HURON — The Friends of South Dakota Public Broadcasting Board of Directors, the non-profit corporation that is responsible for fundraising and advocacy for SDPB, met in Huron for two days Thursday and Friday.

Gene Ellenson, board chair, of Huron and Julie Overgaard, SDPB Executive Director spoke before Thursday’s meeting about the future of SDPB and the challenges of public broadcasting.

Many know that SDPB receives funding through the state budget each year. However, that funding is earmarked for operational expenses, specifically engineering and staffing.

Programming expenses are funded through grants and through individual donations.

Overgaard mentioned that in many states, coverage of high school athletics and fine arts is on a pay-per-view basis, but SDPB has utilized grant and donation funding to provide that funding for free both over the air and online.

Public broadcasting in the state can be accessed through a number of methods, whether it is through radio broadcast, television broadcast, online broadcast through the donor-funded Passport, or SD.net, which provides extensive audio and video coverage of the state government and SDPB broadcast shows both online and on the sd.net app.

Ellenson observed that donations increased through the COVID-19 pandemic, but have leveled off some since, while the numbers of those who consume SDPB broadcasting have continued to rise, reaching more than three-quarters of the population of the state in any given month.

“We bring in more in March and November, but you can guess why that is,” Overgaard chuckled, indicating increased viewership during the state tournaments for football and volleyball in November each year and for both boys’ and girls’ basketball each March.

Consumers of SDPB content are primarily from South Dakota, but plenty of interest comes from outside the state as well.

Overgaard relayed the story of viewers of the “Dakota Life” program who decided to make a road trip across the state using archives of the show to find notable spots that were of interest in the many small communities across the state.

The “Dakota Life” program has featured multiple Heartland communities in the last few years, with De Smet, Redfield, and Miller featured in recent seasons, with Wessington Springs part of the 2024-2025 season of the program.

While smaller communities have tended to be the focus of the program, Overgaard mentioned that the 2023-2024 season featured a story about Madison, the largest community that the show had featured to date. With the program on a community of that size complete, the potential for larger communities to be featured is also part of the plan, though focusing on small communities will remain the primary focus.

Overgaard noted that focus with the “South Dakota Focus” program.

“Last year, we focused on issues around children, but we didn’t want to spend all of the time in just Sioux Falls and Rapid City because the experiences for children in other parts of the state could be very different,” she explained.

For those who aspire to support statewide broadcasting, the best spot to do so is online at sdpb.org/donate.

The Friends of SDPB board will conclude the two-day meeting with an annual meeting and strategy session today at Top Floor Events in Huron.