Olliges Named New Head of KGCS-TV

Jace Opel, Reporter|September 15, 2022

Jace Opel

Lisa Olliges poses for her first portrait as the General Manager of KGCS-TV.

Coming from an extensive background working in the communications field, Lisa Olliges has now claimed the title as the General Manager of KGCS-TV. 

Monday, Sept. 12, officially marked Olliges’ first day at MSSU. The position, which was recently held by Bobbie Pottorff, now News Director at KSNF-TV, will oversee KGCS-TV. 

Students involved in the Communications Department will soon see a shift in perspectives, as the torch has now been passed onto a professional storyteller with a voice that has impacted thousands for several years. 

“[This story] was earlier in my career and it was such a beautiful, romantic story about a man taking care of his wife who had Alzheimer’s…” Olliges continues by saying that she will never forget writing that story. “It was just so much more than a health story, but really a love story happening locally in our community…there’s always a lot of them that impact you, but that one always touched my heart.”

Knowing how to write a captivating story that gains attention and creates emotions within an audience is key to becoming a great storyteller and that’s her main vision as she moves further with her new role.

“There’s always a lot of [stories] that impact you as a reporter,” Olliges said. “Everybody is trying to sell something or get a message out and so it depends on how you package it and how you deliver it.”

In this new position, she hopes to help students accomplish their goals to become great storytellers by guiding them the same way she was guided while she was a student in college- to be educated in a way to learn all angles of communications.

“I got educated in every aspect of communication. Now, we are in a world where they call it ‘Multimedia Journalists’. So you are not just a Newspaper Reporter or just a TV Reporter; [Today] you are going to need to know how to do it all,” she said.

Within just a couple of days of Olliges holding her new title, she said ideas for the program have already started brewing.

“I think we need to remember that television is a visual medium. We need to have more visuals in all of our programs which are interview-based a lot,” Olliges said. 

While Olliges anticipates offering more visual options to students, she also wants to utilize the talents within Webster Hall’s classrooms by helping discover each student’s mediatic skills and ultimately getting all students in communications actively involved. 

“Another goal I have is to do more programming than what we do now,” Olliges said. “To create more opportunities for students to be hands-on whether it’s shooting video, producing a show, or being the creative juice behind it all.”

Olliges knows what it takes to become a great storyteller and in her roughly 40 years of experience, she’s navigated a variety of communication methods. These skills evolved after graduating from Lindenwood University, with a double major in both Mass Communications & Performing Arts. 

“What was great about the two majors, is that they did go hand-in-hand; You need to articulate just as much in communications as you do in theater,” she said.

Her career peaked when she was offered a position at KOAM-TV in Pittsburg, KS where she remained for the next 31 years.

Throughout her years at Channel 7, Olliges was the Weekend Anchor & Producer, as well as a Reporter throughout the weekdays, where she would cover some of the biggest stories that would continue to make an impact throughout her life and her career as a storyteller.

Olliges remains confident that she will continue to embrace what she did in her years at KOAM-TV, and redirect it to her new role here at MSSU. 

“I am excited to be here [at Missouri Southern]. It’s going to be a fun job and it’s going to be fun to work with students and other faculty,” Olliges said. “I just think it’ll be a great time to collaborate with the newspaper and the radio, and trying to bring all of those things together.”

With all her years of experience in the news industry, Olliges is optimistic that her career path has led her to where she is today, even if the path wasn’t too far away. 

“There’s nothing wrong with blooming where you were planted…you can do good things right here in this area.”