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.
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-year broadcasting veteran, photographer, interested in radio, TV and railroad history, author and host of the book and podcast series Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
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.
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)
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-year broadcasting veteran, photographer, interested in radio, TV and railroad history, author and host of the book and podcast series Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
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!
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-year broadcasting veteran, photographer, interested in radio, TV and railroad history, author and host of the book and podcast series Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
Former President Carter on Feb. 24, 2013. Photo: Commonwealth Club of California/Flickr
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter died Sunday, Dec. 29, the Associated Press reports. He was 100, making him the longest-living president in history. Carter had entered hospice care a year earlier.
I briefly interviewed Carter 25 years ago at an event in South Florida while working as a reporter for Miami station WIOD, NewsRadio 610. He was appearing at Books and Books in Coral Gables in January 1999. That was at the same time as a U.S. Senate trial of President Bill Clinton on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice regarding a sexual relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinski. I asked Carter his thoughts on the trial, as well as changes in politics since his time in office.
AUDIO: Interviewing former President Jimmy Carter in January 1999 in Coral Gables, Florida.
Much was been written about Carter since his death. While he only served one term, Carter received high praise for how he lived his life. I was very appreciative that he gave me a few minutes going into the event, providing thoughtful comments to my questions.
INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT:
MICHAEL HIBBLEN: What are your thoughts on modern day presidential politics and the investigations of the president and so forth?
FORMER PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER: Well, I don’t think there’s any way to control what the investigations have done. The Congress passed the law, President Clinton signed the law into effect. The Attorney General called for a special prosecutor, a three-judge panel appointed Kenneth Starr when a vacancy occurred, but I think there’s no doubt that the special prosecutor law has been abused by Kenneth Starr. I don’t think that there’s any doubt that after this furor is over, which I hope will be fairly soon, that the law is going to be changed to put some constraints on the time spent and the money spent on investigations.
HIBBLEN: Do you think politics has become more nasty since your days in office?
CARTER: Oh yeah, there’s no doubt about that. It’s become very nasty compared to when I was in office. When I ran against Gerald Ford, who was an incumbent president, and when I ran later against Ronald Regan, he was a governor, former governor, I never referred to them as anything except my distinguished opponent or my worthy opponent. If I had run a negative campaign spot on TV, it would have been suicidal for me. I mean, the people would have condemned me. Nowadays, the common thing is not to win by what you claim that you are going to do if you get in office, but to win by totally destroying the character of your opponent, whether they deserve to be destroyed or not. The problem is the finance laws which permit unlimited use of soft money, as you probably know. The soft money cannot be used by law to promote a candidate. It can be used to tear down an opponent, and that’s one of the root causes of the negative atmosphere that exists not only in Washington but in statehouses like Atlanta and in Tallahassee.
HIBBLEN: So, you feel a lot of changes should come to politics?
CARTER: The change that needs to be done is to change the campaign finance laws. Yeah, because now we have the equivalent of legal bribery. It is legal, but somebody that wants a special favor from the Congress or from the White House, from the governor’s mansion or whatever, gives unlimited amounts of money through various means, and they don’t give it for nothing. They expect some special treatment or they expect their voice to be heard, at least, you know, when the candidate who they have helped finance gets in office. So, that’s what needs to be changed.
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-year broadcasting veteran, photographer, interested in radio, TV and railroad history, author and host of the book and podcast series Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
I had the most fun I’ve ever had during a pledge drive on Wednesday, Dec. 11 as Arkansas PBS featured an evening airing Willie Nelson’s 90 Birthday Celebration, followed by a 1990 concert with country supergroup the Highwaymen, which was made up of Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson.
I’ve long been a huge fan of Willie and have seen him in concert more than any other performer — maybe a dozen times since 1990. I spoke about being introduced to Willie’s music at a young age in the 1970s when my mom would play his 8-tracks Red Headed Stranger and Stardust on practically every family trip to see my grandparents. I didn’t enjoy Willie then, but over the years, watching him perform during the first Farm Aid concert in 1985 and many times on Austin City Limits helped me begin building an appreciation. Eventually seeing him in concert, I realized what an amazing performer he was.
So it was a joy to talk about Willie as we were showing a couple of his concerts. Joining me on the air was singer-songwriter Ryan Harmon, who, despite his young age, has an encyclopedic knowledge of country music. Years earlier he had worked in the marketing department at Arkansas PBS, but after being selected for an audition with ABC’s American Idol, took the encouragement he received from judges and is now focused on building his career as a musician.
If you watch the video below, you’ll see we had a great time on the air. The video only features highlights from our local breaks with none of the concerts we were showing to avoid copyright infringements by posting this to YouTube.
Among the things I spoke about during the pledge drive was my one experience interviewing Willie for a half-hour in South Florida in 2005. I was working for the Miami Herald, which had a partnership providing local news to PBS/NPR station WLRN. You can hear the interview and read a transcript here.
During breaks in the Highwaymen show at Nassau Coliseum, we also talked about the unveiling of the Johnny Cash statue earlier that year in the U.S. Capitol, which I was excited to attend. His statue and one of civil rights pioneer Daisy Bates, unveiled earlier in the year, now represent Arkansas. Each state is allowed two statues, and Bates and Cash were selected by the Arkansas General Assembly in 2019.
Interviewing Willie Nelson in Plantation, Florida on May 26, 2005. Photo: Candace West/Miami Herald
I also discussed covering the restoration years earlier of Cash’s boyhood home in Dyess, which began when Arkansas State University bought the dilapidated farmhouse as part of its Arkansas Heritage Sites program. Fundraising for the project began with a 2011 with a concert in Jonesboro, which included Kris Kristofferson. Willie would perform the second year, with a dedication ceremony of the home eventually held in 2014.
The preservation of the Cash home and placing a statue of he and Bates in Washington are, by far, my favorite stories to have covered during my long career.
Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, 36-year broadcasting veteran, photographer, interested in radio, TV and railroad history, author and host of the book and podcast series Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
This is the online home of broadcasting news veteran Michael Hibblen. I've worked for newspapers, radio and TV stations around the country, with this website telling the story of my career, including audio, photos and videos. Also featured are various interests I've researched, primarily about radio and railroads. Today I'm Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS, overseeing production of "Arkansas Week" and the streaming of events on the Arkansas Citizens Access Network. The posts on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Arkansas PBS or my former employers.
My Book
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, as well as other states in the middle of the U.S. The book features historic photos and tells the story of the Rock Island, which was shut down in March 1980. READ 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.
