[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 145 (Thursday, September 27, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S12283]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IN RECOGNITION OF PAUL WICE

 Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, I wish to congratulate 
a radio legend in my home State of Nebraska. Paul Wice, who has been a 
talk show host, news reporter, and news director at KGFW Radio in 
Kearney, NE, for nearly 40 years, is retiring and will broadcast his 
final show on September 28, 2007.
  Paul got his start in radio working part time, while earning a 
bachelor's degree in 1966 in speech and music from what was then known 
as Kearney State College. His first full-time radio job was at KWBE in 
Beatrice, NE, where he served as news director.
  In 1967 Paul returned to Kearney as the afternoon announcer and news 
director at KGFW. Deciding to try something other than radio, he left 
the station just a year later to join the Kearney Hub newspaper. He 
quickly found that his heart was in radio and returned to KGFW as its 
news director in 1969. Paul has been there ever since and is now in his 
38th consecutive year of broadcasting on KGFW to the people of central 
Nebraska.
  While working full time, Paul went on to earn a master's degree in 
speech communication in 1988 and has served as an adjunct instructor at 
the University of Nebraska-Kearney since then. He is responsible for 
KGFW receiving the coveted Mark Twain Award from the Nebraska 
Associated Press five times, including three consecutive years from 
1997 to 1999.
  A past president of Nebraska Associated Press Broadcasters, Paul was 
also the first recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the 
Nebraska AP. He currently serves on the Freedom of Information 
Committee of the Nebraska Broadcasters Association. He has covered it 
all for KGFW, including riding on the Robert F. Kennedy train in 1968, 
just months before the Presidential contender was assassinated. On the 
other end of the political spectrum, Paul attended a White House Radio-
Television News Directors Association luncheon with then-President 
Ronald Reagan. He also served as the Nebraska Broadcasters 
Association's official witness to the first execution in Nebraska in 
decades.
  Paul made his mark serving the people of Kearney and central 
Nebraska, not only as a successful broadcaster but as a dependable 
source of news year after year. It is highly unusual in this day and 
age for someone to be able to say they have worked for the same 
employer for nearly four decades, especially in the highly competitive 
field of broadcasting.
  At every turn in my own political career, from my days as State 
insurance director to my terms as Governor to my present role as a U.S. 
Senator, Paul has been there to cover the news, and I will miss 
interviewing with him in the future.
  Paul Wice has definitely been ``The Talk of the Town,'' as his radio 
program is called. His absence from the airways will leave a void that 
will be tough to fill, but I am sure I join all Nebraskans in wishing 
him well in retirement as he signs off the air for the very last 
time.

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