In 1985 Dave Riek began his career in radio as a student volunteer at KNAU, the NPR affiliate at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff. His background in competitive speech and debate on NAU’s nationally-ranked forensics team turned out to be excellent preparation for work as a radio reporter and newscaster. Dave graduated from NAU in 1987 and became the News Director at KNAU in 1990.

During the 1990’s KNAU grew from one station in Flagstaff with translators in Kingman, Page, Prescott, and Flagstaff to a network of stations with two transmitters serving Flagstaff and repeater stations in Prescott (a partnership with Yavapai College), Page (a partnership with Coconino Community College), Show Low (a partnership with Northland Pioneer College), and Tusayan, along with a translator in Kingman. This explosive growth necessitated Dave’s transition from News Director to Operations Manager in 1996. His role evolved into Network Operations Manager in 2000 when he took part in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) sponsored Commitment to Localism project. This two-year experiment allowed KNAU to establish local news bureaus in Page, Prescott, and Show Low. Results from the Commitment to Localism included award-winning coverage of the Rodeo-Chedeski fire, several in-depth feature reports on the Prescott community, and valuable research on the role and value of public radio in rural Arizona communities.

The lessons from the Commitment to Localism experience are now being applied as KNAU has entered into a variety of partnership agreements with several Arizona public radio stations including KUYI-FM in Keams Canyon (licensed to the Hopi Foundation) and KGHR in Tuba City (licensed to Greyhills Academy). An outgrowth of these partnerships has been the CPB-sponsored Indian Country News Bureau operated by KNAU in Flagstaff.

In 2006-2007 KNAU partnered with Arizona Western College to provide management for KAWC AM & FM. Dave became an executive-on-loan as part-time station manager for KAWC. In mid-2007, Dave decided to focus strictly on the opportunities of developing KAWC and is now the full-time station manager of KAWC. One of Dave's priorities is to discover ways to enhance the public service value of KAWC to the Yuma community and more efficiently operate both the AM and FM stations.

Dave loves living in Arizona and being with his family, including his wife Ellen, who teaches at NAU, and his three kids who all go to St. Francis of Assisi school in Yuma.

Contact Dave!

By phone: (928) 344-7691
By fax: (928) 317-7040
By email: dave.riek@azwestern.edu
By mail: P.O. Box 929, Yuma, Arizona, 85366