Helen S. Duhamel (November 26, 1904 – November 8, 1991) was an American businesswoman and broadcaster, best known for saving the Duhamel Company from bankruptcy and establishing a cluster of radio and television stations in western South Dakota and Nebraska in the United States.

Early life

Helen Duhamel was born on November 26, 1904, in Windsor, Missouri, and moved to northwestern Nebraska when she was two years old. There she grew up on a

cattle ranch A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...

on the White River north of Chadron. Her schooling began at St. Mary's Catholic School in O'Neill, Nebraska, and was completed at St. Agnes Academy,

Alliance, Nebraska Alliance is a city and the county seat of Box Butte County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. Its population was 8,151 at the 2020 census. Alliance is the home to Carhenge, a replica o ...

. In 1920 at age 15, Helen moved with her mother to Rapid City, South Dakota. There she met Francis A. "Bud" Duhamel (1902–2000), marrying him in 1924 at age 19. She graduated from Rapid City High School in 1922.

The Duhamel Company

Marrying Bud introduced her to the Duhamel family business, which had started as a hardware store in Rapid City in the early twentieth century. Selling everything except groceries and threshing machines, the Duhamel Trading Post specialized in saddle making, becoming the largest U.S. supplier of saddles by World War I. During the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, Mrs. Duhamel became the company's bookkeeper, and her business acumen is credited with keeping the company out of bankruptcy.

Radio

In 1943, aware of the use she had made of radio advertising for the family business, Duhamel took an interest in radio station KOBH (1380 AM) and began buying its stock. At the time, KOBH was the only radio station in western South Dakota, and it was located directly across the street from the Duhamel Trading Post in Rapid City. Its studios were on the 10th floor of the

Hotel Alex Johnson The Hotel Alex Johnson is a historic hotel in Rapid City, South Dakota that opened in 1928. History The hotel was built by its namesake, Alex Carlton Johnson, Vice President of the Chicago & North Western Railroad.http://moh.tie.net/content/doc ...

, while the station's offices were on the 11th. Originally broadcasting with a very limited licensed power of 150 watts, in 1944 KOBH sought approval from the Federal Communications Commission to move up to 5000 watts, which would dramatically expand the territory it could reach. Asked to help, U.S. Congressman

Francis H. Case Francis Higbee Case (December 9, 1896June 22, 1962) was an American journalist and politician who served for 25 years as a member of the United States Congress from South Dakota. He was a Republican. Biography Case was born in Everly, Iowa, the ...

sought military support. He discovered that U.S. Army Air Corps airplanes based at the recently established Rapid City Army Air Base (later renamed

Ellsworth Air Force Base Ellsworth Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force base located about northeast of Rapid City, South Dakota, just north of the town of Box Elder, South Dakota, Box Elder. The host unit at Ellsworth is the 28th Bomb Wing (28 BW). Assi ...

) used KOBH as a navigation beacon while training for European

strategic bombing during World War II World War II (1939–1945) involved sustained strategic bombing of railways, harbours, cities, workers' and civilian housing, and industrial districts in enemy territory. Strategic bombing as a military strategy is distinct both from close ...

. With Pentagon backing, Case convinced the FCC to grant the more powerful license effective January 1, 1945. The call letters changed to KOTA, the last two syllables of "Dakota". In 1953–1954, an out-of-state investor was maneuvering to buy KOTA. To counter this, Duhamel bought all outstanding stock and established Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises as the corporate entity.

Television

In 1955, Duhamel oversaw the creation of KOTA-TV, only the second television station in South Dakota at the time. In order to supply programming, she erected a chain of microwave transmitters to bring live TV signals to Rapid City for broadcast over KOTA-TV. Upon completion it was then "the world's longest privately owned microwave system." In 1966, Duhamel became a partner in South Dakota Cable, and began installing cable television in western South Dakota. Approached by rural residents of the western Nebraska Panhandle about expanding television coverage there, she decided to expand to the south. Although she originally established it in Hay Springs, Nebraska, she moved KDUH-TV to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, in 1981. With this and other expansions, Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises came to operate the original AM radio station, an FM radio station, and four television stations, with a transmission area that extended into eastern Wyoming and Montana.

Recognition and awards

In 1961, Helen Duhamel was elected president of the South Dakota Broadcasters Association. She was not only the first woman to hold that position, but the first woman in the United States to hold the comparable top post in any state broadcasting association. Helen Duhamel received numerous awards, including the Alfred P. Sloan Radio-Television Award for Distinguished Public Service, the McCall's Golden Mike Award (1957),"Golden Mike Awards,"
Arcane Radio Trivia. Retrieved Jan. 13, 2023. and a letter of commendation from the President of the United States for the public service work of the Duhamel stations during the June

1972 Black Hills flood The Black Hills Flood of 1972, also known as the Rapid City Flood, was the most detrimental flood in South Dakota history, and one of the deadliest floods in U.S. history. The flood took place on June 9–10, 1972 in the Black Hills of Western ...

. She was selected for the South Dakota Broadcasters' Association Hall of Fame in 1976 and the Nebraska Broadcasters' Association Hall of Fame in 1992. In 2002, she was inducted into the Association for Women in Communications Hall of Fame.

End and successor

In the same year that she and Bud celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary, Helen Duhamel died in Rapid City on November 8, 1991. Her son, Bill Duhamel, succeeded her as president and general manager of Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises. After Schurz Communications acquired KOTA-TV in 2014, the Duhamel radio stations were sold on January 1, 2019.

References

External links

Helen Duhamel, Hall of Fame 1992
, the Nebraska Broadcasters' Association Hall of Fame including a video {{DEFAULTSORT:Duhamel, Helen S. Radio pioneers American television executives American women television executives American radio company founders American television company founders American women in television People from Windsor, Missouri Businesspeople from Nebraska Businesspeople from Missouri People from Rapid City, South Dakota 1904 births 1991 deaths American women company founders 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American businesswomen