R.I.P.: Fargo-Moorhead Radio Legend Don Dresser

Longtime radio announcer and popular morning show host Don Dresser could have moved from the Fargo-Moorhead market to the national scene at anytime during his 32 years at WDAY 970 AM Radio, but Dresser said he loved the area too much to leave.

Minnesota-born Dresser died Friday, Aug. 18, at Lilac Assisted Living Facility in Dilworth. He was 84 years old, according to WDAY-TV6.

Donald S. Dresser was born in Bertha, Minn., on Sept. 7, 1932. He grew up in New York Mills, Minn., where he graduated from high school in 1950. He attended Moorhead State University for one year, but never returned to college. After working in farming and at a Minneapolis-based office, Dresser enrolled in the American Institute of the Air (now Brown Institute) and was hired at KTRF Radio in Thief River Falls, Minn. Dresser told The Forum he had been interested in radio since the 1930s after listening as a child and later listening to the news and live programs on WDAY about World War II. He was hired at WDAY in 1960 to cover the 4 p.m. shift. A few months later, WDAY-AM created the first two-person show in the area, with Dresser and Morrie Carlson producing a morning show.

Although Carlson moved on to larger markets, Dresser turned down offers to move to St. Louis, Kansas City and Phoenix, according to his family. Dresser's long running shows featured live interviews, music and news.

In the late 1970s, Larry Gauper, a former WDAY-AM Radio host, thought Dresser and the late Earl Williams would make a good pair in the early mornings.

"I thought those guys would be great together and the boss bought it," Gauper said. The Don and Earl show would run about a dozen years. "It was the most talked about morning show in Fargo-Moorhead, no question. It was the talk of the town."

Dresser also worked with the popular voices of Boyd Christenson and Orly Knutson. According to his family, Dresser especially enjoyed conducting remote broadcasts at the Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag and the Red River Valley and other county fairs because he loved meeting people and being with the responsive audiences.

"He had a great radio voice and he was one of the nicest guys you could ever talk to," Gauper said.

Dresser retired from WDAY-AM Radio in 1994. In 2002, Dresser was inducted into the Minnesota Broadcasting Hall of Fame.