Always active in the political life of the State, the newspapers have been an especially important factor in the Nonpartisan League fight. With the daily press usually unanimously opposed to its program, the league has purchased weeklies through which it has exercised a great influence on the rural population. Although it does not control as many weeklies now as it formerly did, it still has a strong hand in the editorial policies of many papers in the State.
In May 1922, less than two years after the first radio broadcast in the United States had been put on the air by KDKA in Pittsburgh, WDAY of Fargo presented the first commercial broadcast in North Dakota. The State now has seven other stations, situated in Bismarck, Grand Forks, Minot, Devils Lake, Mandan, Valley City, and Jamestown.
KFJM in Grand Forks is one of the few stations in the United States owned by a State university. It is leased to private operators with the provision that its facilities be at the disposal of the school for special broadcasts and experimental work (see Grand Forks).
The radio has made an important contribution to the State service by broadcasting information on weather conditions whenever necessary. Lives and thousands of dollars in property have been saved by warnings of spring floods. During the winter months frequent weather and highway reports are given, and warnings sent out regarding advisability of sending children to school during storms or extremely cold weather. In November 1930 an unusual service was performed by the Fargo and Bismarck stations. Heavy coatings of sleet had broken down telephone and telegraph wires throughout the State, and severed all communication between Fargo and Jamestown, division points on the Northern Pacific. During the first afternoon of the storm short-wave communication was established between the Fargo transmitter and an amateur set at Jamestown, but after sunset interference forced abandonment of this broadcast. Receiving sets were quickly installed at the studios of the Fargo and Bismarck stations, making possible a two-way conversation. On the one available telephone connection between Jamestown and Bismarck the dispatchers' office in Jamestown was hooked up with the Bismarck studio, in Fargo the dispatcher was linked with WDAY, and for two days all trains on the line were dispatched by radio. Between train orders the facilities of both stations were turned over to the telegraph offices, and Fargo alone sent out more than 200 messages.
Several amateur stations were in operation before any commercial broadcasting had been done in North Dakota. When the convention of the Dakota Division of the American Radio Relay League was held in Fargo in 1936, there were 300 licensed operators in attendance, and each year finds an increased number of people selecting short-wave broadcasting as a hobby.
ARCHITECTURE
The buildings of North Dakota cling closely to the low, tranquil landscape of the State, avoiding exposure to the cold northwest winds that sweep across the snowy prairie in winter. Farms and towns huddle in valleys or hug the open plain, and only grain elevators dare to break the comfortable horizontality of the prevailing contours. In the few cities a tendency can be noted toward height in buildings, but the number of skyscrapers in North Dakota can be counted on the fingers of one hand.
Despite this relatively small number one skyscraper, the State Capitol (designed by Joseph B. DeRemer and William F. Kurke, and Holabird and Root, associates), has aroused more interest and comment than any other building in the history of the State. This interest has not been confined to the borders of North Dakota, for the "slender shaft of modernity" which dominates the Bismarck skyline represents a trend in the architecture of State capitols that is gaining the attention of the entire Nation. Because the basic reasons for the skyscraper—exaggerated land values and proximity to transportation centers—are utterly lacking in this capacious prairie State, much criticism has been directed at the type of statehouse chosen. Nevertheless the point is made that the character and purpose of the building as the seat of State government are well expressed in the impressive height and dignity of its lines, while at the same time the structure is decidedly utilitarian. (See Bismarck.)