Bill Duhamel

Bill Duhamel, President of Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises in Rapid City, South Dakota, left academia to join the family broadcast interests in 1967. Leaving behind the excitement of “Quantative Methods and Managerial Economics” and an Assistant Professorship at Northwestern University, Bill returned to Rapid City to guide, and grow, Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises into an important part of life in western South Dakota, eastern Wyoming and the Nebraska panhandle.

Bill says his company exemplifies local broadcasting. Six generations of Duhamels have lived in the Rapid City area for over 150 years. Duhamel Broadcasting, started by Bill’s mother, Helen, began with a single radio station in 1953. In 1955, they built the first television station in western South Dakota and over the next two decades added three satellite stations that provide television service to their extended viewing area.

Bill has served our industry as a member of the Gore Commission, as a member of the NAB Television Board of Directors, the ABC Affiliates Board, the Rocky Mountain Broadcasters Association and the South Dakota Broadcasters Association. He has served his community with equal enthusiasm, as Chair of the Rapid City Chamber of Commerce, and as board member of numerous community and social services organizations, including Rapid City Regional hospital, the Rural Ethnic Institute, the Finance Committee of Red Cloud Indian School.