The Good Life – July-August 2017

PHOTOS SUBMITTED BY: KEVIN WALLEVAND
related to me. I worked at my dad's
gas station, so I had to develop good
people skills."
In high school, Wallevand reveled
in current events. Each morning,
his teacher would record the news
on his way to work and play it back
for students in his class. After
taking notes throughout the week,
Wallevand and his classmates were
tested on Friday to reveal how much
they had retained about the world
around them. Wallevand looked
forward to it every week.
As a high schooler, he went on air for
the first time.
"I did the news for our little town on a
radio station out of Wadena,” he said.
“At 11 o’clock in the morning I would
call in and give the basketball score
from the night before, the school
lunch menu and what was going on in
town that day for basketball, football
or whatever."
After graduating from high school
in 1980, Wallevand set off to college
at Minnesota State University
Moorhead, where he wrote for the
MSUM Advocate student newspaper.
"Then we launched Campus News at
MSUM ... we were in that first class
that started the weekly TV show,” he
said, laughing and recalling the days.
“We were horrible — we were so bad.
It was like Saturday Night Live on
steroids."
At the same time, Wallevand was
20 / THE GOOD LIFE / urbantoadmedia.com
interning with WDAY-TV four days a
week. In spring of 1984, he received
his degree in Mass Communications/
Broadcast Journalism. His college
internship turned into a full-time
offer at WDAY where he remains
today as the station's senior reporter.
Chasing Down Leads
With journalism under increasing
public scrutiny, Wallevand feels the
role of a journalist today is “more
important than ever. I'm really proud
of the profession,” he said. “I think it
takes a lot of heat — and there are
bad apples — but I think it's a great
profession."
As a reporter, Wallevand loves the
job of relaying information and
sharing stories of unsung heroes.
"Journalism's role has always been
to help inform, educate and hold
public officials accountable but also
be there to report and bring stories
home to viewers that they may not
otherwise know about,” he said.
And that’s just what he’s done.
Having traveled twice to Africa,
Vietnam, Haiti, Kosovo, South
America, Mongolia and the Middle
East for his documentary work,
Wallevand has found himself
immersed in stories that are difficult
to put into words.
"Families are inviting you into their
lives at crazy times,” he said. “Their
kid is battling cancer at the age of
4, their son just overdosed two days
before on fentanyl, someone lost
their husband in a farm accident and
now neighbors are coming to help
them harvest. It’s these super ‘life
moments’ and people are willing
share them — and not all the time.
But there's a lot of people that are
willing to do it and I admire that."
You’d think as a frequent flyer,
Wallevand might claim traveling as
the highlight of his career. But he
begs to differ.
"When it comes down to memorable
things, it always comes back to
people's stories,” he said. "It's not
like interviewing Obama — it's
not fancy stuff. Even with some
of the global stuff we've done —
documentaries and such — the travel
is great, but it still comes down to
stories. Moments."
National Recognition
Though Wallevand has a won a
number of awards over the years,
he’s hesitant to talk about them. In
TV news, the work is a team effort.
There’s a lot that happens behind
the camera.
“The photographer is usually the
unsung hero,” he said.
Among his most notable awards
are two Emmys and two national
Edward R. Murrow awards.
Wallevand won an Emmy for
writing “The Quilt: Hope from the
Heartland” where he and his team
followed a church quilt on its journey