Longtime local journalist Wendy Ostrom Price remembers watching her young son play baseball from the cab of her truck when her bulky handheld phone, plugged into the cigarette lighter, began to ring.  

It was breaking news, so she had to spring into action. 

“I knew my son was coming up to bat soon, but I had to call in a report, as I knew people wanted to hear that night instead of waiting for the newspaper to come out the next morning. Sometimes the job has to come first. He forgave me and got many big hits after that,” Ostrom Price writes in “Reporter in a Small Town.” 

In her new memoir, the award-winning reporter recounts her many adventures and misadventures over her 32-year-long career in journalism and public relations in the Flathead Valley.  

For those familiar with Ostrom Price, she needs little introduction. Her voice was heard on local radio for decades, keeping Flathead Valley residents informed and hosting community conversations. She also reported for the Kalispell Weekly News, The Great Falls Tribune, the Associated Press and the BBC, along with other publications in Montana. The last 14 years of her career were spent working as the public relations officer for Flathead Electric Co-op, where she retired in 2021.  

During her career, she received numerous awards from the Montana Broadcasting Association, The Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists.  

“Being a reporter is in my blood,” Ostrom Price wrote in the prologue of her new memoir. She followed in the footsteps of her father, George Ostrom, who earned his local legend status as a radio personality, newspaper owner, author and longtime newspaper columnist for the Hungry Horse News. The two worked alongside each other at The Kalispell Weekly News and KOFI Radio.  

After her father died on New Year's Day in 2025 at the age of 96, Ostrom Price began journaling about their memories together.  

“One night, I was chatting with my husband, and I was reminding him of some of these adventures we had, and he said, ‘You need to stop talking and you need to start writing,’” Ostrom Price said. 

She began sharing her writings with her sister and some friends, who told her it was time to think about publishing. She chose Sweetgrass Books, the custom publishing division of Farcountry Press, where her father had previously published his own books.  

“And so my little book was born,” she said. 

In the opening vignette of the book, Ostrom Price reflects on one of her first big lessons in what she calls the “George Ostrom School of Journalism.” At 13 years old, he asked if she wanted to join him to cover a fire in Kalispell.  

“My answer was an emphatic ‘Yes!’ (Twenty some years later, I would pose a similar question to my own child.) I said yes because I knew I was going to learn something very important, as my dad was demonstrative when teaching his children about the perils of life,” Ostrom Price writes. 

Ostrom Price said she cannot begin to describe everything she learned from her father — using the airways for good, to be fair and objective, to take advantage of good opportunities and to not be afraid or intimidated.  

Those lessons shine through as she reflects on her career in “Reporter in a Small Town.” Though the book features memories of interviewing big names like former Vice President Al Gore and “Ben-Hur” actor Charleston Heston, some of Ostrom Price’s most interesting tales come from her day-to-day news gathering in the Flathead Valley.  

With a go-bag in her car, she would arrive at the scene of a breaking news story, clear-eyed and prepared. And everyone there — the fire chief, sheriff and other first responders knew her well. 

These close connections with community members are a highlight of Ostrom Price’s career, but they made writing her memoir difficult at times, she said. She didn’t want to burn any bridges or have the book be a “tell-all.” 

“I just kind of spilled my guts and wrote and wrote and wrote. So when I decided to publish, the most difficult part was deciding what to omit. I live here still. I didn't want to hurt people, so I edited several stories out, several names out and decided what names to use and what names not to use,” Ostrom Price said.  

She didn’t want to bore people, so she tried to write in her “radio voice,” which meant keeping things precise and interesting, leading to the book’s vignette style.  

Pulling from more than three decades as a journalist, Ostrom Price has covered almost every kind of story. She said the experience of being a reporter in a small town is one she wouldn’t trade for a role on a bigger stage.  

“If you're good at what you do, those opportunities are going to arrive ... but I knew that I was committed to my dad, I was committed to my station, I was committed to my family and my community,” Ostrom Price said.  

“Reporter in a Small Town” is available at local bookstores and through Farcountry Press and Amazon.  

For more information, visit farcountrypress.com or email Ostrom Price at [email protected]. 

Reporter Taylor Inman may be reached at 758-4440 or [email protected].