Chelsey Perkins

Chelsey Perkins became the News Director in early 2023 and was tasked with building a new local newsroom at the station. She is based in Brainerd and leads a team of four reporters covering communities across Northern Minnesota from the KAXE studio in Grand Rapids and the KBXE studio in Bemidji.

The news team launched the Up North Report in August 2023 — a five-minute newscast airing daily on KAXE, WTIP, KVSC and available as a podcast on Apple, Spotify and more. They also publish original stories at KAXE.org and make regular appearances on the KAXE Morning Show to dive deeper into their work.

The team has earned dozens of awards from the Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association, Public Media Journalism Association and the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. In 2025, the team earned a prestigious Regional Edward R. Murrow Award for its work in digital storytelling. In 2023, Chelsey was named a fellow of the Poynter Institute's Public Media Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative.

Chelsey grew up in Crosslake, Minnesota, where most of her family continues to live. She spent the first 15 years of her journalism career as a print journalist, primarily as a newspaper reporter and editor for the Brainerd Dispatch. There, she covered Crow Wing County government and served on the Forum Communications Co. Editorial Advisory Board.