As Sound Vision enters its final stages, we need public broadcasting advocates to come forward and help ensure SDPB serves more South Dakotans, regardless of zip code or economic status. To reach our goal, Sound Vision Campaign co-chairs and SDPB champions are offering generous matching funds. These matching funds will double any extra, one-time gift now through October. Meet the Sound Vision Campaign leaders and learn about the work they’ve been doing to support SDPB and why they’re matching funds to meet the campaign goals.
SDPB’s Sound Vision Campaign is a multi-year effort that has helped expand the local journalism, programming, and events South Dakotans trust and enjoy from South Dakota Public Broadcasting. Generous SDPB contributors with the ability to lend time, talent, and financial support have directly strengthened SDPB’s capacity to tell more stories and reach more South Dakotans, whether we are scrolling news on our phones or watching PBSKids on antenna TV.
The results of the Sound Vision Campaign are tangible. Supporters helped:
- Built the Black Hills Studios, the Sioux Falls Studios and the satellite studios in Aberdeen, Brookings and Spearfish.
- Added to our journalism team with reporters who cover South Dakota’s business and cultural stories.
- Launched SDPB’s Early Learning Initiative to close the learning gaps for our Pre-K learners.
- Expanded SDPB’s events & programs into more of our rural communities.
Meet the Sound Vision Co-Chairs
Linda Meyer, Spearfish
Sound Vision Campaign Co-Chair
Let’s just say the Meyer family doesn’t let the grass grow under their feet.
A former radiologic technician, Linda Meyer met her New York-born husband Bob in Nebraska after she X-rayed his heart. After they married, Bob, a missile launch officer stationed at Ellsworth in the late 1960s, wanted to return to the Black Hills to open his dental practice. Together in Spearfish, Linda and Bob ran the dental practice, raised two sons, and started a manufacturing firm for the dental vacuums Bob invented.
Sons Thomas and James attended engineering school in Indiana. When James, an avid bicyclist, was dissatisfied with competitive bike-racing meters, (which measure rider power output), he designed his own and opened Quarq, a manufacturing facility in Spearfish. Thomas, a software engineer, recently left California to tour the southern U.S. in a van. Thomas just watched the launch of SpaceX in Boca Chica, Texas. Meanwhile, Bob is training for the Mickelson Trail Marathon in June.
“One thing we all have in common is our love for the outdoors,” says Linda. “My husband and sons are much more athletic than I am, but I enjoy it, too. So now I especially appreciate Passport and the PBS app, because I’m no longer connected to the television by time or date. I just pick up my iPad and watch what show I want to watch when I want to do it. So that’s very convenient. I love that.”
Linda is a former Friends of SDPB board member who says she’s cut down on her volunteer projects to enjoy her retirement. “There are others on the Sound Vision Campaign who are really making things happen, and we so appreciate that. We do our thing in the form of contribution. That’s where we’re best able to participate at this point in our lives, because SDPB is a part of our lives, just kind of like a tried and true member of the family. There’s something for everyone in every stage of life. The kids grew up on Sesame Street and Mister Rogers. I feel a strong connection to the actual personalities, the voices, the style of operation.”
“I appreciate Dakota Life because it captures the essence of our state. And to have those individual stories like The Stavig Letters, Temples of Justice, or Light of the Prairie: Stained Glass in South Dakota – those local and human-interest stories have lasting value. It’s something that we overlook a lot, but whatever history happens in our state and SDPB documents it, that value lasts. People will go back, see, and remember. We have to document it now while it’s happening. I appreciate that public broadcasting is doing that. I’m happy when our donations are going to support that.”
Mary DeJong, Sioux Falls
Sound Vision Campaign Co-Chair
Mary DeJong grew up in Platte, SD, attended SDSU, and after some time away from South Dakota now lives in Sioux Falls. A counselor and certified yoga instructor, DeJong recently retired from her job supporting veterans with PTSD and physical conditions through guided movement and breathing exercises. DeJong has always had a career in the helping professions: working with children whose parents are incarcerated, programming for individuals with developmental disabilities, healthcare education, and providing yoga therapy to cancer patients at Avera’s Prairie Center. Throughout the pandemic, she’s stayed fit with yoga sessions at McKennan Park and on Zoom.
She started supporting SDPB when she considered her return-on-investment ratio. “I think I started at $25 a year,” says DeJong. “Then as the years went on, I paid attention to how often I used public broadcasting. Morning Edition and All Things Considered are kind of the bookends of the day for us in terms of news. We get a good understanding of the important issues of the day without being overwhelmed by, for example, cable TV. We really appreciate all the legislative news. I appreciate and love In the Moment with Lori Walsh – I think she’s kind of the Terry Gross of the prairie. I love the Saturday programming—Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me, The Moth Radio Hour, This American Life. I’ll make excuses to be in the kitchen just so I can listen. I felt if I was using it, I wanted to support it, and just a dollar day – for all the services, children’s programming, high school activities programming, top-of-the-line entertainment, not having to listen to commercials – was worth the value to me.”
DeJong extended her support to working on the Sound Vision Campaign. “I don’t think anyone gets a bang out of asking people they know for money,” says DeJong. “But sometimes you just have to be the one that steps up. I’m in a place in my life where I could do it. I just have to keep reminding myself that I’m not asking for myself – I’m asking for SDPB, which I am willing to support and that I think is worthy of support.”
Of her work on the Sound Vision Campaign, DeJong says she’s most proud of the hard work and tenacity of her fellow volunteers even during pandemic lockdown. “We generated the Tiny Desk Concert that was just such a wonderful experience to provide in the middle of COVID. I’m really proud that we continue to make those contacts and reach those goals in the middle of a pandemic. We never really stopped – we kept looking for ways to reach out and connect to people, because in the end fundraising is all about relationships and finding our common ground. I’m really proud that along the way, goals were revised and there has been such a wonderful response.”
Andy & Barb Knight, Rapid City
Sound Vision Campaign Co-Chairs
Andy and Barb Knight met through friends of friends at a McDonald’s just off Mount Rushmore Road and have been married since 1974. After serving in Vietnam from 1967-68, Andy was reassigned to Ellsworth Airforce Base where he was a missileer at Minuteman Missile Facility and flew on the Airborne Launch Control System (ALCS). He retired in 1985. “My parents told me never to date a fly boy, but I did,” laughs Barb. “But later my dad thought he picked Andy.”
Barb attended the University of South Dakota and taught math and English at Stevens High School. They raised three sons, including Rob, a nurse for the V.A. in Rapid City; Bill a Rapid City IT professional; and entrepreneur John, who resides in Moab, UT.
The Knights are big fans of Ken Burns. As a Vietnam veteran, Andy particularly appreciated The Vietnam War. “It was difficult to watch, but I really appreciate Ken Burns,” says Andy. “He is one of my favorite storytellers. My degree is in history and I started watching every documentary that SDPB makes. The subject matter is put forth from a historical context, which is so outstanding and excellent. I would say not a night goes by, except when I’m on vacation, that I don’t watch South Dakota Public Broadcasting.”
As an educator who also raised young children at-home, Barb values PBS KIDS programming. “We watched Sesame Street and it was wonderful. If only the world could be a better place like Sesame Street! We have 11 grandchildren. Some of them are young and I send the information to their parents. It’s a whole new generation, and I’m excited there are programs to support kids, especially all SDPB’s doing to help them learn online and during these difficult times.”
The Knights say they support SDPB because they believe in the value of the news and entertainment. “There is nowhere I know of that has more variety of educational programs for kids and for grown-ups,” says Andy. “The news is even-handled, they don’t editorialize. I want to see the programming continue. I wish I could see the youth of our country become more interested in our country’s history and I think that could happen if more people watched public broadcasting.”
To make a matching gift supporting the Sound Vision Campaign, visit: SDPB.org/SoundVision. To make a multi-year pledge, please contact the Friends Development team by phone at 800-333-0789 or by email at [email protected]
