Barbara Reyelts

Inducted 2011

Barbara Reyelts began her love affair with news when she was still a child.  Barbara grew up watching her mother work as a newspaper reporter and later a TV reporter in her Canadian hometown. Sometimes she even went along when her mother was covering stories.  After graduating from college, Barbara came to the United States and taught a Communications course at Concordia College in Moorhead.  When Barbara moved with her family to Duluth, she took journalism classes at the University of Minnesota there.  Part of her studies included an internship in the news department at KBJR TV.  Thirty-two years later she is still at the station, now as News Director.  For almost 20 years Barbara anchored the number one rated “Live at Five” newscast.  She has won numerous local, state, regional, and national awards for her reporting, including the 2006 National Television Academy Silver Circle Award.  Many of Barbara’s investigative reports have brought about change, even up to the national level.  Her reporting on faulty General Motors vehicles forced the company to recall thousands of vehicles across the U. S. and Canada.  Outside of work Barbara is very involved in her community as a journalism teacher, and as an avid and dedicated volunteer with numerous civic and charitable groups.