now owns both local stations, as KDLT and KSFY newsrooms are merging. The deal took over a year to be approved by the Federal Communications Commission, largely because this is literally the first merger of its kind in the nation.
“This has been building for a year and a half now. To think we are just days away from launching, it’s incredible. Everyone has worked so hard, and I think the viewers are going to see something very, very special,” said General Manager, Jim Berman.
Final details are still being worked out behind the scenes, but KDLT and KSFY newsrooms will officially merge, on-air, January 13th. No longer will viewers see two newsrooms with two separate teams or logos. All are coming together under the new brand, Dakota News Now – a much stronger entity together than what either team admits it could accomplish alone. And that fact is not insignificant in an era of ever-shrinking, if not disappearing newsrooms.
Former rivals on stories are also sincerely excited about the opportunity to now work together and toward something bigger. Mark Ovenden, who started at KSFY when he first moved to Sioux Falls in 1978, returns to the helm at the sports desk while Erik Thorstenson moves to the morning anchor desk alongside Vanessa Gomez and Aaron Doudna. Doudna himself, returns to KSFY, taking over for his one-time mentor and long-time friend, morning meteorologist Shawn Cable. Cable announced in recent weeks his departure to follow both new career opportunities – as well as his longtime girlfriend and former co-anchor Kami Roesler, to the southeast.
“We’ve collectively got some people that have been in the business for a long time coming into one news gathering group,” said Ovenden. “I’ve got to believe that’s going to make an even better presentation for the viewers.”
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