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Alaska broadcasting legend Augie Hiebert dies

by John Tracy
Thursday, Sept. 13, 2007

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Alaska has lost another pioneer. 

Augie Hiebert, considered the father of Alaska broadcasting, died this morning at Providence Alaska Medical Center. He was 90 years old.  

Hiebert was recently diagnosed with lymphoma and has been hospitalized since mid August.

By now, his story is the stuff of Alaska legend. In 1932, August Hiebert built and licensed his first ham radio. He was 15 years old.

After a 1939 bus trip from Oregon to Fairbanks, he put KFAR radio on the air for Cap Lathrop.

He would be joined a year later by another young broadcaster, an announcer by the name of Al Bramstedt, Sr. The pair would become lifelong friends and eventually competitors in the broadcast business.

With his trusty dog Sparky at his side, Hiebert built Lathrop's radio empire in Alaska.

But when Lathrop hesitated at the idea of television in Alaska, Hiebert took a chance and began his own empire, forming Northern Television. On Dec. 11, 1953, he was ready to bring TV to the Last Frontier.

In a 2005 interview with Channel 2 News, Hiebert said he initially had some reservations about starting the first television station in the state.

"I was scared to death. Why? Well, I didn't know if it was going to work. We turned it on and had a good test pattern, but I had no idea what was going to happen next," he said.

KTVA was on the air, but the question was, could it stay there?

"You see, we weren't even supposed to be a market big enough to have television station. The smallest market in the south 48 was a million people other places. Here, we started with population of 35,000. We were supposed to go broke. But we didn't," Hiebert said.

KTVA turned to local talent to fill the airwaves with kid shows and talk shows - a commitment to local programming Hiebert practiced throughout his career.

Economics weren't the only challenge. The 1964 earthquake knocked KTVA off the air for a week. Three years later a flood along the Chena River almost sank his Fairbanks station.

But Hiebert's persistence and engineering skills proved unsinkable.

In 1969, he coordinated the first "live" broadcast in Alaska, The Apollo 11 moon landing, which began a friendship with the most trusted man in America, Walter Cronkite.

Cronkite called Hiebert "one of the grandest people I've ever had the opportunity to know and, I'm happy to say, call a friend."

Hiebert sold his interest in Northern Television in 1997, but he wasn't about to retire.

For the past decade he has mentored the students at Mirror Lake Middle School, helping train the next generation of producers, reporters, and even 15-year-old engineers.

"It takes me back in time to when I got started about the same age. You can see what happens when you get started," Hiebert said. "You get hooked on this business, and then you go out and make a career of it."

Hiebert even lobbied the Federal Communications Commission in the nation's Capitol, securing an FM broadcast license for Mirror Lake Middle School.

In the summer of 2005, Hiebert became the first inductee into the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences Gold Circle for 50 years of service. The acceptance speech was pure Augie.

"A favorite quotation of Alaskans who are noted for their passion of independence is, ‘We don't give a damn how they do it in the south 48.' I only partially agree with that philosophy," Hiebert said. "As I look around the room, I realize I am with the best and brightest in media in the Northwest. I care about what you do."

Hiebert continued to be a guiding hand, always a step ahead in the ever-changing world of broadcasting.

The career that began in Fairbanks with Bramstedt Sr. would evolve into another partnership with Bramstedt's son, Al Jr., perhaps Augie Hiebert's closest friend of the last 20 years.

"To have known both of them and to have loved them as well, almost like two fathers - to me, I can't imagine how fortunate I am to have been in that position," Bramstedt said.    

Hiebert's beloved wife, Pat, died in 1994.

He is survived by four daughters, five grandchildren and current and future broadcasters, who have careers thanks in large measure to the broadcast visionary with the heart of a 15 year old. 

Sen. Ted Stevens, a long-time friend of Hiebert's, issued a statement today that said, "Alaskans will remember Augie most as the man who made the nation's largest state a little smaller. His efforts brought us closer together and closer to the rest of the world."     

The Hiebert family has yet to announce a date for Augie's funeral.

Contact John Tracy at jtracy@ktuu.com