Border Radio General Manager Dave Riek to Receive AMA Lifetime Service Award

Dave Riek, general manager of KAWC and KOFA Border Radio, was honored with the Arizona Media Association’s Lifetime Service Award at the Arizona Media Icon Lunch in Phoenix on March 2, 2026, recognition that highlights a local public radio leader whose technical projects and fundraising have expanded service across Yuma and La Paz counties.

Riek’s career in public radio began in 1985 as a student volunteer at KNAU‑FM in Flagstaff, and KAWC materials describe a career spanning more than 40 years that has included work as a reporter, news director, producer, recording engineer and operations manager. KAWC says this year marks his 20th year leading KAWC and Border Radio; KYMA reported the award recognizes Riek’s more than “40 years of dedication to public radio and service to communities across Arizona.” Riek told station outlets, “One of my favorite things about working in radio is that every day is something new,” adding, “While news (like history) sometimes repeats, it is always a little different every day.”

Technical and coverage milestones tied to Riek’s leadership are specific and local. One of his early projects documented by the station was the September 2006 move of KAWC’s FM transmitter to Telegraph Pass east of Yuma — a project pictured in a station photo showing Riek and sponsors. The transmitter relocation, funded in part by a contribution from Timothy Conovaloff, grants from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and listener support, improved coverage of both east and west Yuma County along the I‑8 corridor as far as Dateland, Arizona, and the outskirts of El Centro, California.

Under Riek’s stewardship KAWC also brought an FM translator online for AM 1320 in 2018, at which time the station changed call letters to KOFA and rebranded as Border Radio. KAWC broadcasts from the Robert E. Hardy Radio Studio Complex on the Arizona Western College campus in Yuma; the studios are dedicated to “Uncle Bob” Hardy, KAWC’s first general manager from 1970–1992, who passed away Jan. 5, 2016.

Locally noted recognitions and recent accomplishments provide further context for the AMA honor. AWC Advancement named Riek its 2025 Team Champion; a KAWC Public Radio YouTube video posted June 18, 2025, features Lorraine (Lori) Stofft, vice president of advancement and executive director of the AWC Foundation, praising “the way he champions public media for the citizens of Yuma and [La Paz] counties.” That video’s transcript also notes Riek was “getting a yes from the FCC for his courtsite channel, which has been a work in progress. He he said today for almost as long as he's lived here, but certainly an active effort since 2020,” and that he “landed the single biggest one-time gift to the radio station this month… from a single donor.”

The Arizona Media Association, the nonprofit trade group that underwrites the Arizona Local News Foundation, presented the Lifetime Service Award amid a statewide conversation about sustaining local journalism. Locally, KAWC credits Riek with helping develop Native American radio stations, mentoring up‑and‑coming journalists and conducting on‑air interviews stretching from governors Evan Mecham through Katie Hobbs — contributions the station says have strengthened news and cultural coverage for listeners in Yuma and La Paz counties, including communities such as Parker and Quartzsite.

Riek’s award underscores tangible investments and projects that shape daily service: transmitter sites at Telegraph Pass, the 2018 KOFA rebrand for AM 1320, recent FCC approvals noted in station materials, and major donor support that station staff described as the single largest one‑time gift in station history. Those technical gains and fundraising wins position KAWC/Border Radio to continue serving the distinct news and cultural needs of southern La Paz County and western Yuma County from its studios at 2020 S Avenue 8E in Yuma.