Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame

Andy Lia
Inducted 2009

One of KDLM Radio’s most popular personalities, Andy Lia is truly a hometown success story.  After graduating from Detroit Lakes High School, Lia graduated from Brown Institute in 1960 and landed an announcer job at KTRF in Thief River Falls.  Three years later he was a sports announcer and program director at KPRM in Park Rapids.  Similar positions followed at KLIZ in Brainerd and KFYR in Bismarck, North Dakota.  In 1975 he moved to his hometown station as sports director, FM operations manager, and AM morning announcer at KDLM Detroit Lakes.  With the exception of a couple of years in the late 1970s at KBUN in Bemidji and KTCR in Minneapolis, he has been at KDLM ever since.  He became known as “the Voice of the Pine-to-Palm” golf tournament after his many years of covering that event, and “the Voice of the Lakers” due to his decades of doing play-by-play for Detroit Lakes High School games.  He has received many honors for his years of broadcasting and community service, including induction into the Minnesota State High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame, the Optimist Club Friend-of-Youth Award, the FFA Chapter Farmer Award, and the 4-H Achievement Award.  The mayor of Detroit Lakes declared January 8, 1991, to be “Andy Lia Day” in recognition of his many contributions.