Megan Torgerson anchors the homegrown podcast "Reframing Rural". Torgerson is Dagmer, Montana born and raised. In her younger years, she surmised that an authentic voice was missing in the media landscape.
“I wasn’t really seeing narratives about rural places with very much complexity or care. I felt that given my background in a very, very small town I could kind of go in and share rural stories with more nuance.”
Torgerson has gone on to confront that conviction in the podcast “Reframing Rural”. Megan founded Reframing Rural in 2019 while writing her thesis Reframing Rural: Rewriting the Narrative on Rural America.
This season’s issue examines succession stories. The idea came from non-profit rancher managed Winnet Aces Executive Producer Laura Nolan. Winnet Aces had been a part of Season Three, and Nolan saw a personal approach in successions.
Torgerson shares her family's personal succession story along with other Montana framers and ranchers, including Gene Curry.
The stories encompass a variety of different challenges confronting the families as they work through the succession plans.
For her work on the podcast, Megan Torgerson has been awarded numerous grants and fellowships including the inaugural Public Humanities Fellowship from Humanities Washington in 2022 and the 2020 fellowship from Guest House Cultural Capital Residency.
The podcast’s website notes that “since returning to her home state in 2023, Megan has lent her knowledge of rural spaces, storytelling and nonprofit management to media projects, needs assessments, keynotes and educational courses for organizations including the Red Ants Pants Foundation, Montana Farmers Union and Montana State University Extension. She lives in Missoula, MT with her husband and son.”
“Reframing Rural: Succession Stories” launched in December and is available on Apple, Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts.