Jeff Bunn

PIERRE — A fight between the Pierre School District and a local radio station over a contract for exclusive sports broadcasting rights has come to a boil.

Wednesday, Riverfront Broadcasting LLC, parent company of KCCR and KLXS, filed a lawsuit against the school district and James River Broadcasting, parent company KGFX, questioning the legitimacy of a contract that awarded exclusive rights to KGFX to broadcast all Pierre athletic events.

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“Our attorney is studying South Dakota law and there are a couple of things under South Dakota law that show that a school district does not have the right to do that type of contract,” said Carolyn Becker, Riverfront Broadcasting owner.

Pierre School District superintendent Dr. Kelly Glodt, who had not seen the lawsuit Wednesday, called the situation unfortunate.

“There is really no grounds for negotiation,” he sad. “We have a contract. And we’re doing what we can to fulfill the obligations of the contract.”

At the beginning of the 2007-2008 school year, the district launched its sports marketing program to raise money for district athletics by leasing space on signs and scoreboards at Hollister field and in the high school gymnasiums. A part of the program was securing equal radio coverage of boys and girls sporting events.

To accomplish that, requests for proposals were sent to KCCR, which belonged to NRG Media at the time, and Dakota Radio Group. Dakota Radio Group won the proposal, promising to broadcast all football games, all basketball games, at least nine volleyball games, at least one wrestling match and at least one gymnastics match. The station also agreed to pay $40,000 from Aug. 1, 2008, to July 21, 2013.

KCCR’s proposal, on the other hand, promised to cover an equal number of football and volleyball games and equal number of girls and boys basketball games, or a game for either sex every other week. The radio station did not seek exclusive rights and offered no funds for those rights.

Late this summer, KCCR advertised coverage of away Pierre games for the 2009-2010 season. That drew a threat of an injunction from the district but no lawsuit as KCCR has not covered any Governor athletic events.

Now Becker, who purchased KCCR and KLXS with her husband Doyle in March, said it’s important a circuit court judge determines the legality of the contract for local radio listeners and broadcasters across the state.

“It will at least give us a chance to make a statement,” she said. “This is not just for Pierre. It’s all across the state of South Dakota. A lot of places have looked at doing this type of deal and chosen not to. We want to make sure that if the contract is not valid in Pierre, it’s not valid anywhere across South Dakota.”

Both parties said discussions have been cordial and KCCR’s coverage of local news, including school board, will not change.

“KCCR wants to continue to be there for the community,” Becker said. “This is in no way a reflection of the Pierre School District or James River Broadcasting. It’s just business.”

Becker said the loss of advertising money is not a motivating factor.

“We just want to know whether that contract is valid or not,” she said.