 30 years ago today, what is now Lakeland PBS went on the air in Brainerd with the call letters K-A-W-B. Our Sarah Winkelman takes us through the history of the local PBS station in the Brainerd Lakes region. After Lakeland Public Television was created in Bemidji in 1980, the station set out to serve a larger audience and put up a transmitter for the Brainerd Lakes area in 1988. The way the Brainerd office came about really is due to the support of people in central Minnesota, people wanting a local public television station there. With the only location at first being a small building by the transmitter just north of Pillager. It quickly evolved to the point where we felt we needed, we needed an established presence right here in the heart of the Brainerd Lakes area. And nearly 10 years later the actual Brainerd studio came to life. I was hired in 1997 and I worked out of my home for a couple years doing fundraising. Then two years later we opened our studio and office here. Hello, I'm Dutch Cregan, a board member of Lakeland Public Television. We're preparing an exciting new program called Brainerd Live. Playing a large role in the Brainerd space is Lakeland News, which went on air for the first time in 1998. Lakeland News at 10. Good evening everyone and welcome to the debut edition of Lakeland News at 10. And since then many reporters have called Brainerd home. It makes me smile thinking about we've come a long way. Also making the journey is the champagne bottle that was broken into at the groundbreaking 30 years ago today. Hopefully this will be around for at least another 30 years long after we're all gone. But looking towards the future, the Brainerd studio could soon see some changes. It really needs to be updated so we're looking at options of doing that right now. To continue to provide local television in the Brainerd community. And the fact that we're celebrating 30 years is pretty special. Reporting in Brainerd, Sarah Winkelman, Lakeland News. Yeah 30 years, what a great thing for the Brainerd Lakes area. We've been privileged to serve for that long. Lakeland News has been a part of it for 20 years. But people like Dave Hanchkey, Alan Johnson, Dutch Craig, and of course John Yord, big part of getting that started down in Brainerd. And it's been a it's been a run. I don't know who that kid was. They had anchoring the news back then. But I think those standard deaf cameras gave you a lot more hair. That might have been it. I think that's what it is. If you enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland PBS.