News Director in Rapid City, South Dakota at Forum Communications Company

KNBN Newscenter1, the NBC station in Rapid City, SD, provides quality broadcasting to all of western South Dakota, and portions of northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana. They are an award-winning station, taking home a Meteorologist of the Year award from the Wyoming Broadcasters Association in 2025. KNBN is part of Forum Communications Company, a 5th-generation family-owned media company, and produces over 16 hours of local news, weather, and sports content each week, making them an emerging news powerhouse in the state of South Dakota!

Rapid City is a growing community nestled in the heart of South Dakota’s stunning Black Hills. It’s an outdoor lover’s dream, with iconic attractions and majestic national parks all within an hour’s drive, including Mount Rushmore, Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, Black Hills National Forest, and Wind Cave National Park. Beyond the scenic views, the region offers some of the nation’s largest free-ranging bison herds, endless hiking and ATV trails, and year-round adventure with skiing, snowmobiling, and snowshoeing in the winter months.

Job Summary

Supervises and coordinates activities of the television news gathering staff. Approve news stories, schedule newscasts, manage and develop staff.

Essential Functions

• Build, mentor, and motivate a high-performing newsroom team.
• Foster a culture of creativity, collaboration, accountability, and journalistic excellence.
• Guide editorial strategy and help shape the stories that matter most to our audience.
• Manage daily news coverage and newsroom assignments.
• Help drive breaking news and special coverage efforts.
• Originates or approves ideas for news features.
• Helps with writing, editing, and content development.
• Reads and edits news copy to ensure that slanderous, libelous, and profane statements are avoided or deleted.
• Ensure compliance with federal, state and local regulations.
• Monitor broadcasts and digital content to maintain NewsCenter1's high standards.
• Monitor operations budget, crew scheduling and workflow.
• Supervise personnel including, work allocation, training and problem resolution. Evaluate performance and motivate staff to achieve peak performance.
• Confers with the department heads to coordinate production activities.
• Maintains contact with outside news agencies, police and fire departments, and other news sources to obtain information regarding developing news items.
• Coordinate with broadcast partners in Fargo and Sioux Falls.
• Maintain prompt and reliable attendance.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in journalism, mass communications or related field.
• Three to five years' experience in a broadcast setting.
• Must be computer proficient and have excellent organizational skills.
• Must have the ability to lead and motivate staff to achieve objectives.
• Able to make decisions and work closely with others under deadline pressure.
• Must have thorough knowledge of broadcast newsroom operations, budgets and journalistic standards.
• Ability to work flexible hours in a fast-paced environment.
• Ability to problem solve, make immediate decisions and provide leadership skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• A strong journalist and newsroom leader who enjoys both strategy and execution.
• Passionate about local news and community storytelling.

Expected compensation for this role is between $85,000-$90,000/year, based on qualifications and experience.

Forum Communications Company is a family-owned media and technology leader with more than a century of delivering trusted, quality journalism and innovative business solutions. Storytelling is at the heart of who we are, but today, we’re so much more than a newspaper. As one of the Upper Midwest’s leading media organizations, we’re driving the future across print and digital news, sports streaming, technology, broadcasting, commercial printing, and full-service agency advertising.

Forum Communications Company offers the following to all Full-Time and 32-Hour Benefited employees:

• Health, dental, and vision packages
• Paid maternity and parental leave
• Company-paid short-term disability and life insurance
• Additional options for critical illness, accident, and hospital indemnity coverage
• Retirement benefits with company match
• Generous PTO and paid volunteer hours

We are an equal employment opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. FCC currently does not offer employer sponsorship.