Celebrating Perry Groten’s 40th anniversary at KELO

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — The year was 1984. Ronald Reagan won his second term as president. The Los Angeles Raiders won the Super Bowl and a young reporter started his first day of work at KELOLAND News 40 years ago.

For four decades our viewers have welcomed Perry Groten into their living rooms reporting on some of KELOLAND's biggest stories.

Thursday is his 40th anniversary at KELO-TV.

Groten, an Albert Lea, Minnesota native, remembers reporting for KELO out of our bureau in Worthington.

He recalls it got off to a rough start.

"My first day I locked my keys in the car, so I had to devote a lot of time getting another reporter to use a coat hanger to open up my car window," Groten said.

But in all seriousness, he covered some of the hardest-hitting stories of the 80's.

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"In those days, that was kind of the peak of the farm crisis and the Worthington and Brewster area was kind of the hub of a lot of farm activism with the ground swell movement and that kind of thing to help farmers who were struggling at that time," Groten said.

On Thursday, the newsroom celebrated Groten's 40th with his three favorite things; one of which is his fascination with pirates.

"That's when I had my detached retina surgery so I had to wear an eye patch for two weeks after my surgery and I looked at myself in the mirror and said this look really works for me I think I'm going to be a pirate," Groten said.

Groten has witnessed a lot of changes in the news business over the past 40 years, especially in technology.

"I remember when I first started in Rapid City. I would shoot the story and then edit it in the studio in Rapid City and take the cassette and then put it on an airplane and fly it back to Sioux Falls," Groten said.

But for him, there's one thing that remains the same.

"Oh that's easy. The commitment to serve our community and serve our audience," Groten said.

Groten says he has no plans of retiring. In fact, he joked that he's looking forward to the next 40.