Speeding violations, bat infestation, morel mushroom hunting, and bad jokes all conjure up images of Maggie Montgomery. You may be asking yourself, "Do these things have anything to do with KAXE?"  The answer is…you betcha!

Maggie Montgomery is KAXE’s General Manager.  General Manager is an extremely difficult position, but not for someone who has spent a good portion of her life in a tipi, raising three boys, with no running water, and only tofu and couscous for nutrition. "Our family used to operate the East Nary Tubby Duffer Mosquito Hunting Lodge in East Nary. Then the mosquito hunting business took a downturn with all the dry weather, so I had to get a day job. You know how the resort industry is up here... The mosquito hunting might pick up with global warming though. One can always hope."

Every weekday morning around 5 AM, Maggie awakens to NPR's Morning Edition with Scott Hall on her radio alarm clock. Equipped with a strong cup of coffee in her KAXE travel mug and a cell phone at her side, she sets out on her 62-mile journey to work, so lost in thought that she seldom remembers to reduce her average cruising speed of 83 mph when blasting through small towns in the Chippewa National Forest. 

A few of her responsibilities are: implementing long and short range strategic plans, working with the board of directors, making sure KAXE operates legally and within FCC guidelines, fundraising, marketing, overseeing tower and transmitter maintenance, writing grants and annual reports, running staff meetings, balancing the budget, fixing equipment (yes, she does have geekish tendencies), telling jokes, proof reading for the rest of the staff, bossing them around, and designing mometers (you don't know what a mometer is? for shame...).  

She isn't too bad on the radio either, having been the station's first recipient of the Bill McKeever Award for Creativity and Excellence in On-Air Artistry along with husband Dennis. "I really do miss being on the air.  It's the most fun thing to do at KAXE.  I'm glad to be Scott Hall's sidekick and weather girl Wednesday mornings, but it would be fun to do more."  Maggie received the Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations' (AMPERS) Broadcaster of the Year award in 2002. 

Maggie's dedication to KAXE is phenomenal. Just ask her husband Dennis. He hasn't seen her for about 10 years now, but I’m sure he’d agree. Since Maggie took over as General Manager, every aspect of the station has dramatically improved. We rest our case!