Anchor Helene Duhamel Leaving KOTA

After more than 30 years, news anchor Helene Duhamel has decided to leave Gray Television’s ABC affiliate KOTA Rapid City, S.D. (DMA 172). Her last broadcasts will be on Friday, March 10.

Duhamel started as a reporter at KOTA after college; then she transferred to KDUH Scottsbluff, Ariz., in 1988 as news director and anchor. She returned to Rapid City and KOTA in 1989 as news director.

After battling cancer, Duhamel decided to work part time to devote more time to raising her growing family. She continued to anchor and report for the next two decades. The family-owned Duhamel television stations were sold to Schurz Communications in 2014 and again in 2016 to Gray Television during which time she anchored and reported. She most recently anchored the noon and 5:30 p.m. news. 

Duhamel received many awards, including the South Dakota Broadcasters’ Tom Brokaw Award in 1996. KOTA GM Chris Gross said: “The Duhamel family is legendary in broadcasting in the state of South Dakota and Helene has been such a huge part of that.  Although I only had the opportunity to work with Helene a short time I’ve been able to watch her work for over a decade and see the positive impact she has had on viewers and the Black Hills community.”