MaryAnn Simmons first worked for KROX right out of college beginning in 1960. After getting married, she raised her kids, worked at a few other places locally including writing a column for the paper before returning to KROX in the 80s. She covered her last Polk County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, December 18. “I started right out of college in 1960 and then have been back here for the last 30-some years. It’s been very interesting, but I guess I’m one of the weird ones because I liked to go to the county board, city council, school board, and UMC meetings,” said Simmons. “It’s strange because some people think the meetings are boring. My granddaughter came to a meeting once and said, ‘how can you stand it, it’s so boring,’ but it’s not, it very interesting.”
One of the biggest stories in the area over the years was the flood in 1997 and MaryAnn was there to cover it on KROX. “For two weeks Crookston became a metropolitan area and KROX on was the air 24 hours a day. Frank was sleeping in the office, and we were watching the water come up and go down,” said Simmons. “It was a tough time for everybody, but that’s what KROX was good at and still is. When the fire whistle blows, we know what to do and how to do it.”
Many people came to town over the years like from senators to governors. “There were always interesting people to interview; I remember when Governor Pawlenty was here at the college, and he didn’t talk to any of the reporters that day. We were all disturbed that he wouldn’t talk to us, but that’s how it goes. I got to interview Alan Page, Senator Dave Durenberger, there were always new presidents at the college too, and when people were running for office, they came knocking so you to meet them like Roger Moe and Bernie Leider.”
Simmons was even invited to the Governor’s mansion by Governor Rudy Perpich when he came to town for a governor for the day event and they took over the town. Simmons knew Perpich liked apple pie, so she made him one that he took home with him. She wasn’t able to make it to the mansion as Perpich lost the election.
There were always interesting stories to cover said Simmons including some devastating stories from the courts, but also lots of interesting ones as well. But Simmons said some of the things she will miss the most is being out in public, going to meetings, talking to people and the kids for Focus on Education. “The other day I ran into a gal who is a doctor in town now, and I interviewed her when she was in high school, and she remembered that,” said Simmons. “Sometimes I felt bad for my kids and grandkids when they were at the school, and it was always here comes grandma again, but they got used to it. It was fun being a part of the high school and going to all the games and that stuff.”
Technology has changed a lot over the years, and it’s the same in radio as everywhere else. “I had to go from tape recorders to computers and needless to say the computers drove me crazy for a while. I don’t even have a computer at home so I’m not learning and every time I work on it, it’s always different,” said Simmons. “The tape recorder was the key though. People would say, ‘well you shouldn’t say that’ and I didn’t, the people on the tape recorder did so I didn’t have to defend myself.”
The Polk County Commissioners named Simmons, the sixth-district commissioner at her final meeting. “I’ve been going there a long time and been around a lot of commissioners over all those years. I seconded the motion to close the meeting, so that was my big deal that day,” said Simmons. “I couldn’t figure out what was going on [when all the department heads came in], but that was very nice of them. I tell them I know where the bodies are buried, and they understand that. They’ve been very good to me and trusted us, believed we would get it right and not mess things up.”
Simmons says people should realize how lucky Crookston is to have a station like KROX. “We don’t know how lucky we are, it’s so local you know when the fire whistle blows, who’s dying and who’s sick. Towns this size don’t have radio stations like this,” said Simmons. “It’s been in the family for a long time with Keiwel, Dahlberg, Frank and them. It’s like a having a private bank and not a big merged bank having a radio station like this.”
Simmons says she was always a morning person and will miss getting up and going to work. “When Mulvaney was here and now Mark [Anderson] I was always up and running at 5 o’clock and getting the news on for 7:30 and 8:00, I enjoyed that,” said Simmons. “Its different for everybody, if they are a morning person or a night person it’s a whole different ball game. I’m going to miss it all, but it’s okay, I’m to the age now and healthwise I need to kind of stay home and do nothing.”
Simmons also thanked everyone she had worked with over the years. “I just want to thank everybody for all the things they’ve done for us,” said Simmons. “All the people that worked here and the Fee family, it’s been a good time.”
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