Media Release
March 1, 2007
Contact: Marie Lucero, Prairie Public Broadcasting, 701-239-7535 

Public Radio to broadcast German-Russian narratives
Fargo, N.D.

FARGO, N.D — Prairie Public will broadcast a fascinating new radio series of local oral histories beginning in March. “Growing Up German Russian: A Radio Series” is a collection of narratives gleaned from the oral histories collection of the Dakota Memories Oral History Project.

The 3-6 minute narratives will air in the “Dakota Datebook” time slot each Monday and Friday at 8:35 a.m., 3:50 p.m., 6:30 p.m. and 7:50 p.m. beginning in March and continuing through April. The radio narratives will also be available on the Web at www.prairiepublic.org/radio.

Jessica Clark, project coordinator, explained that these interviews are designed to preserve the precious history and heritage of Germans from Russia on the Northern Plains. "These narrators contain vivid childhood memories — memories of learning to drive a tractor, witnessing a prairie fire, adopting a little colt, listening to German funeral songs, and growing up on the prairie during the Dirty Thirties," Clark said.

The radio series is part of a larger project that will record numerous narratives for study and archiving. The project is sponsored by Prairie Public, the German from Russia Heritage Collection and the North Dakota State University Libraries, with partial funding by the North Dakota Hummanities Council.

Radio broadcasts from Prairie Public Broadcasting are the result of a partnership with North Dakota State University and the University of North Dakota and can be heard on 90.5 fm Bismarck, 89.9 fm Dickinson, 91.9 fm Fargo, 89.3 fm Grand Forks, 91.5 fm Jamestown, 88.9 fm Minot, and 89.5 fm Williston.