News Story - Idaho State Journal

POCATELLO - Since graduating from Declo High School in 1994, Jason Pretty Boy has worked for a fiber optics company, tended bar, been a recurring student and is now news director at KISU-FM.

''I'm one of those guys who can't stand still for a long period of time,'' Pretty Boy said.

Indeed, Pretty Boy, 32, spent most of the past 14 years bouncing between Idaho, North and South Dakota and Arizona. The native of Standing Rock Sioux Tribe split his adult life between being a student and someone who ''really just goofed off.''

However, in 2003 he enrolled in the United Tribes Technical College in Bismarck, N.D., ready to commit himself.

''One day, I just decided to go back into school,'' he said. ''Here I was, this 27-year-old freshman.''

Pretty Boy took his late-20s schooling more seriously. He majored in business management and earned his associate degree two years later. He worked for UTTC for about a year before finding work with a South Dakota radio station in 2006. He said moving to the media business marked an achievement for someone in his tribe.

''If you're a tribal member, you'll know what I'm talking about,'' Pretty Boy said. ''I decided I needed to do something with my life.''

But reading news for a small local radio station was not always a dream job. He commonly spent 12 or 13 hours working, often seven days a week.

''I just got sick of it and got tired of working the long hours,'' Pretty Boy. ''I decided I needed a change.''

That change came last year in May when he returned to Idaho last summer, settling in Idaho Falls.

Pretty Boy enrolled at Idaho State University in January, focusing on political science. Now he refers to himself as ''a 32-year-old junior.''

Unexpectedly, radio called again when he noticed KISU, ISU's student public radio station, was hiring.

''I saw a sign for a news director, one thing led to another and pretty soon I got a job as a news director,'' he said.

And the hours at KISU are not as strenuous as his previous radio employment. Pretty Boy checks into the studio at 6 a.m. to read the day's early morning news during short breaks in National Public Radio's morning newscast. Then he leaves at

9 a.m. and heads to the classroom.

Pretty Boy said he is grateful to be in Pocatello, both for higher education pursuits and for his new radio job.

''In Bismarck, I wouldn't be working this type of job,'' he said. ''Radio ... it's addicting. Once you get on, it's addicting.''

This document was originally published online on Tuesday, June 24, 2008

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