Agriculture & Rural Life
Agriculture & Rural Life
About this Collection
Agriculture & Rural Life contains interviews of Kansans from many of the rural parts of the state and from the wide range of occupations and experiences that contribute to rural life. While farmers and ranchers are central to the story, the collection also includes the voices of educators, researchers, conservationists, lenders, business owners, cooperative leaders, journalists, public officials, and community leaders whose work has influenced agriculture and rural Kansas.
Interview of Kathleen Holt and Quentin Hope, August 14, 2026
Interviewed by Mary Galligan
In their 2026 oral history interview, Kathleen Holt and Quentin Hope recounted the establishment of High Plains Public Radio (HPPR) in western Kansas. During the interview Holt and Hope recalled how the station began in the late 1970s as a grassroots community project to create a source of intellectual and cultural connection in a sparsely populated region. They described overcoming technical and financial hurdles, repurposing an old school building and a former library to create studios, and placing radio equipment atop grain elevators to expand the reach of the station’s signal. They emphasized that the station was Show Morebuilt with a pioneering spirit of shared resources, relying on personal local credibility and a vast network of dedicated volunteers. Holt and Hope highlight HPPR's evolution into a regional resource that, at the time of the interview, served the western one-third of Kansas and parts of nearby Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas. Holt and Hope concluded their interview by expressing the wish that future generations sustain this civic legacy by adapting to new types of media while maintaining the core mission of strengthening the community. Show Less