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Dale Killingbeck

Wyoming Life

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Dave Nutter looks back on a life in broadcasting with stories to tell.

The 74-year-old who spent much of his working career talking into microphones and turning dials has to stop periodically to cough as he fights idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease doctors say will eventually claim his life.

His working resume covers call letters of radio stations from Casper to eastern Nebraska, Rawlins and even short stint in Portland, Oregon, before returning home for a long stint at K2 Radio and Television. 

Along the way, he collected broadcasting equipment and memorabilia that represents Wyoming’s golden-era airwave history.

But how a 13-year-old got on the air and parlayed his teen years into gigs at Casper radio stations in the 1960s and early 1970s seems a Top 40 tale worth spinning again. 

It all began with a fifth-grade trip to the K2 TV station where he was a member of the choir singing Christmas carols. 

He noticed the guys behind the big cameras pointing the lens at him and others.

“It just really looked enticing to me,” Nutter said. “I decided I wanted to be a TV cameraman.”

From that point on he also started paying attention to radio and made it a point when he learned that a Casper radio station was doing a remote broadcast to drop in and hang around. 

He got to know the players, talked with those at the controls and behind the mic, and became a “radio pest.”

Mostly, KVOC, a country station, did the remotes and Nutter recalls being at the annual Casper summer parade downtown in 1964 when he was 13 and standing by the live broadcast guys who included Dave “Woody” Woodside, the program director, at the microphone and the new station owner’s son who was manning the broadcast board controls.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"First Gig"}]

The station owner’s son and Woodside got into an argument and the son walked off. Woodside, who had gotten to know Nutter, looked at him and asked if he could do the job.

“I said, ‘Sure,’” Nutter recalled. “So, that was my very first day probably 1964, I don’t remember exactly, but it was summertime and I ran the controls and helped pack up the equipment. 

"They didn’t give me any pay, but that that’s how I started working at KVOC at 13.”

That impromptu introduction to the board led to more opportunities on remotes that summer and the next where he would ride his bike or hitch a ride with the station crew to the remote location and help set up microphones, the board, and landlines to the station for a remote broadcast.

Because he had no broadcast license, he could not work inside the station, but at 15 that changed. He studied for the third-class FCC license, the minimum requirement, that would allow him to work inside a station with broadcast equipment and the transmitter.

He convinced his parents that he could pass the test and the nearest place to take it was Denver. His family took a vacation with a swing through Denver and at 15 he joined the 20- and 30-year-olds looking for their ticket to a broadcast career by taking the multiple-choice and more than an hour-long exam.

After finishing the test, he rejoined his family and went on the rest of their vacation.

“I came home from vacation and my license was in the mailbox,” Nutter said. “I immediately got on my bicycle and rode to the radio station with the license. It was like my graduation.”

Woodside and the owner were at the station, saw the license, and told him he could go to work the next Sunday. 

It was July 1967. He operated the two turntables, cart machines for ads, reel-to-reel recorders and the broadcast board that controlled which machine sent content on the air.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Blue-Light Specials"}]

Sundays involved playing 15-inch records from the Salvation Army and other church-related programs that were serialized. 

It also meant going to church locations and setting up remote broadcasts. The station alternated churches during the month, so it might be a Baptist congregation one week and Pentecostal the next.

Nutter said when Kmart came to town in the fall of 1965, the city’s first box store paid to have a three-hour live afternoon broadcast every Sunday from the store. 

It was the first time a store was open on Sundays and lines would form outside the doors before it opened at noon. He and the announcer would go to the store and set up for a 12:30 p.m. start. 

Nutter initially just ran the controls with the on-air personality who called himself the “Deacon Speakin’.”

But then the “deacon” got fired because Kmart did not like the job he was doing. His replacements also got fired. 

Woodside asked Nutter if he thought he could do the announcing part of the broadcast. It involved playing music on the turntable at the store and reading a stack of “blue light” and other specials over the airwaves to bring Sunday shoppers to Kmart doors.

Nutter said the store occasionally did a “99-cent special” that involved putting a small 99-cent sticker on an expensive item such as a barbecue or even a washer or dryer. The draw was no one knew where or what it was.

“People would literally tear up the store looking for those 99-cent specials,” he said.

Nutter told his boss he would try the role. And store management was pleased with the results.

Nutter said he found out that Kmart paid KVOC about $1,200 a month for the broadcasts, which represented the biggest advertising account the station had at the time.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"KATI Calls"}]

While doing the Kmart show he was noticed by a competitor at KATI in town. The station’s program director asked him to come in and talk. 

He was offered a job and took it. His first shift running the board from midnight to 6 a.m. at the Top 40-centered station was June 5, 1968.

“That was the date that Bobby Kennedy got shot in California,” Nutter said. “CBS maintained a network alert system and we got the CBS network alert signal.”

For the next few hours he played instrumental music between CBS News bulletins updating listeners on Kennedy’s fate.

It was also at KATI that the program director told him he could not use his real name and gave him three options of monikers to choose from. 

The one that kind of had a nice ring was “Don Steele.” He chose it.

And as the “Real Don Steele” soon realized, there was another one on the air.

When he went back to the school in the fall, he remembers a girl asking him if he was “this guy?” She pointed to a fan magazine that said a Don Steele was the number one rated disc jockey in the country — he worked at a station in Los Angeles.

“This guy was the real Don Steele and I learned later he came from Portland, Oregon and Omaha,” Nutter said. “So I’m assuming (his program director) gave me three names of three big disc jockeys someplace else in the world.”

Nutter’s time at KATI also involved continuing the Kmart show. When he left KVOC, he brought the account over with him.

Following high school graduation, Nutter’s career took him to Rawlins and then for a stint in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and then back to KVOC. 

He spent a few years traveling the country in a good-paying job installing kitchen equipment for McDonald’s Restaurants before returning to Casper as a McDonald’s store manager.

A K2 radio salesman convinced him to check out a Sunday radio gig opportunity and lured him back. 

“I started full time at K2 on Jan. 15, 1980 and for all intents and purposes that was the last radio stop,” he said. “That was my last place of employment.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Personality Role"}]

He spent the next 25 years until 1994 working for K2 in various roles, including as a radio personality, and program and music director. 

He later founded and operated the Wyoming News Network for five years, a radio service that offered radio stations in Wyoming and South Dakota news, special events, sports, and weather.

Nutter said his on-air shows were more a “personality broadcast” where he offered little features and sometimes did interviews of various people.

“I tried a lot of different things that seemed to work,” he said. “I remember my ratings were better than anybody else in town for that time period, even though we never really ever worked for ratings, they were there.”

In addition to on-air work, Nutter fascination with the broadcast equipment led him into a collection of broadcast gear headed for dumpsters at an early age. 

He remembers one day at KVOC when the station engineer called him and said they were taking a bunch of equipment to the dump.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Collecting Artifacts"}]

Nutter went to the station and gathered the first microphone he ever spoke in as well as the remote radio board that he used at 13 and some cart machines. 

During his K2 career, he remembers coming back from Laramie after a football game broadcast and finding a bunch of old equipment in the dumpster behind the station.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He rescued it."}]

Among  the items was the first studio camera used at K2 TV in 1957 that weighed nearly 140 pounds.

After being diagnosed with his illness, he knew his collection of things was going to end up back in a dumpster unless he could find a place that wanted it. 

He contacted the Texas Broadcast and Communications Museum and ended up taking two trips down to deliver the 1,400 items he had collected over the years.

The K2 camera was something unique among the other 109 cameras in the museum’s collection. Instead of storing in a corner or closet they put it on the floor in their main lobby, Nutter said.

“I’m proud to say that it is within 15 feet of the TV camera that covered the assassination of Lee Harvey Oswald in the basement of the Dallas Police Department,” he said.

Much of Nutter’s present day involves trips to doctors and procedures to help prolong his life. His pulmonary fibrosis continues to harden his lung tissues making breathing more difficult.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"But he keeps pressing on."}]

“They’ve got a couple of medications out there that prolong you breathing,” he said. “But the only real cure is a lung transplant.”

Dave Nutter Inset David Nutter 1967 Age 15 KVOC edit 6 7 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Attention Kmart Shoppers: Casper's Dave Nutter Reflects On 45 Years On The Radio | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For 45 years, Dave Nutter was a familiar voice on Casper radio. Now, fighting for his life, Nutter reflects on his unique experiences in radio, including broadcasting blue light specials from Kmart. He most recently donated 1,400 radio items to a museum.

Attention Kmart Shoppers: Casper's Dave Nutter Reflects On 45 Years On The Radio

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Entertainment

Rodeo champion Rusty Wright’s big comeback didn’t start with a wild bronc or record-setting ride. It began between rides, in the dust and noise of Cheyenne Frontier Days when a stranger asked him to do a quick interview for a documentary about barrel racing legend Angela Ganter. 

They wanted him to talk about something he feels strongly about — the importance of women in the rodeo world.

“I’ve got a pretty strong opinion about it, so I figured I’d go ahead and do it,” said the saddle bronc champ. “I didn’t expect it to be as big of a deal as it turned out being. I was passionate about it, and they loved that, so I think the interview went a little longer than it was supposed to.”

His off-the-cuff, passionate interview would become what Wyoming filmmaker Raen LeVell describes as the “beating heart” of his 

 a film he believes is well on its way to becoming a grassroots rodeo blockbuster.

It’s enjoyed a multi-week run as the No. 1-ranked Western documentary on IMDb and earned major praise from national outlets like Sports Illustrated. 

It’s also gained elite backing from professional rodeo leaders, who have given it prime screenings at some of the sport’s biggest venues, including the National Finals Rodeo.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Women Behind Rodeo’s Biggest Champions"}]

Ask Wright who the real heroes of rodeo are, and he’ll point first to the women — those who compete in the arena and the ones who never step inside of it.

In his Cheyenne interview, he poured his heart out about his own mother, ShaRee Wright, and all of the other rodeo moms and wives who help keep riders like himself going. 

“They asked me what my mom meant to me, and the things she’s done for me in my career,” he said. “Everybody hears how our dad helped us along. He gets lots of recognition, which he should. 

“But I don’t feel like my mom or the wives behind the scenes ever really get the recognition they deserve. Honestly, I think it should be just as much as what my dad would get.”

If there were gold buckles for “backbone of the family,” Rusty said he's convinced his mom would have several of those.

The deep respect for women behind the chutes is exactly the kind of authenticity LeVell was hoping to capture in his film, from Ganter’s story to the moms and wives behind the scenes.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Ganter’s ‘Red Devil’ Comeback"}]

“Outriding the Devil” focuses on the little-told comeback story of Ganter, a barrel racer whose stunning career slammed into a stage-four breast cancer diagnosis so advanced doctors told her she was unlikely to live.

But Ganter had always been a fighter and refused to give up. 

The chemotherapy that ultimately saved her has a telling nickname, though. It’s called the “red devil,” and it wreaks havoc on the human body in its quest to ultimately save it.

There were days Ganter couldn’t walk from her bedroom to the living room. After chemo like that, almost no one believed Ganter would even be able to ride a horse again, much less fight her way back to compete at an elite level. 

“That red devil chemo had road-graded her nervous system,” LeVell said. “She had lost her balance. She didn’t really know left from right. So the idea that she would get on a horse and be able to just kind of like work on a horse was a little fanciful, and the thought that she would come back to rodeo was kind of like Disney-line stuff.”

And yet, Ganter not only survived, but she returned to rodeo at the highest levels, finding a special horse named Bugs and clawing her way back to champion-caliber barrel racing. 

Lighting A Fire Under Rusty Wright’s Comeback

For Wright, who hadn’t known the full depth of Ganter's ordeal until that Cheyenne interview, her resilience ended up lighting a fire right when he needed it most.

“When I did that interview, honestly, I was kind of right in the middle of my own personal issues and stuff,” he said. “I went from, you know, top of the world — I was reserve world champion in 2018 — and then I had a bunch of personal struggles. I wasn’t even making finals one year. I wasn’t even top 50.”

Learning what Ganter had overcome helped him push the reset button.

“You start playing the ‘poor me’ game, and if you open your eyes and look around, everyone’s got something,” he said. “You sitting there crying about your problems, that isn’t going to help you get out of them. 

"A lot of people have it a lot worse off than I do, and they made it. They conquered it. So that kind of lit that fire under me to get my stuff together, and you know, set my goals, realign my priorities, and away we went.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"From NFR To Wyoming"}]

After its premiere at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas — the Super Bowl of Western sports — “Outriding the Devil” has hit the rodeo trail. That’s included premiering at major Texas events like RodeoHouston and the San Angelo Stock Show & Rodeo.

Now after making waves on a national stage, the film is circling back to where Rusty’s turning point began — Wyoming. The film will have an especially long runway in the Cowboy State with several free premieres ahead.

It will open the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper on June 13, making it one of the rare films to both premiere as an official event of the NFR and later open the college finals as well. 

From there, it heads to Sheridan for the WYO Rodeo kickoff on July 5 and then to Cheyenne Frontier Days, where it will premiere July 16. 

All of these shows will be free to the public thanks to Visit Casper, the Wyoming Foundation for Cancer Care, the WYO Rodeo, and the Gold Buckle Club. 

These Wyoming events will also be the last chances to see “Outriding the Devil” on the big screen, and they’ll include opportunities to quiz the director and rodeo figures after the show.

Streaming deals are being negotiated for a wider, national release, but premiere-style events will end once those begin.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"True Meaning Of Grit"}]

The Wright family is considered rodeo royalty by many, and has been an integral part of “Outriding the Devil,” LeVell said. 

During the Las Vegas premiere, the Wrights were there in force alongside country music stars and “Yellowstone" actors, including Mo Brings Plenty. 

One of those stars was Ned LeDoux, who plays a young Ganter’s uncle in the movie opposite Lily Wright, who is Stetson Wright’s sister.

In the film, Rusty’s brother, Stetson Wright, takes viewers inside the chute as he walks through his mental processes before a ride. 

Rusty, meanwhile, talks about the importance of family sticking together and why he sees rodeo as “one big family.”

Rodeo is one of America’s most dangerous and physically demanding sports. It takes a certain mindset to keep going, one that’s hard to sustain without family and friends backing it up.

“Everybody always sees our highlights and our wins on social media,” he said. “Everyone talks about our wins and yeah, that’s inspiring and everything. But to me the real inspiration, what gets me fired up, is seeing people’s struggles and what they had to go through to get there.”

Rusty said it took 50-some horses before he could stay on a bronc at all, and probably 300 horses before it finally started to click.

“I remember that moment when it finally clicked for me and I thought, ‘Oh, that’s how it’s supposed to feel,’” he said. “If people could watch how many dirt naps and how many wrecks I got in getting to where I’m at, I guarantee you, most people would be like, ‘I can’t believe he’s still riding.’”

By showing those struggles, Rusty hopes his own kids will realize that whatever they want to do in life, they can do it.

“It doesn’t matter what you’ve been through, or what you go through,” he said. “If you work at it, buckle down, if you stay hooked, you can get your way to the top.”

That’s the larger message he sees in Ganter’s story, too, and it’s one he absorbed thanks to a random interview request at Cheyenne Frontier Days in Wyoming.

“I don’t really believe in coincidences,” he said. “I believe in faith. I was just walking by, and they’re like, ‘Hey, you want to come do this interview?’ God knew I needed that. He knew I needed to hear something, to give me that little push I needed.”

Now that push is on a much bigger stage, playing out in rodeo arenas and theaters across Wyoming and the West — an audience full of cowboys and cowgirls who know exactly what it means to get bucked off hard, dust off, and stand back up again in the arena. 

It’s no surprise that such a film would have a Wyoming director behind it, or that it would find its biggest runway in the Cowboy State, where grit has become part of the local DNA.

Outriding the Devil Angela Ganter at 2024 CFD Matt 6 7 26

<title>Wyoming-Made Rodeo Documentary ‘Outriding The Devil’ Is A National Hit | Cowboy State Daily</title>

“Outriding the Devil," the Wyoming-made film that shows the brutal side of "real" rodeo, has enjoyed a multi-week run as the No. 1-ranked Western documentary on IMDb and has earned major praise from national outlets like Sports Illustrated. 

Wyoming-Made Rodeo Documentary ‘Outriding The Devil’ Is A National Hit

Christopher Culler looked forward to son Raydon Bowen wearing the matching King’s Camo outfit and boots he got the boy for Christmas as they set out on their annual spring bear hunt.

Instead, the 7-year-old Canyon Elementary School student in Kemmerer spent hunting season in the hospital following a diagnosis of an extremely rare genetic condition. 

The disorder has left him without vision and fighting for life in Salt Lake City’s Primary Children’s Hospital.

“He is obsessed with bear hunting with me,” Culler said. “We have a good time usually. It’s more about crushing some Mountain Dew and snacking then it is hunting.”

Culler, 38, and wife Bailey Bowen, 30, are now on a mission that has them on family leave from their jobs at PacifiCorp/Rocky Mountain Power and praying for a boy who seemed normal and active until a little more than a year ago.

At first, Raydon’s condition didn’t seem that serious. He started struggling in school, had trouble focusing, and was having emotional outbursts. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"His parents suspected ADHD. "}]

But at the start of the year, his behavior problems became worse and they went to the pediatrician looking for medication help. Nothing seemed to work.

As Easter arrived, Raydon was acting abnormally and the family wondered if it was his medication.

“On Easter Sunday we were at an Easter egg hunt, and all the kids were getting ready and they are doing a countdown,” Culler said. “Everybody runs out and starts picking up eggs, and Raydon just kind of walked out there passed 20 eggs and just kind of looked around and wasn’t excited.”

Culler said the first grader was instead tripping and stumbling. 

He and his wife were unsure what was going on, but sent him to school the next day. They got a call from the school that he was having problems going up and down the stairs.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Trip To Utah"}]

They called their pediatrician from work, who told them to take him to the local emergency room. Then she called them back and told them to take him Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.

Culler with Bowen, then 38-weeks pregnant, headed for Utah. 

At the hospital they were told Raydon would have to stay overnight for more tests. The next day an MRI scan showed areas of his brain that were white that were not supposed to be white.

Doctors told them Raydon had adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD), a rare genetic disorder that attacks the membrane that protects nerve cells in the brain and spinal chord. 

The condition keeps the brain from communicating properly with other parts of the body, which was the reason for Raydon’s stumbling and other issues.

Raydon also was recently diagnosed with Addison’s disease that typically accompanies ALD and means he has a cortisol deficiency that will need to be medicated for the rest of his life. 

Culler said it’s “frustrating” that they were chasing ADHD and has since found out that many other parents go down the same road because there was no newborn screening for the genetic disorder in their state.

“I’m like, ‘Why hasn’t anything changed? Why aren’t people screening for this?'” Culler said. “When Raydon was born, Wyoming didn’t do newborn screening for ALD, and a lot of states didn’t. 

"Now there’s a few holdout states that still don’t, but most places do, and Wyoming does now.”

Once the couple learned the diagnosis, doctors also told them that there is no cure, but a bone-marrow transplant can freeze the destruction where it is at. 

Raydon stayed in the hospital a week for more tests, and then the family came home as the hunt for a bone marrow donor began.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"New Baby"}]

The family stayed in Kemmerer about three weeks. Bowen decided she needed to bring the baby into the world to prepare for Raydon’s next hospital stay. 

Their son Porter arrived through an induced birth on April 21.

Meanwhile, Raydon’s eyesight got worse as he rode his bike, but still he seemed to be enjoying time to play and try and be normal again.

Culler and Bowen have a blended marriage, and he used the time to prepare his 17-year-old daughter for the reality of he and Bowen having to go back to Salt Lake City. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Grandparents stepped up to help."}]

They kept in close contact with doctors and Primary Children’s Hospital as Raydon’s speech and vision were getting worse. 

They then received word from their doctor that instead of a bone marrow transplant, Raydon would get an infusion of stem cells from umbilical cord blood.

The family went back to the hospital on May 4, and Raydon received nine days of chemotherapy to destroy his immune system. Then the stem cells were transplanted into his bone marrow.

Friday marked the 22nd day after the infusion. 

His dad said Raydon spends his days laying in his hospital bed, unable to see or speak.

“It’s really hard to watch,” Culler said. "He’s to the point where it's kind of hard for him to do anything.

"There’s so much pain involved with doing that to a young body and agitation and anxiety that is astronomical.”

Culler said sometimes Raydon will try and feel for his mom’s ring or feel for his beard. Sometimes he reaches for a hand to kiss it.

“That’s kind of how we know that he’s still there,” he said.

Doctors and parents are waiting for “engraftment,” the process when donor stem cells start making new blood components. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"In Raydon’s case it may take 30 days."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Hospital Living"}]

For now, Culler watches their newborn baby at the hospital’s Ronald McDonald House every night while Bowen stays with Raydon. 

They switch places during the day, and the past month is a blur.

Culler said he thinks about the future and possibility of needing a new home to handle a son who cannot see or may have other physical limitations. 

He said his wife and Braydon’s grandparents are living in the moment and trying to make sure everything “is OK now.”

 that has been started on their behalf and for fundraisers such as a hunting and fishing expo that is doing a 50-50 raffle for them, sales of T-shirts that say “Raydon Strong,” and a Utah-based company called Rise and Shed that is doing a fundraiser to help the family with their medical bills.

Culler said he has never been a person who has asked others for help.

“But we’re looking down this road, and we don’t know how long it’s going to be,” he said. 

Culler’s mind goes to when he will return to work, the needs ahead, and more.

Raydon’s elementary school classmates have sent him cards and letters. Culler hopes that one day soon they will be able to read them to him.

Doctors have told the parents that the stem cells may be able to bring back some of the function that Raydon has lost. Time will tell.

Culler said his wife “just wants her boy back” and regrets the times she didn’t make the extra effort to read him that one more story that he was asking for or going to his room to play with him when Raydon asked.

Culler thinks back to the hunting trips, and how he was planning to teach him things this year. 

For Raydon, the trips are mostly about the Mountain Dew that he could only get on special occasions.

“I told him we can have Mountain Dew when we’re in the mountains, when we’re hunting, or when we’re doing ‘dude’ stuff,” Culler said. “He says, ‘Come on, we’re mountain dudes, we gotta drink Mountain Dew.’ That was our thing.”

A Kemmerer couple is on medical leave taking care of a newborn and their 7-year-old son who has a rare genetic condition that took his eyesight. All the little boy wanted to do was go hunting this year, instead he's fighting for his life.

Fred Harrison

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