The Innocence of my Youth.

Where did it go?

My life began in the heart of the Grain Belt. Born in Sioux Falls, SD....reared in a small farm town called Clark, where life was stuck in the 50's....but then, it WAS the 50's.

My father and mother were pioneers in a new media called television. Dad, who was working in sales for a CBS affiliate in Sioux Falls, was tasked with building and administering a brand spanking new TV 'satellite' of the parent station.

KDLO-TV was born in 1955, on an open field in a small town called Garden City....15 miles from Clark. An incredibly tall tower was erected, as altitude is was everything for the now archaic transmission science of 'line of sight'. A working studio and small office was built beneath the tower, which could be seen for miles over the flat plaines of this mid-west prairie.

Many of the locals, virtually all farmers, were skeptical and feared that this new technology called television would potentially harm their livestock and even alter the very existence of their life's work in the fields of corn, barley, wheat and soy. A fear that eventually evaporated once the new and curious intruder went on-line.

My memories of that time are rich with the juxtaposition of being a 5 year old boy, in a new and unknown town, yet being part of a family that would literally bring Clark, SD into the 20th. century, via....live broadcast television.

I quickly adopted new friends and new thinking about my childhood world. Being a boy, and specifically being a boy in the mid-west in the 1950's....I had no interest in world affairs, short of those which affected me personally. The introduction of a fledgling broadcast facility, affiliated with, and provider of a real live national network was all I needed to learn about the wonderful world of "Andy's Kids, Captain Kangaroo, My friend Flicka, Rin-Tin-Tin....and so on. The small satellite station would air live broadcasts from all CBS feeds that the rest of the country was receiving.

As time passed, within the second year of it's sign-on...My mother, who was the stations 'traffic manager'....was given the first live, B&W broadcast of her own. She produced and starred in a weekly 1/2 hour live broadcast called "Take a Break". She would don gowns and fanciful clothes, and interview the local community. In hind sight, it must have been hilarious, since the most pressing news events were cattle breaking out of fenced areas, tornados and record snow falls. Still, it was news and accepted as gold for those who had never been exposed to electronic news. What a trip.

Eventually, life settled down for myself and my brother. We soon lost the praise of being the 'big fish' in a small pond, and settled in to the routine of a rural South Dakota farm community. Mayberry, perfectly reflected our wonderful life in that innocent town called Clark.

There is so much to be shared from this childhood, but most important to me, is that I was living in a time, place and age of total innocence. The first time I ever saw a black person, was when a traveling carnival show passed through town. It happened every other year or so, and not as frequently as the Mennonites and Hutterites visits.

When the circus came to town, I noticed one of the black employees erecting a tent. A strong but weathered man, with miles of history on his face. I asked him, quite sincerely...does that color rub off? You need to understand, at ten years of age, I had never seen an African American....and obviously, there was no television until my family brought it to north central SD....so my question was not meant as a pejorative, rather it was honest. The man's reply still rests in my heart. Keep in mind, this was around 1959 or so. He said..."son, when God made the world, he also made flowers, and you will notice that most flower beds are filled with flowers of different colors. People are also flowers of God, and so he made them different colors". That was it...that was all he said. It made sense, and worked for me, and to this day, it rings true.

Jump cut to 1965. We eventually left Clark and the television station, and moved to a large city. I began Jr. High School in a new city. Having left the sheltered and innocent world of the plains.....The real world educated me, and tho most of those innocent years of my childhood, where riding my bike from sunrise to sunset without worry from my parents were replaced by peer pressure, vanity, Vietnam and all that now exists in the world....I will never forget and always treasure those day when life is what most only dream of in the perfect childhood, still can be felt through my memory. Growing up is difficult enough, but if we have roots that are warm and kind, then it is good enough for me, since I often call on them for strength in these trying times of 'color television'.

to be continued---