Price visitation, funeral scheduled

Oct. 18, 2008

WAVERLY, Iowa — Grant Price, a reluctant legend of Iowa broadcasting, died Friday, Oct. 17, at Covenant Medical Center in Waterloo. He was 85.

After joining the Wartburg communication arts faculty in 1990, Price received emeritus status in 1996. He taught part-time until 2004-05. He spent the time since then working to catalog items in the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting, which he was instrumental in establishing at the college’s Vogel Library.

He also worked for more than a decade to record the oral histories of many key figures from the formative years of Iowa’s broadcasting industry. Earlier this year, the archives and KWWL-TV in Waterloo released “A Legacy of Trust: The Black Hawk Broadcasting Story,” which Price helped produce.

In 2005, Price also donated more than $2 million to Wartburg, saying he wanted to leave a bit of himself and his late wife, Fadra, in the classroom. A stock investment he made many years ago allowed him to make the gift, which funded the Grant L. Price Chair in Communication Arts; a gift to the endowment of the Archives of Iowa Broadcasting; an addition to the Fadra F. Price Communication Arts Scholarship in honor of his late wife; and the Grant L. Price Scholarship.

Price said in a 2005 interview with Wartburg Magazine that Fadra appreciated his work on behalf of Wartburg, even if it meant he was away from home more.

“She knew I wasn’t the kind of guy who retires and follows his wife around, bothering her,” he said. “She and I were partners, so in that sense, she made as big a contribution as I did (to Wartburg).

“I have come to love this place,” he added. “I see value in what we’ve done in the communication arts department. The education our students get here makes their lives bloom.”

Price was born Nov. 11, 1922 in Melville, Saskatchewan, Canada. The child of farmers, he attended a one-room schoolhouse and moved to Nebraska shortly before entering high school.

His dreamed of being a cowboy. On breaks from school, he worked on a 12,000-acre cattle ranch. The work proved difficult --- not like what he saw movie cowboys doing.

“Working on the ranch wasn’t riding the range, strapping on a six-gun and shooting up Atkinson (Neb.,) on Saturday night,” Price joked in a 2005 interview.

After graduating from high school in 1940, he enrolled at American University in Washington, D.C. Sensing he’d be drafted after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, he transferred to Morningside University in Sioux City to be closer to home. He also joined the staff at KSCJ Radio, giving him an outlet for his interests in speech and debate.

The U.S. Navy drafted Price after he completed one semester at Morningside, and he served in the South Pacific. He later returned to Sioux City, picking up where he left off at Morningside and KSCJ.

It wasn’t long before KTRI Radio offered him a position as news director. Price dropped out of college and “became a one-man news team.”

A year later, KXEL Radio in Waterloo offered Price a similar position. He remained at the station from 1948 to 1959. He began to realize the impact television would have on broadcasting and took a position with WMT Radio in Cedar Rapids. He was eventually offered a position at Channel 2 TV and Radio, which was then a division of the WMT organization.

In fall 1972, the Waterloo-based Black Hawk Broadcasting Co. offered Price the job of vice president of news and public affairs. The company owned KWWL-TV in Waterloo and stations in Sioux City and Austin, Minn., as well as radio stations in Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and Waterloo. He became vice president of news at KWWL-TV in 1980 after the station was sold to AFLAC.

Price decided at age 67 it was time to “clear out of the newsroom.” He retired in 1989, but remained a part-time consultant.

During that time he had lunch with Harry Slife, former Wartburg Board of Regents chairman, and then Wartburg President Robert Vogel.

“They were crazy enough to ask me to teach here,” Price joked in a 2005 interview. He joined the Wartburg faculty. The intention was that he would take the department beyond its “radio-only” broadcasting emphasis. With a grant from the R.J. McElroy Trust, a TV lab and studio were installed. In addition, the former Liemohn Hall was renovated and became McElroy Communication Arts Center. He became full-time department chair in 1993.

Earlier this year, “A Legacy of Trust” was accepted for inclusion in the collection of The Paley Center for the Media (formerly the Museum of Broadcasting) in New York City. Price also received the President’s Award at the Midwest Archives Conference, recognizing his efforts on behalf of the broadcasting archives.

Price is survived by his daughter, Laurie Price Kemp, son-in-law Christopher Kemp and grandchildren Lucas and Sarah of St. Paul, Minn.; and daughter, Julie Price Barnd, son-in-law, Mark, and grandchildren Emily, a 2006 Wartburg graduate, Andrew, a Wartburg senior, and Matthew, of Marion.

Visitation is scheduled for 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21, at Locke Funeral Home in Waterloo. The funeral will take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 22, at First Presbyterian Church, Waterloo.