Select Page

This Month at Arkansas PBS

Each month, Arkansas PBS produces a short segment that runs on the air during program breaks and is shared online with staff talking about programming and events that will be coming up. Jamie Walters, a marketing and communications specialist with our Education Department, joined me to record the segment for April

As one of the events is the annual “Quiz Bowl” competition among high school teams from around the state, I took that as an opportunity to wear a “Quiz Bowl” tee shirt from previous years rather than my normal work clothes. The event will be broadcast live on Saturday, April 26 and is always a blast to help produce. It’s an all-day marathon of rounds testing kids’ knowledge of a wide range of categories. It can be hectic having so many young people come through our building, where we must get teams in and out of the main studio quickly during breaks. But it’s always a lot of fun.

The competition is presented by the Arkansas Governor’s Quiz Bowl Association, which operates under the Arkansas Activities Association. This year is special because it’s the 40th anniversary for the event, which started while Gov. Bill Clinton was in office in 1985.  

Another anniversary we discussed was 20 years of Arkansas IDEAS. A function of our Education Department, it provides free, online professional development for educators. More than 4.5 million professional development credit hours have been awarded over the last two decades to teachers, school support staff and administrators.

Filling in hosting ‘Not Necessarily Nashville’

I sat in for my pal Flap Jones this past weekend hosting Not Necessarily Nashville on Little Rock Public Radio’s KUAR-FM 89.1. It’s always a joy selecting an hour of music to play and discuss. 

With only a few days before the Wednesday, March 19 screening of the Arkansas PBS documentary Unveiled: Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash at Robinson Center in Little Rock, followed a week later by Bob Dylan performing at the same venue on Wednesday, March 26, I played two songs Cash and Dylan recorded together. These versions of “Guess Things Happen That Way” and “I Still Miss Someone” were recorded during two days in a Nashville studio in February 1969 and were eventually released a half-century later in 2019 as part of Dylan’s The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15, Travelin’ Thru

Audio Player
Not Necessarily Nashville, March 8, 2025, 7 p.m. on Little Rock Public Radio’s KUAR-FM 89.1.

I also played a couple of songs from an album by Mary Chapin Carpenter and Scottish musicians Lulie Fowlis and Karine Polwart. Looking for the Thread was released in January and has been a relaxing escape during my work commutes over the last few weeks.

Not Necessarily Nashville playlist, March 8, 2025, Little Rock Public Radio

Buck Owens and the Buckaroos – “Johnny Be Goode” (Buck Owens in London)
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart “Satellite” (Looking For The Thread)
Jim Lauderdale “Delta Blue” (Can’t Steal My Fire: The Songs of David Olney)
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash – “Guess Things Happen That Way” (The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15: Travelin’ Thru, 1967-1969)
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash – “I Still Miss Someone” (The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15: Travelin’ Thru, 1967-1969)
Glen Campbell – “These Days” (Meet Glen Campbell)
Kinky Friedman – “See You Down the Highway” (Poet of Motel 6)
Ray Charles and Willie Nelson – “It Was a Very Good Year” (Genius Loves Company)
Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood – “Some Velvet Morning” (Movin’ with Nancy)
Alison Krauss & Union Station – “Looks like The End of the Road” (Arcadia)
Sam Moore and Conway Twitty – “A Rainy Night in Georgia”
Ringo Star – “Time on my Hands” (Look Up)
Tom T. Hall – “I Miss a Lot of Trains”
Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart “Looking for the Thread” (Looking For The Thread)

Screening to premiere ‘Unveiled: Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash’

Nathan Willis films as Benjamin Victor works on his clay model of Daisy Bates. Photo: Arkansas PBS

On this state holiday honoring civil rights pioneer Daisy Gatson Bates, people can register for free tickets to a screening next month of an Arkansas PBS original documentary that tells the story of placing statues of Bates and singer-songwriter Johnny Cash in the U.S. Capitol. While working for Little Rock public radio station KUAR in previous years, I reported on each step of the process — often alongside filmmaker Nathan Willis — and know people will enjoy watching the fascinating details of the legislative debate, selection of the sculptors, the physical work of making the statues, then getting all the needed approvals to place them in the Capitol.

The screening will be Wednesday, March 19, 7 p.m. at Robinson Center in Little Rock. You can register for free tickets here. There will first be a panel discussion, followed by the documentary. It will make its broadcast premiere the following night, Thursday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m.

UPDATE: After the two nights of showings, the entire film can now be watched on the PBS app and YouTube. I’ve replaced the promo clip that was there with the film. Enjoy!