Sherry Westbrook wearing her former KZ95 jacket after we met for lunch on Oct. 3, 2026. Photo: Danielle Vinson
For the first time in more than three decades, I saw Sherry Westbrook, who was a mentor to me as I was starting my radio career. And I had something to give her. But first, some background.
While I was in high school in 1989, I met Sherry when she was the nighttime DJ at the short-lived Little Rock rock station KZ95 (KZLR-FM 94.9). At the time, I was working my first radio job at a rundown AM station in Benton and was in awe of the professional Little Rock stations I listened to.
Sherry was 10 years older than me and started letting me join her in the studio while she was on the air. We’d also go out to lunch, and she’d tell me about her experiences in the industry. It meant a lot to have someone established in radio take an interest in my career.
KZ95 aggressively targeted rival rock station Magic 105. The station had jackets with its logo, and each DJ had one with their name embroidered on it. I remembered Sherry’s. After about a year-and-a-half, when it became clear KZ95 wasn’t going to overtake Magic 105, the station changed formats to oldies and became Cool 95, with Sherry moving to middays.
AUDIO: “Your nighttime rocker” Sherry Brooks on KZ95, March 10, 1988. She used a slightly modified version of her last name on the air.
AUDIO: An aircheck of Sherry Brooks on Cool 95 from April 1991. This includes her all request lunch hour and live commercials.
At some point in the early 1990s, she was hired at number one-rated KSSN 96 as music director, and once again I’d go up and join her while she was on the air. I was fascinated seeing how different radio stations operated.
When I created a website about my career in 2002, I included audio from a couple of airchecks that Sherry had given me and wrote about how influential she had been to me.
Sherry Westbrook’s KZ95 jacket.
Fast-forward a few decades to last December. Shelli Poole, a longtime friend of mine who worked with Sherry at KSSN, texted me to say she’d spotted Sherry’s old KZ95 jacket for sale at a flea market in Benton. Years earlier, it had been hanging at a used record store in North Little Rock. How it got from there to the flea market, I have no idea.
Shelli asked if I knew how to get in touch with Sherry. I didn’t. We hsd long since lost contact. But I didn’t want the jacket to disappear, so I asked Shelli to buy it, and I started searching online for Sherry, without any luck.
Then, a few weeks ago, Sherry’s daughter, Danielle Vinson, happened across her mom’s old airchecks on my website and contacted me on Facebook. She knew nothing about the jacket, she was simply reaching out to say hello. We talked by phone, and Saturday, Oct. 3, the three of us met for lunch.
It was a joy talking with Sherry for the first time in so long. And that jacket had been such a random thing to come across. After having it for the past 10 months, I was very happy to finally return it to her.
University of Arkansas Board of Trustees Chairman Randy Lawson, left, hands a medallion to UA System President Jay Silveria to place on UAMS Chancellor Dr. C. Lowry Barnes during an investiture ceremony Tuesday in Little Rock. Photo: Michael Hibblen
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Chancellor Dr. C. Lowry Barnes was invested Tuesday in the Harry P. Ward Chancellor’s Distinguished Chair during a ceremony that brought together state, university and health care leaders.
Philanthropist Alice Walton and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders were among those who praised Barnes during the ceremony at the Fred W. Smith Conference Center on the main UAMS campus in Little Rock.
The investiture marked another milestone for Barnes, a nationally recognized orthopaedic surgeon whose association with UAMS dates back more than four decades. He became interim chancellor in July 2025 after the departure of Chancellor Cam Patterson. Following a national search in which Barnes was one of four finalists, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees approved UA System President Jay B. Silveria’s recommendation in February to make Barnes the university’s next chancellor.
“Lowry Barnes is, without a doubt, one of the most energetic and visionary leaders UAMS has had in its proud history,” Silveria said. “As chancellor, Dr. Barnes has spearheaded efforts to grow UAMS’ reach and revenue, create a sustainable and self-sufficient health care system, increasing research funding, accelerating philanthropic funding, increasing employee wages, and working with his executive leadership team to create a culture of hospitality.”
During his remarks, Barnes outlined his vision for UAMS, including efforts to expand the institution’s reach across Arkansas and help preserve hospitals in rural areas.
Many hospitals in smaller towns and cities have closed in recent years. Barnes said UAMS is working on agreements to partner with facilities facing financial challenges to help ensure they remain open. Discussions are ongoing, and because of nondisclosure agreements, he could not identify the hospitals involved.
“This institution that was a one-hospital system six months ago will likely be a 10-hospital system in a couple of years,” Barnes said. “We think it’s important that we continue to work across the state and provide the care that’s so needed.”
Barnes acknowledged that such expansion might make members of the UA Board of Trustees nervous, but said UAMS has a responsibility to improve health care statewide and ensure communities are not left behind.
“When you’re looking at a hospital that’s delivering 500 babies a year and is on the brink of closure, we have to save them,” Barnes said to applause. “This state cannot afford to have more hospitals close that deliver babies.”
Barnes also discussed the expansion of UAMS clinics around the state, including a new location scheduled to open Thursday in Bryant.
A partnership between UAMS and Jefferson Regional in Pine Bluff will begin Oct. 1. Barnes said the hospital has personal significance because it was the first hospital where he worked, serving as an orderly.
“Obviously, that has a lot of meaning to me,” Barnes said. “It is a place we’re gonna make a difference, and I think you’ll see that it’s gonna be a great relationship for Jefferson Regional.”
Barnes said he has developed a seven-year plan for what he wants UAMS to accomplish by 2033. Among his priorities are retaining employees by raising wages and training more medical students to eventually help address a physician shortage.
Another priority was keeping the Proton Center at UAMS operating after financial losses had put its future in doubt. Barnes said the highly specialized cancer treatment it provides needs to remain available in Arkansas.
“It’s the most challenging health care deal I’ve ever seen, and so we worked on it for months,” Barnes said. “Fortunately, we were able to work it out with the bondholders, and it will become the UAMS Proton Center and be a part of our institution now.”
Barnes graduated with honors from the UAMS College of Medicine in 1986 and remained at UAMS for his internship and residency in orthopaedic surgery. He later completed a fellowship in adult reconstructive and arthritis surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Sanders said Barnes could have practiced anywhere in the country but chose to return home to Arkansas.
“Forty years after walking these halls as a medical student, Dr. Barnes now leads them,” Sanders said. “He’s the medical school’s first chancellor who is both a native Arkansan and practicing surgeon.”
Barnes entered private practice as a joint replacement surgeon and eventually became president and managing partner of Arkansas Specialty Orthopaedics, a position he held for more than a decade. He returned to UAMS in 2014 as professor and chair of the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.
In 2017, Barnes was invested in the Carl L. Nelson, M.D., Distinguished Chair in Orthopaedic Surgery. He also became founding director of The Orthopaedic and Spine Hospital, which opened on the UAMS campus in 2023.
Walton, who founded the nonprofit Heartland Whole Health Institute in 2019 and the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in 2021, thanked Barnes for his leadership. She said he instinctively understands the power of collaboration and working toward a healthier future.
“None of us can accomplish our biggest goals alone, and the best solutions always come from diverse people coming together and working together,” Walton said. “Whether we’re talking about improving health outcomes, educating the next generation of physicians, advancing research or expanding access to care, lasting progress only happens when we work together around a shared purpose.”
The chair Barnes received Tuesday is named for Harry P. Ward, M.D., who served as UAMS chancellor from 1979 until 2000 and oversaw a period of major expansion at the institution.
Ward is credited with helping transform UAMS from a relatively small medical school and charity hospital into an academic health center and research institution. During his tenure, UAMS’ physical size increased fivefold, research funding grew substantially and more than $200 million in major construction projects were completed.
The Harry P. Ward Chancellor’s Distinguished Chair was created in 2005 and was the first chancellor’s chair endowed at an Arkansas university. Former Chancellor I. Dodd Wilson was its inaugural recipient, followed by Daniel W. Rahn and Patterson. Barnes is the fourth UAMS chancellor to hold the chair.
The chair was established with a $1 million lead gift from the Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation and additional donations that brought its endowment to $2.5 million. Income from the endowment is available to the chancellor to help recruit faculty and administrators.
A National Guard helicopter drops water on the Bunker Fire in Calhoun County on Wednesday, Sept. 16. Photo: Arkansas National Guard
Crews worked through the weekend to extinguish hot spots from a wildfire near a Camden industrial park where several military contractors are located.
As of Friday night, the Arkansas Department of Agriculture reported the Bunker Fire was 75% contained after burning more than 2,800 acres.
State and federal resources were called in to battle the blaze, which began Monday near Highland Industrial Park.
Arkansas National Guard helicopters have been used to drop thousands of gallons of water at a time on the fire. Additional support from National Guard crews from Oklahoma and Mississippi continued through the weekend. The out-of-state crews were expected to remain through Monday.
Camden Municipal Airport reported Saturday night that 59 bucket drops had been completed that day, delivering an estimated 83,200 gallons of water. On Friday, 97 drops were made, dumping more than 100,000 gallons of water.
Crews have worked long hours since the fire began, often through the night. Beginning Tuesday, bulldozers were used to create firebreaks around the blaze, removing dry vegetation that could fuel the fire.
“A fire break, essentially, is putting a gap in between one section of the forest and the other,” Arkansas National Guard Staff Sgt. Christian Clark said in a video statement on Wednesday. “The fuel is anything that can burn all the dry leaves, all the pine needles, the trees. So you’re just trying to push up everything, and just leaving exposed dirt, get rid of all the roots, and trying to stop [the fire] from being able to jump.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved a Fire Management Assistance Grant for the Bunker Fire. Such grants can reimburse eligible firefighting costs, including expenses for personnel, equipment and supplies. Calhoun and Ouachita counties were designated for assistance.
No injuries or property damage have been reported.
On Friday, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced that $750,000 from the Governor’s Disaster Response and Recovery Fund would be available to the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management for the state’s response to wildfires.
The entire state remained at high wildfire danger as of Sunday, with dry conditions allowing fires to ignite easily and spread quickly. Burn bans were in place in 70 of the state’s 75 counties, including every county in the southern half of Arkansas.
This story was written for the Fordyce News-Advocate.
This is the online home of Michael Hibblen, managing editor of Newsroom Ventures, which publishes six Arkansas newspapers. I've worked as a reporter, editor and manager for newspapers, radio and TV stations for more than three decades, with this website telling the story of my career. Also featured are outside interests I've researched. The views expressed here are my own and might not reflect those of my employers.
Released by Arcadia Publishing in 2017, Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas delves into the history of the railroad, which once had a huge footprint in Arkansas. The book features historic photos and tells the story of the Rock Island, which was shut down in March 1980. READ MORE ABOUT MY BOOK.
Preserving Rock Island Depot at Perry
Since 2017, I've been part of a group working to preserve the former Rock Island Depot at Perry, Arkansas. To keep it from being demolished, we raised money to move the depot to an adjacent lot, still alongside the tracks, which is now owned by the city. The building has since been listed on the National Register of Historic Places and our group has become a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. LEARN MORE.
For 13 years, from May 2009 to December 2022, I worked for NPR station KUAR-FM 89.1 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. That included 10 years as News Director while continuing to anchor and report. You can read and hear reports from that time on Little Rock Public Radio's website.
