While this isn’t a great quality image, just a photo of a photo that was displayed at Bob Gay’s funeral, it shows him on the air at an unknown radio station.
I’m pleased to share two recently digitized airchecks of Bob Gay from 1972, when he was the evening DJ at WCBM-AM 680 in Baltimore. Sixteen years later, he would become my high school radio teacher in Little Rock, giving his students real-world instruction on how to develop the skills needed to work in radio and land their first jobs.
Bob was a native of Newport, Arkansas, and went by Bob Galen on the air. He had a lengthy career in broadcasting, working at radio and television stations around the country. Fittingly, he encouraged his students at Metropolitan Vocational Education Center, part of the Little Rock School District, not to limit their careers by staying in one market, but to look for opportunities wherever they could find them.
After starting his career in his hometown, Bob worked at stations in Little Rock, Memphis, Marion, Alabama, and Burlington, North Carolina. In the early 1970s, he was hired at Baltimore’s WCBM, then one of the city’s top-rated stations. Owned by Metromedia, WCBM featured personality-driven DJs playing a middle-of-the-road format that mixed current hits with oldies. The station also had a strong local news presence.
Earlier this summer, I spent a couple of Sundays with Bob’s son, Russell Gay, whom I met at Bob’s funeral in 2024. I wrote about Bob and his influence on me shortly after his death. Russell has kept his dad’s reel-to-reel tape machine in working order, and together we digitized some of Bob’s old tapes, including these two recordings.
One reel contained a scoped aircheck that was edited into a demo tape featuring highlights of a WCBM airshift. Russell said his dad was constantly sending tapes to program directors at other stations, always looking for his next opportunity. The other is an unscoped hour of Bob, beginning around 6 p.m. during a WCBM local newscast. After the newscast, there’s an awkwad bit of interplay between Bob and the anchor before he launches into his evening shift. Commercials, jingles and full songs make this recording especially fun to hear.
AUDIO: A scoped aircheck of Bob Galen, likely from October 1972 on WCBM-AM 680 in Baltimore. DOWNLOAD
AUDIO: An hour-long unscoped aircheck of Bob Galen on WCBM Sept. 27, 1972. This includes a local newscast, traffic report, commercials and other elements. DOWNLOAD
The booming voice, the constant wisecracks, the interplay with the jingles, the way he asks listeners, “How the heck are you?” — it was a different era of radio. These recordings, particularly the full hour, are a wonderful time capsule of what personality-driven AM radio sounded like more than half a century ago.
There’s also a personal connection that makes hearing these recordings meaningful to me.
One day in my radio class in 1988, Bob played us a tape of himself on WCBM. The sound of that recording has been bouncing around in my head ever since. I’m grateful to Russell for finding these tapes all these years later and allowing me to digitize and share them.
Digitizing one of the reels of Bob Galen on WCBM on June 14, 2026.
Last year, Russell also gave me several cassettes from his dad’s collection, including recordings of a couple of Little Rock stations that I’ve previously posted here. Among them were three hours of KARN-AM 920 from 1977 and a 90-minute recording of R&B station KOKY-AM 1440 from 1975.
It’s a joy to be able to preserve recordings like these before the aging tapes deteriorate further, and to share them online so others can enjoy hearing what radio was once like.
Veteran reporter, editor and manager at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
I’m always looking for opportunities to report on historic preservation. This story for The Glenwood Herald was fun for me because it detailed what some Arkansas cities are doing to revitalize their downtown areas.
Ki Hartsfield speaks to city leaders who came together in Glenwood on Friday, Aug. 14. All photos: Michael Hibblen
Leaders of small Arkansas cities have long faced many of the same challenges: how to help their communities prosper amid declining populations and deteriorating infrastructure. A core group is now sharing ideas and hoping to, as they openly put it, “rip off and duplicate” what is working elsewhere.
The group gets together every month or two in different cities to discuss strategies and network. The latest gathering was Friday, Aug. 14, when nearly two dozen mayors, chamber members and others came to Glenwood to discuss and see firsthand what has worked locally, particularly efforts to rejuvenate what had been a mostly abandoned downtown. Cities represented included Malvern, Waldron, Leslie, Keo, McNeil, Fordyce, De Queen and Amity.
The group assembled at Mercantile on Broadway, the shop owned and operated by Ki and Kayla Hartsfield, who have been active over the past three years investing in properties, organizing community events and bringing new life to downtown.
“We want to give you a scope of what that looks like, how that came to be, the lessons learned, the hurdles faced,” said Ki Hartsfield, executive vice president of commercial lending at Southern Bancorp. “The truth is, we don’t know what we’re doing, and I hope that’s an empowering statement.”
“We’ve had tons of successes. It’s easy to share the story now because we can show you success. It was harder two years ago because it did not look good,” he said.
The core message of the day, Hartsfield said, was for cities to realize that “help is not coming. There’s no blueprint, there’s no guide, there’s no master plan,” he said. “Just doing something is the key.”
REVITALIZING DOWNTOWN GLENWOOD
Kayla Hartsfield, president of the Glenwood Regional Chamber of Commerce, recalled attending a town hall meeting with about 20 people in January 2023. There was discussion about community needs, such as a sports complex and splash pad, before the conversation eventually turned to vacant buildings downtown. Questions were raised about who owned the buildings and what it would take to restore them.
“I realized there were more people than just us who wanted to see these buildings brought back to life, who wanted to see businesses downtown,” she said.
At the time, 60% of the buildings in downtown Glenwood were empty, Ki Hartsfield said.
“Not just vacant, but dilapidated, leaking, more mice than people — it was in bad shape,” he said. “So, obviously, working in Glenwood, driving through it day in and day out, I thought, man, let’s put our money where our mouth is.”
The couple began researching who owned the buildings and found that some could be purchased relatively cheaply. But they soon realized they couldn’t tackle the effort alone. Conversations with other like-minded young professionals eventually led to the formation of an investment group made up of six couples.
During a tour of buildings in downtown Glenwood, the group went through a former shoe store that is being cleaned out and will become a shop that sells homemade soaps.
Since then, Hartsfield said, $1.8 million in private capital has been invested in the two-block downtown area. He said he warned the other investors from the beginning that their investments might feel more like donations.
“We have to put purpose over profits, and that’s hard for people to digest. The reason Glenwood hadn’t been flipped is because it doesn’t make sense on paper,” he told the group.
“There has been a change in society where people want character in buildings. People want experience, right? The bypass and strip malls — no offense to those, but they’re kind of out,” Hartsfield said. “You have to look at it from another lens, because if it worked on paper, someone else would have done it.”
The municipal leaders were led on a walking tour of downtown, visiting five local businesses now operating in restored buildings. The final stop highlighted one of the biggest challenges still facing the investors: the historic Alford building. Efforts are continuing to find a tenant or tenants for the two-story, 8,000-square-foot building. Prospective tenants have toured the property, but so far none has worked out.
NETWORKING
Many of the city leaders also discussed how they came to serve their communities.
De Queen City Council member Rick Pruitt told the group that despite being born and raised there, he couldn’t wait to leave when he became an adult.
“I left De Queen in 1983 as a little punk rocker, shaking my fist saying, I’ll never come back. And then I moved back, because I wanted my daughter to climb the same trees as I did,” Pruitt said. “I’m so glad I did.”
Several participants told similar stories of leaving their communities for college or to pursue other opportunities, only to eventually return with a desire to improve their hometowns.
Three representatives of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission also attended, including Dana Poindexter, regional manager for southwest Arkansas. Poindexter first introduced Kayla Hartsfield to Keo Mayor Stephanie White, who has been organizing the regular gatherings of municipal leaders.
“You never know who’s going to be an asset for you. So constantly look for those people,” Ki Hartsfield said.
White said it was encouraging to see what has been accomplished in Glenwood.
“I think that all small towns, with our few resources and few people, it just takes committed folks to start somewhere and make an effort,” White said. “It’s infectious and it’s contagious. People want to see progress and be a part of something successful.”
The group walked through the Alford building, which was built around 1915 and is Glenwood’s most historic building.
Visitors go through the second floor of the Alford building, which was originally a hotel.
Leslie Mayor Eric Jaeger and his wife, Mary Jaeger, president of the Leslie Merchants Association, previously welcomed many of the same leaders to their city. Like the Hartsfields, the Jaegers also operate a local store.
Mary Jaeger said one aspect of Glenwood’s revitalization that stood out was its ability to form an investment group.
“We have a couple of open buildings, but having people that are willing to take that risk to develop downtown, it’s hard. It’s very hard,” she said.
Jaeger also stressed the importance of festivals in drawing visitors into small communities. Glenwood is preparing for its biggest annual event, the Caddo River Festival over Labor Day weekend, while Leslie is preparing for its Whittlin’ and Fiddlin’ Festival on Sept. 19.
“It’s bringing a part of our heritage of having the whittlers line the downtown. The gentlemen would sit and whittle, and I think that was their old-school Facebook. They’d be able to talk about what’s happening,” Jaeger said. “So having festivals is what has allowed us to even open up more, to bring people in and show them what kind of a gem we have in Leslie.”
Finding people willing to take leadership roles within their communities was another recurring theme.
In addition to her role with the chamber, Kayla Hartsfield serves as president of the board of directors for the nonprofit Glenwood Downtown Network, which is part of Main Street Arkansas. Two fellow board members, Jimmy Kennedy and Kara Oosterhous, also attended the gathering. Hartsfield stressed the importance of their roles in the organization and said she was grateful to have met people willing to become involved.
After spending the morning talking and touring downtown Glenwood, the group picked up sandwiches and headed to a cabin along the Caddo River, one of about two dozen short-term rentals providing overnight accommodations for visitors.
There, Waldron City Council member David Carter said he saw similarities between his community and Glenwood.
“We have the same goal to grow, be sustainable, have a better life and retain our young people,” Carter said. “So it’s encouraging to see that this right here, just this stretch, is amazing. The old buildings, the way they’ve retained the historical look, the original brick and that feel, because we have that in Waldron. We have all the historic buildings. It’s just getting the people together and moving towards that common goal.”
Veteran reporter, editor and manager at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
It’s always a joy filling in for Flap Jones a few times a year hosting Not Necessarily Nashville on Little Rock Public Radio’s KUAR-FM 89.1. I had a lot to talk about and music to play.
Tickets just went on sale for Hayes Carll who will play three consecutive nights at Little Rock’s White Water Tavern Monday, Nov. 9-Wednesday, Nov. 11. Los Lobos will be back in Arkansas on Sunday, Dec. 6 for a show at The Momentary in Bentonville. And after seeing BettySoo for the first time last month, I played one song from her latest album.
AUDIO: Not Necessarily Nashville, Aug. 1, 2026 on Little Rock Public Radio’s KUAR-FM 89.1.
Not Necessarily Nashville playlist, Aug. 1, 2026
Tony Joe White — “Saturday Night In Oak Grove, Louisiana” (Homemade Ice Cream)
Sad Daddy — “Did We Turn Off The Stove” (Ozark Shine)
Gary Stewart — “One Track Mind” (One Track Mind)
Hayes Carll — “We’re Only Human” (We’re Only Human Deluxe Edition)
Asleep At The Wheel — “This ‘Ol Cowboy” (Reinventing the Wheel)
BettySoo — “Gulf Road (feat. James McMurtry)” (If You Never Go Away)
Los Lobos — “Guantanamera” (Del Este De Los Ángeles)
Suzy Bogguss — “It All Falls Down to the River” (Praying’ for Sunshine)
The Red Clay Strays — “Do Today” (Grateful)
Tom Petty — “Harry Green” (Wildflowers & All the Rest Super Deluxe Edition)
Gary P. Nunn — “London Homesick Blues” (What I Like About Texas – Greatest Hits)
Veteran reporter, editor and manager at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
The former Rock Island Railroad depot in Hazen is shown on May 4. The city, which now owns the historic depot, has not yet determined how it will be used. Photo by Michael Hibblen
I wrote this story for The Grand Prairie Herald newspaper in Hazen, which was published on July 28.
The latest round of restoration work on Hazen’s historic Rock Island Railroad depot should be finished in the coming weeks, leaving city leaders with a new challenge: deciding how the century-old landmark should be used.
Mayor David Hardke said the city has invested heavily in preserving the depot and wants to ensure it remains in good condition while also finding a purpose that allows the public to enjoy and appreciate it.
“I’m very protective of it right now because we’ve spent quite a bit of money last year and this year,” Hardke said. “But I want it to be a historical structure that people can see. It’ll take you back in time, of course.”
The depot, which was constructed in 1915, is today owned by the city. When it opened, the line through Hazen was part of an important route for the Rock Island that carried passenger trains between Memphis and Amarillo, Texas. The shipping of freight was also extremely important.
The current phase of work addressed drainage and foundation problems on the east side of the building, where a freight room once stood.
“It was slanted a little bit toward the building, which allowed water that stood there to seep into the understructure, and that caused a major problem,” Hardke said. “With grant funds, we were able to raise that level outside on the east side of the building and use concrete to divert water away from the building.”
The project also included refinishing the depot’s hardwood floors and repainting interior walls. Work remains to be completed in two bathrooms and a small utility room.
The interior of the former white waiting room at the Hazen Rock Island Depot. Built in 1915, the station was legally required to feature racially segregated passenger spaces under Arkansas’ Jim Crow laws. Photo: Michael Hibblen
Rock Island memorabilia is currently in the projecting telegrapher’s booth of the depot. Photo: Michael Hibblen
A future phase of work, which will be covered by another grant, will modernize the depot’s electrical wiring.
“It’s pretty scary,” Hardke said.
Additional exterior lighting will also be installed to improve security and safety.
History of the depot
The Rock Island depot was built in 1915 as Hazen was experiencing significant agricultural and economic growth. It replaced an earlier depot built in the 1870s by the Memphis and Little Rock Railroad, which was the first railroad to operate in Arkansas.
Following the decline of passenger rail service after World War II, the last regularly scheduled passenger train came through Hazen in November 1967. The Rock Island donated the depot to the city in the 1970s, but it sat vacant for years until the boarded-up structure looked like it was about to collapse.
According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, former Mayor Kathryn Orlicek led efforts to raise money for its restoration, which began in 1987. The freight room was too deteriorated to save, although its brick façade remains. That same year, the depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Volunteers worked to restore the depot in 1987 after it had fallen into disrepair. Photo: Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
The interior of what was the white passenger waiting room of the Hazen depot as work to restore it was underway in 1987. Photo: Arkansas Historic Preservation Program
Although the restoration work is nearly complete, Hardke said the city has not settled on a long-term use for the building.
In recent decades, the depot has served as a community meeting space and tourist information center. But Hardke said a key concern was that frequent public use also resulted in wear and tear. While he wants the building to remain accessible, he envisions a use that generates less foot traffic.
“I’ve been asked, can there be community meetings there like the Chamber of Commerce? I suppose so because we don’t have a place now for those types of meetings, although we do have the community center, which has a couple of rooms that would be available for meetings,” he said. “I’ll admit, I have not worked out a plan for the building.”
One possibility could be tying the depot to a broader recreational project. Hardke has discussed with state officials the idea of converting part of the former Rock Island Railroad right of way into a rails-to-trails system, similar to projects elsewhere that have become popular destinations for walking and bicycling.
After the railroad tracks were removed, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission acquired about 14 miles of the former right of way between Carlisle and DeValls Bluff, except for several miles acquired by the city of Hazen. In 1987, the land became the Railroad Prairie Natural Area to preserve remnants of the native Grand Prairie tallgrass ecosystem, which provides a habitat for several rare species.
Hardke said he has discussed the idea with the commission’s director, Dr. Jennifer Ballard.
“She thought it sounded interesting,” he said. “She presented it to those above her, and they thought, ‘You know, that does sound like a good idea.’ It had been thought about for years, but it just never got off the ground.”
Exactly how the depot would fit into such a project remains uncertain. For now, Hardke said his goal is to see the building open to visitors on a regular basis instead of remaining locked much of the time.
“It’s just a wonderful, wonderful old building that’s in pristine shape right now,” he said.
Veteran reporter, editor and manager at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
Actor and director Kevin Costner testified about the importance of preserving and funding national parks and public lands during a field hearing Friday of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources. Photo: Michael Hibblen
Just outside of Hot Springs National Park, a field hearing was held Friday by members of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources who heard testimony and advocacy for passage of the Great American Outdoors Act 250. The bipartisan bill would reauthorize a law passed by Congress in 2020 that was designed to protect public lands and repair aging infrastructure.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, who chairs the committee, invited members from around the country to his district. He noted that 40 years before Yellowstone was designated as the United States’ first national park, Congress protected the thermal waters of Hot Springs in 1832. That created “America’s first federal reservation of a natural resource, making Hot Springs the birthplace of what a lot of people call ‘America’s best idea.’ Today, Hot Springs serves as a powerful example of what can happen when federal investment, local leadership and private partnerships come together.”
Westerman and Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California, introduced the reauthorization bill Wednesday. The measure would expand on the 2020 legislation, which Westerman said represented the largest investment in public lands infrastructure in generations, providing long-overdue resources to address deteriorating trails, campgrounds, visitor facilities and historic structures.
In Arkansas, Westerman said more than $52 million has been invested in projects at Hot Springs National Park, the Buffalo National River and the Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge.
“Those investments have improved visitor access, strengthened recreational opportunities and supported some of our state’s most treasured public lands,” Westerman said, adding that “record visitation continues to place new demands on aging infrastructure.”
The new legislation builds on the successes of the original law, he said, while addressing lessons learned through its implementation. Deferred maintenance over several decades is also a problem that Westerman said still has not been rectified.
“While inflation and rising construction costs may make needed repairs even more expensive, we have also learned important lessons about how these funds are allocated, how projects are selected, how agencies measure deferred maintenance and how we can better leverage partnerships to stretch taxpayer dollars even further,” Westerman said.
The legislation would invest $1.9 billion annually in national parks, public lands and Bureau of Indian Education facilities for the next five years. Funding would come from private donations, onshore energy revenue and new fees paid by foreign visitors.
Among those who testified during the hearing was actor and director Kevin Costner, who has long advocated for preserving national parks, largely through his documentary films. He spoke about growing up in a family that did not have the money to travel to major tourist destinations, but made annual drives to national parks.
“We could afford the gas to get us to the mighty sequoias, the high Sierras, to Yosemite. It was better than Paris, at least for a kid with my imagination. We could fish in a lake, sleep in a tent next to a stream, wake up to the smell of bacon and an open fire. It seemed wild,” Costner said.
“What always struck me, but I couldn’t articulate as a child, was that it never changed. It was undisturbed. It was comforting to know when I came back, it would look the same every time. It was perfect,” Costner said. “Nature doesn’t need a lot of help being perfect. But getting to this spot would not have been impossible without a road, a marked trail, even our campsite was the perfect distance from the next camper.”
That infrastructure is critical to ensuring visitors have good experiences in parks, Costner said, but the signs of deferred maintenance are becoming increasingly apparent.
He also spoke of the role of explorer, geologist and physician Ferdinand Hayden, who led the first government survey of the Yellowstone region in 1871 and advocated for preserving the area. The following year Yellowstone was established as the nation’s first national park.
“The odds of that happening in the area and the era lived, and the forces that stood against it, at a time when America’s natural resources were up for grabs, free to be exploited, with little or no regard for the future — it was zero. But he did it,” Costner said. “He had a vision and the courage to champion preservation over profit.”
Nature remains vulnerable, he said, which is why he supports the legislation.
“While visitations continue to grow, many of our parks are struggling with aging roads, deteriorating trails, outdated water systems, historic buildings in need of repair and staffing shortages that make it increasingly difficult to protect these resources and serve the public. We need the people who care for these places,” Costner said. “There’s really no better time for us to reaffirm our commitment to these places that tell America’s story. Conservation can’t afford to be a partisan issue.”
In addition to restoring infrastructure, backers of the legislation say it would support 72,500 jobs nationwide and generate $26.4 billion in economic activity for communities neighboring national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and public lands. It also would promote transparency and accountability by streamlining contracting and procurement, expediting project reviews and requiring regular reporting.
Others testifying at the hearing included U.S. Department of the Interior Deputy Secretary Kate MacGregor, Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism Office of Outdoor Recreation Director Katherine Andrews, and Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks Executive Council Member Mike Ward.
The hearing was held at the historic Arlington Resort Hotel & Spa, which sits alongside Hot Springs National Park and provides direct access to the park’s trail system. The landmark hotel, which has hosted several presidents over the last century, has recently undergone extensive renovations.
After the hearing, Westerman acknowledged that despite having bipartisan support, the legislation is far from a done deal.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman speaks with reporters after Friday’s hearing in Hot Springs. Photo: Michael Hibblen
“It’s an act of Congress — there’s always a challenge — but I’m working with our colleagues in the Senate [to build support]. You saw the administration is supportive. It would be great in our 250th anniversary to somehow get this to President Trump to sign by July 4th. That would be a very tall task to happen, but it’s something we all care about and I think it could happen,” Westerman said.
Environmental and conservation groups are supporting the legislation. Audubon Delta Arkansas Policy Manager Glen Hooks said he attended Friday’s hearing to learn details and was “really satisfied and happy” with what he heard.
“Audubon is going to support and endorse this bill because it’s the kind of thing that brings people together. National parks — everybody loves them. You’ve got an Arkansas Republican congressman, you’ve got environmental groups, you’ve got Crash Davis here in favor of this bill,” Hooks said, referencing the baseball player Costner played in the 1988 film Bull Durham.
Hooks said he visited three national parks last month and thanked Westerman for his leadership in bringing this bill forward. He said parks are quickly impacted by staffing or budget cuts.
“You can’t just leave the gates open and let people come in because when you do that, as we saw in the early days of government shutdowns, unfortunately some Americans will come in and vandalize,” Hooks said. “This bill will keep these national treasures intact for years to come, and I think, one of the best things the federal government has ever done is create the National Parks System.”
Veteran reporter, editor and manager at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas.
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.
