It’s been just over a year since I walked through the doors of KAXE for the first time — excited and motivated, but also pretty nervous.
As the new news director, I was tasked with building a newsroom focused on local stories across Northern Minnesota in a well-loved and long-lived community radio station.
My background as a newspaper reporter and editor provided a solid foundation, but radio? That was a new frontier. And it turns out, starting something new is a much bigger challenge than I anticipated.
A year — and the two impressive and talented additions of Larissa Donovan and Megan Buffington to the news team — later, we’re finding our stride. We’ve published more than 500 stories in the Local News section of kaxe.org, including 180+ episodes of our daily newscast, the Up North Report. (Subscribe on your favorite podcast app so you’ll never miss it!)
We’ve reported stories across Northern Minnesota on a great variety of topics. This map below shows just how many communities we’ve highlighted in our coverage, which is generously supported by the one-of-a-kind photography work of Lorie Shaull, a KAXE member and volunteer.
We've covered labor strikes, cannabis legalization, the 2023 election, natural resources, issues with rural mail delivery and severe drought conditions across the region. We've traveled across the region to witness court proceedings, attend local government meetings and see the unveiling of new facilities ourselves.
We also produced our first series of in-depth stories in collaboration with Energy News Network, a nonprofit news partner. The series covered the green energy transition in the mining industry on Minnesota's Iron Range and was republished by multiple outlets.
Lorie Shaull
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Contributed | 
Chelsey Perkins
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KAXE |
Looking ahead to the year before us, we want to ensure the stories we produce are relevant and meaningful to the lives of our Northern Minnesota neighbors. This is especially true with the upcoming local and national elections. Working with our partners at America Amplified, we're committed to covering elections your way this year. Take control of the conversation by telling us what issues matter most to you.
You know, in the news business — no matter how good the work you do is — it’s common to hear negative and not-so-constructive feedback: what you’re doing wrong, what you failed to cover, what you never should have covered, that you’re a hack, or a shill, or far less charitable terms.
But the KAXE audience? You’ve gone out of your way to make our scrappy and dedicated team of strong female journalists feel welcomed and appreciated. You’ve provided essential news tips, corrected us when we needed it, and given us little boosts with kind messages on otherwise tough days.
During this spring membership drive for KAXE, we’re asking you to support us with your hard-earned dollars, too. Keep it local by keeping your news local. Donate now at $20/month to cover one episode of the Up North Report and get our brand-new coffee mug while you’re at it.
We could not do this without you. As we celebrate our inaugural year in action, I think I speak on behalf of the news team when I say we couldn’t be more grateful for the great and truly heartwarming show of support for our efforts so far. The future is bright for our newsroom, thanks to readers, listeners and members like you.
Reach us at news@kaxe.org with story tips, comments, concerns and more. We’re covering the communities we care about. And we’re here to listen.
