At the third station I worked for, KFYR in Bismarck, North Dakota, the news department consisted of two people, plus an announcer or two and a couple of part-time photographers that we had to share with the sales department.
And we were supposed to provide for the needs of an AM radio station as well as the tv station.
Later an FM station was added to the mix.
So we "newsmen" were the voices of the many daily broadcasts, we wrote and produced the newscasts, we shot and edited the film, we covered meetings and events and the police stations and sheriff's departments.
But since we were in the state capitol, politics and government often made up the bulk of our work.
In this photo, I'm the film photographer in the middle of the group of three.
Our cameras are all focused on the governor, William L. "Bill" Guy, as he comes into the legislature to give his annual State of the State address.
I find it interesting that three "photographers" are using the same basic camera but we each have our own way of gripping the device.
In the upper right corner of this picture, my boss at the time, News Director Larry Mills, is doing a live broadcast on radio of the event.
The fellow with the headset sitting next to him was an engineer.
One other thing I learned in those early days was how to shoot film while walking backwards.
That's me on the far right with my camera focused on Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey.
He's walking with the governor's wife while the governor, on the left, is accompanying Mrs. Humphrey, Muriel.
In the center is U.S. Senator Quentin Burdick.
In some ways it was a much simpler era.
In others it was vastly more complicated.
