In our website, you will find informational pages and links that more fully describe GMF’s goals and achievements. For more than 50 years, our Foundation has fostered better communications on issues of importance to all Montanans.
GMF's resources are devoted primarily to strengthening electronic means of communication. Over the years, we have forged close ties with Montana’s commercial and non-commercial broadcasting communities, many independent program producers, web-based services, our in-state broadcasting schools, and other organizations with similar or complementary goals.
Edmund B. Craney, pioneer Montana broadcaster, founded GMF in 1958. Craney was an entrepreneur, inventor and creator of change who loved the state of Montana and the broadcast industry.
In 1929, Craney’s KGIR radio station in Butte was the third station to go on the air in Montana. He collaborated with his longtime Montana friend, U.S. Senator Burton K. Wheeler, to write The Communications Act of l933, the most important piece of national broadcast legislation in the Twentieth Century.
By the late 1930s, Craney owned a number of radio stations. He eventually linked his stations in Butte, Bozeman, Helena, Missoula and Great Falls to form the first connected radio news network in the west. Then, in the 1950s he moved into the new medium of television, establishing a group of TV stations across Montana. He also partnered with entertainer Bing Crosby to operate television stations in Spokane, Wash., and Portland, Ore. Ed Craney died in 1991, but his legacy continues.
The Greater Montana Foundation each year funds several hundred thousand dollars of commercial and non-commercial programming, sustaining grants and special projects. Program support runs the gamut from hard news, documentaries, special events (such as broadcast election debates), features, public service announcements, cultural and historic programming, among others.
Regardless of the source, programs underwritten by GMF are freely available to the state’s commercial broadcasters to bolster local and regional issues coverage. Additionally, GMF underwrites Montana’s annual broadcast awards competition to recognize excellence among state broadcasters.
Partnering with the Montana Broadcasters Association, The GMF/MBA Broadcast Awards Ceremony takes place every year at the MBA Convention. Winners take home an “EBee” award in salute to the award ceremony’s --and MBA’s -- founder E.B. Craney. You can see them displayed at radio and TV stations across the state.
At our June 2011 meeting, the Board of Trustees welcomed our newest member, Monty Wallis. Wallis is a veteran broadcaster who retired in 2009 as president and general manager of television station KTVQ in Billings.
We also reluctantly said goodbye to long-time board member and immediate past chairman Bob Hoene. Hoene served as a trustee since 1975, and chaired the GMF for the past 20 years. He departs with the board’s deepest appreciation for many years of outstanding service to the people of Montana.
Our trustees donate significant time, energy and talent to fulfill Ed Craney’s ideals and the ongoing mission of the Greater Montana Foundation. Click the board member link
( http://www.greatermontana.org/board.html ) to review who is helping serve our great state now.
If you have questions about GMF or suggestions that further strengthen our mission, please contact Executive Director Sid Armstrong at
info@greatermontana.org.
Thank you for your interest in the Greater Montana Foundation.
Randal E. Morger, Chairman, July 2011
