Don Haney
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – Longtime KFGO news reporter Don Haney will receive the North Dakota Broadcasters Association’s top honor in Bismarck today.
Haney will be awarded with the association’s Pioneer Award, the association says the award is given to broadcasters that make significant and lasting contributions to broadcasting in the state.
Haney worked in North Dakota as a broadcaster for 52 years, he was the state’s longest serving radio news journalist when he retired in October of last year. He first worked in Grafton, North Dakota before his time at KFGO.
Joining the KFGO News team in 1996, Haney’s first major story in the Fargo-Moorhead area was covering the catastrophic Red River flood of 1997. Haney was working in the middle of the night when Fargo-Moorhead was on the brink of disaster as floodwaters nearly topped the downtown dike.
Bruce Furness was the mayor of Fargo at the time. He and then-Public Works operations manager Dennis Walaker and other city officials went on KFGO early that morning to announce that residents in part of south Fargo should prepare to evacuate.
Haney’s work and that of the KFGO News team during the flood of 1997 earned the station a prestigious Peabody Award, the top honor in radio and television.
During his time at KFGO, Haney was a staple of the early morning news and could often be found at overnight fires, crashes and news events throughout the Fargo-Moorhead metro.
Haney is a Thief River Falls, Minnesota native. He has spent his retirement enjoying time with his family, including his wife Deb and his children and grandchildren in central Minnesota, and listening to his hundreds of records.
The Pioneer Award was created in 1998. Lee Timmerman of KFYR TV is also being honored. Pioneer Award recipients are honored in the Hall of Fame interactive kiosk located at the Heritage Center in Bismarck.
Haney is KFGO’s third recipient of the Pioneer Award, former News Director Paul Jurgens was honored in 2024, Bob Harris was honored in 2020.
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