Now the weather.

Temperature at eight o'clock 68 degrees.

[Nebbe] Radio.

It's a medium that has been around for over a century, informing, educating and entertaining audiences around the world.

In recent years though, traditional radio broadcasting has faced headwinds with the rise in podcasting and streaming.

In 2023, auto makers even made moves to eliminate AM radio entirely from new vehicles.

Yet, radio remains a valuable asset to communities, especially small towns and rural areas.

♪♪ Good morning.

Here's a look at local news this hour from the northiowanow.com newsroom here on 98.7 KISS Country.

I'm Bob Fisher reporting.

[Nebbe] Mason City native Bob Fisher has worked full-time in the field of broadcasting since 1995.

[Bob Fisher] You know, there's some people that know me for just doing news.

There's some people that know me for just doing sports.

[Nebbe] Bob covers the communities of Mason City and Clear Lake around the clock, often starting his workday at 5AM with the morning newscast, then covering meetings around town later in the day, and sometimes not clocking out until after the final whistle at a high school football game.

[Bob Fisher] It can mean some very long days.

But it's definitely just part of the job.

♪♪ [Bob Fisher] People need to know what is going on in their community.

They need to know if there's major crime going on, if there's an uptick in crime.

They need to know what their city council, their board of supervisors, they need to know what their legislators are doing because obviously those actions by those groups obviously have an impact on their lives.

Okay, we are adjourned.

[Bob Fisher] You know, there's great projects going on in the community as well whether that is city government based or not.

There's still a lot of great organizations in town that do a lot of great things for the people in our area.

Those stories need to be told as well.

Good afternoon.

Here's a look at local news this hour.

From the northiowanow.com newsroom here on 103.7 The Fox.

I am Bob Fisher reporting.

[Nebbe] Like many communities in Iowa and across the country, the Mason City Clear Lake area in recent years has faced a decline in comprehensive news and sports coverage across radio, television and newspaper platforms.

I'm Bob Fisher reporting.

♪♪ [Nebbe] In May of 2024, Bob experienced firsthand the rapidly changing media landscape when he was laid off from his job of nearly 30 years.

♪♪ [Nebbe] Bob said the parent company of his employer had decided to terminate many local on-air personalities in their smaller markets across the country in favor of more syndicated shows.

That effectively eliminated local news and sports programming that many people had come to rely on.

[Bob Fisher] Yeah, the whole backlash on social media and the people coming up to me, I would go out to some ballgames and people would come up to me or I'd be out in public just in general and people come up to me and say, we miss you guys on the radio, we miss hearing local news.

That was a total reinforcement of local radio still being relevant in our North Central Iowa area.

[Nebbe] Bob was without a job for three and a half months, until he was hired by another local radio group.

[Jim Coloff] We've known Bob for years and he has been a great competitor when we weren't working together.

And he was kind of the king of news in North Iowa.

[Jim Coloff] Bob knows what is important and he is available to cover what's important.

He doesn't just work 8 to 5.

If there is a meeting at night, if there is a big event, he's there.

He puts out good, honest news.

People know he is going to cover events and so people respect him and listen to him.

All right, we better get up there, I see the clock says twenty so we better -- thank you, good to see you, Mayor.

(applause) Okay, we're going on in about 20 seconds I think, I hope.

[Bob Fisher] A lot of people probably don't realize how much equipment goes along with all these broadcasts.

They think we probably just show up five minutes before the game and sit down in the seat and have a good time.

But that's not the case.

You've got to prepare with the equipment, we've got to prepare with getting starting lineups and things like that and making sure that everything works to get this game on the air.

♪♪ Dave, we've got a good football team here that's coming back from last year -- ♪♪ [Bob Fisher] Radio broadcasting I think ties people together.

♪♪ [Bob Fisher] Local radio is that friend that people can always tune to, it's always going to be there.

5:35 to go here in the first.

Decision time for Clear Lake.

Lines converted 40% of the time on fourth down last year.

Here's fourth and goal at the three, the pitch, the dodge around the right side, he's into the endzone.

Touchdown Clear Lake Lions!

[Bob Fisher] Whether they want to listen to music, whether they need the news or want to listen to the sports, it's something that people can rely on as a service to the community.

Clear Lake 14, Forest City nothing.

Let's take a 30 second break and come back after this.

[Bob Fisher] Grandparents can't always get to games.

People want to know what the heck happened down the street.

That is what keeps radio relevant in small towns.

(band playing) [Bob Fisher] Going out and seeing kids be successful whether it's in sports, whether it's in fine arts, whether it's just in anything that they do at school, it's great to tell those stories.

Back to Lions Field we come with 4:38 to go in the ball game.

Second and ten at the left side hash mark, sixteen.

Hand off to Wilson again.

And he veers off the right side.

He gets inside the 10.

[Bob Fisher] It's great to tell the successes and the challenges as well that are going on in our communities.

41 to 14 final score on the Clear Lake Bank and Trust scoreboard.

[Bob Fisher] Wanting to just tell that story and continuing to want to keep telling those stories, it's what keeps me wanting to continue to do radio.

That's going to wrap things up here from Lions Field tonight.

For Dave Fritz, Bob Fisher, so long from Lions Field in Clear Lake.

♪♪