KORN Announcers
JP Skelly
On
a Sunday afternoon in late June, 1973, 17 year old J.P. Skelly sat in
the orchestra pit of Copiague Senior High School, wishing commencement
would move on so he could start his summer vacation. J.P. had his fill
of education for another year and dreamed about the beach, parties, a
summer job, and NO SCHOOL! Then, for some reason that still escapes
him, J.P. actually listened to one of the commencement speakers. His
name was Bud O’Connell, president of the school board. He offered a
pearl of wisdom to the graduates who were about to begin a new chapter
in their lives. Bud reminded the students to keep learning. He said,
“Learn something new everyday. Any day that goes by when you don’t
learn something new is a wasted day.” 33 years later, Bud’s words still
echo in J.P.’s mind. Words that he took to heart then and lives by each
day at KORN.
A
native of Copiague, New York, J.P.’s passion for broadcasting began as
a child when a vacuum hose served as his “microphone”. J.P. continued
to develop his broadcasting skills as the P.A. announcer for sporting
events at Copiague High and was one of the first people on the school's
closed circuit television station.
He
put his broadcasting career on hold when he graduated from college with
a geology degree and spent nearly seven years as a consultant geologist.
J.P.
attended the May School of Broadcasting in Billings, Montana and
graduated at the top of his class in January, 1986. Two weeks later he
joined KORN as the morning personality and farm news director.
"KORN
was supposed to be a two-year stop on my rise to fame and fortune,"
says J.P. "Now after 21 years, the fame I've found it's the fortune
that eludes me!" He hosted the morning show for twelve years until
taking over the News Department in 1998.
Since
becoming News Director, J.P. and KORN have earned over 70 honors and
recognition from organizations including the South Dakota Associated
Press, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Radio-Television
News Directors Association, the South Dakota Broadcasters Association,
the University of South Dakota, the South Dakota Education Association
and the Associated Press Managing Editors.
Professionally, J.P. is past-president of the Northwest Broadcast News Association, president of the board of directors of the Northwest Broadcast News Foundation, a member of the South Dakota Broadcasters Association and Radio-Television News Directors Association. Locally, he’s president of Mitchell Area Crime Stopper’s, a member of the board of directors of the Mitchell Advisory Council for People with Disabilities, and Dakota Counseling/Stepping Stones.
J.P. is a trained SKYWARN spotter for the National Weather Service and a member of the Local Emergency Planning Committee.
He, his wife Bonnie and their black Lab Chip live in Mitchell.
Clint Greenway
Clint
has been working at KORN since 2001 when he began working weekends and
doing in-studio sports coverage. After learning the ropes, he dipped
his toe into sports coverage by taking on the role of analyst during
high school basketball and Mitchell Kernel football.
He
was then promoted to play-by-play role for Q107 Sports and has had the
chance to cover everything from high school sports to amateur baseball.
He also had a brief stint as the Q107 Morning Show host, but left the
post to focus on his job as an account executive. Clint moved into the
air chair full time when he took over as the host of the KORN Morning
Show in the spring of 2004 and continues his coverage of area high
school sports on Q107 and Mitchell Post 18 American Legion baseball on
KORN.
Clint was
born in Mitcell and raised on the family farm west of town. He
graduated from Mitchell High School in 1995 and headed to Vermillion to
attend the University of South Dakota. He returned to Mitchell in 2000
and joined the KORN/Q107 team shortly after his return.
He
and his wife Jill have one son. Clint enjoys spending time playing golf
in his free time and also competes in two dart leagues. He also lends
his time to teaching Junior Achievement and has emceed parades for
Mitchell's Holiday Parade of Lights, the Corn Palace Stampede Rodeo,
and Dakota Wesleyan University's Blue and White Days. Clint also is
public address announcer for DWU football and the Tiger women's
basketball team.
Jena O'Connor
Jena
started at KORN the summer after her junior year of high school working
part-time engineering ball games and filling in when needed. She stayed
until she graduated and then went to Brookings to pursue a degree in
Broadcast Journalism at South Dakota State University.
Three-and-a-half years later, she's back and working as the morning
show host for KORN. She's very excited to be back and can't wait to see
what the future brings.
Jena grew up on a farm northeast of Spencer and graduated from McCook Central High School in 2004. She's been happily married to her husband, Jeremy, since January 2008 -- not long -- she knows, but is definitely enjoying married life. Jena and Jeremy have two "kids," Touille and AJ, both miniature daschunds.
In her spare time, Jena enjoys spending time with her boys, reading, watching movies, and hanging out with her friends. Jena also actively competes with her horse, Sonnet, at local shows and barrel races. She and her husband, also attend truck pulls, where Jeremy enjoys competing.
Steve Morgan
Steve was always interested in radio since a small child growing up in Northwest Iowa and then Southeast South Dakota. Always imitating broadcasters on TV and radio Steve was born to talk! He would often record himself, with parents help, talking sports or acting out a sports game all on tape. Steve got his first taste of broadcasting in high school when he was hired by KMIT in Mitchell, South Dakota as a weekend announcer and filled in overnights during the summer months.
After college Steve was hired back at KMIT in January 1992 as the full-time overnight announcer. Steve was on overnights until August 1992 when he was promoted to nights and stayed on nights until February 1997. In 1997 Steve got out of the nightlife of radio and managed a cell phone store and did some sports announcing on Q107. In May 1999 Steve was offered a full-time mornings, sports, and program director job with KORN and Q107.
Missing radio for two years, Steve jumped at the situation and returned to radio and will never get out again. Steve has done mornings on Q107 since 1999 and took over the title of Sports Director in the fall of 2001 when his mentor Tom Maxwell past away. Steve was named 2008 Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association.
In his spare time, when he has some, Steve loves to camp with his wife and three daughters in their camper. Steve is also active in the Shrine, Shrine Clowns, Masons, Mitchell Baseball Association, Mitchell Booster Club, Big Brothers and Big Sisters, and LifeQwest. Steve also does dances with the Lightning Audio Sound System as well.
