South Dakota - Media

Media

South Dakota's first newspaper, the Dakota Democrat, began publishing in Yankton in 1858. Today, the largest newspaper in the state is the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, with a Sunday circulation of 63,701 and a weekday circulation of 44,334. The Rapid City Journal, with a Sunday circulation of 32,638 and a weekday circulation of 27,827, is South Dakota's second largest newspaper. The next four largest newspapers in the state are the Aberdeen American News, the Watertown Public Opinion, the Huron Plainsman, and the Brookings Register. In 1981, Tim Giago founded the Lakota Times as a newspaper for the local American Indian community on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The newspaper, now published in New York and known as Indian Country Today, is currently available in every state in the country. The Sioux City Journal also covers parts of South Dakota.

There are currently nine television stations broadcasting in South Dakota; South Dakota Public Television broadcasts from a number of locations around the state, while the other stations broadcast from either Sioux Falls or Rapid City. The two largest television media markets in South Dakota are Sioux Falls-Mitchell, with a viewership of 246,020, and Rapid City, with a viewership of 91,070. The two markets rank as 114th and 177th largest in the United States, respectively. The first television station in the state, KELO-TV, began airing in Sioux Falls in 1953. Among KELO's early programs was Captain 11, an afternoon children's program. Captain 11 ran from 1955 until 1996, making it the longest continuously running children's television program in the nation.

A number of South Dakotans are famous for their work in the fields of television and publishing. Former NBC Nightly News anchor and author Tom Brokaw is from Webster and Yankton, USA Today founder Al Neuharth is from Eureka and Alpena, gameshow host Bob Barker spent much of his childhood in Mission, and entertainment news hosts Pat O'Brien and Mary Hart are both from Sioux Falls.