Jerry Black

Jerry Black was born in Lewistown and raised in Shelby. He is a retired radio broadcast owner of Tri-County Radio Corp. that owned KSEN am and KZIN fm in Shelby.

Jerry entered broadcasting in 1955 when he came home while attending MSU and took what he thought was just a summer job at KSEN Radio that led to a very eventual 47 year radio career. He purchased majority interest in the corporation in 1977 and took KSEN am from a small 250 watt station to a 10,000 watt powerhouse and a 100,000 companion FM station covering north central Montana. During that time the station earned many state awards and several major national broadcasting awards for its news and public service programming.

Upon retirement in 2002 Jerry entered politics and was elected to Montana State Senate where he served from 2003 to 2010. He served on many committees including taxation, education and chairman of the Senate Energy and Telecommunications Committee.