While the impeachment of President Trump dominates national news, the roundtable discussion on AETN’s Arkansas Week opened with us discussing a new report regarding the state’s child welfare system. A few years ago officials described the system as being in crisis and began major reforms. On Wednesday I covered leaders of the state Department of Human Services discussing a report that suggests major improvements have been made, though much more work still needs to be done. The state says over the past three years the number of kids in foster care is down, as is the average caseload for frontline workers.
We also talked about the announcement Thursday that after 63 years of greyhound racing at Southland in West Memphis, the races will be phased out over the next three years. It comes after Arkansas voters last year approved a constitutional amendment allowing Southland and Oaklawn in Hot Springs to become full-fledged casinos. Finally, we talked about the different reactions from members of the state’s congressional delegation to the ongoing impeachment of President Trump.
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.
Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz on Monday announcing a donation by the railroad to a Little Rock museum. Photo: Michael Hibblen
This is a time of change at the nation’s largest railroad. The key thing I’ve been hearing about and not completely understanding is something called Precision Scheduled Railroading. The change is prompting widespread job cuts and the closing of many facilities, including the hump at the Pine Bluff, Arkansas yard. What is Precision Scheduled Railroading? I put that question to the head of Union Pacific on Monday.
Company President and CEO Lance Fritz was in Little Rock to join Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson for a pair of news events. After one press conference, I introduced myself to Fritz and recorded a brief interview, which you can hear or read a transcript of on the link. You can also find links to stories about the events in the state that Fritz look part in.
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.
KUAR Station Manager Nathan Vandiver, anchor/ reporter Daniel Breen, anchor/ reporter Sarah Kellogg, Arts & Letters host J. Bradley Minnick, News Director Michael Hibblen and Development Director Vanessa McKuin.
As news director, I’m proud to say KUAR won the Arkansas Times‘ 2019 readers survey for Best Radio Station. We picked up the award at a ceremony on Thursday, June 27 at the Albert Pike Masonic Center in Little Rock.
We’ve won or been the runner up plenty of times over the years and it’s always gratifying. Readers of the monthly magazine are surveyed on over a hundred categories. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock, which operates KUAR and KLRE, touted our win in this post.
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.
About two or three times a year I get the pleasure of sitting in for Flap Jones hosting her alternative country program Not Necessarily Nashville on KUAR. On Saturday, June 22, I filled in playing several songs from Willie Nelson’s new album Ride Me Back Home, which had been released the previous day. I also aired some James McMurtry, Marshall Tucker Band, Gram Parsons, Joe Ely, Tom T. Hall and an advance track from an album Rodney Crowell will be releasing in August.
I also featured an interview in the second hour with Dr. Ruth Hawkins, director of the Arkansas Heritage Sites program, who has been key in overseeing the restoration of Johnny Cash’s boyhood home in Dyess, Arkansas. I’d interviewed her many times over the last decade about the project and, as she is about to retire at the end of June, wanted to hear her thoughts looking back. This interview was conducted by Johnathan Reaves, news director of our partner station KASU in Jonesboro.
AUDIO: Hear the first hour of KUAR’s Not Necessarily Nashville, June 22, 2019.
AUDIO: Hear the second hour of KUAR’s Not Necessarily Nashville, June 22, 2019, which begins with the interview with Dr. Ruth Hawkins about her work overseeing the restoration of Johnny Cash’s boyhood home.
Among the recollections shared by Hawkins was bringing Cash’s siblings through the house after the restoration was complete in 2012. I was there that morning and ended up using audio from that to produce a six minute feature about the project that aired nationwide on NPR’s Weekend Edition. You can hear that report here.
Dr. Hawkins (left) taking notes as Johnny Cash’s siblings got the first tour of their childhood home on Oct. 6, 2012 after its restoration had been completed. Here Tommy Cash is inspecting a cabinet as sister Joanne Cash Yates looks on. Photo: Michael Hibblen.
I always enjoy filling in for Flap on Not Necessarily Nashville. It’s a changed of pace from my current job as news director and reminds me of my early days in radio when I was a disc jockey, sitting back and just enjoying the music.
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.
Six years after a large-scale hog farm opened near the Buffalo National River, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced that C&H Hog Farm would receive $6.2 million to shut down. That was the top story on AETN’s Arkansas Week. I joined reporter Benji Hardy for the round-table segment that opened the show. By chance I had made my first visit in 35 years to the Buffalo River the previous weekend. As a Boy Scout, I used to canoe the river once a year. Seeing it again, I was reminded of the river’s grandeur with the incredible bluffs and pristine water. I normally try not to express my opinions on radio or television, but I couldn’t help but share that I was happy that the hog farm and the risk it posed to contaminate the watershed would be going away. As Hutchinson noted, the farm’s operators never did anything wrong, but said the state never should have granted a permit for the facility to open.
Another key story I had reported on that week was an ethics complaint being dropped against Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen. The often outspoken judge had sparked controversy in 2017 by taking part in an anti-death penalty demonstration just hours after blocking the state from using a lethal injection drug. The Judicial Discipline and Disability Commission said too much time had passed between the complaint being filed and the case being heard. In an exclusive interview with me, Judge Griffen said the action showed the complaint was “baseless, cowardly, malicious and utterly political.” So I also discussed that on the program.
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.
On the web since 2002, 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 the program "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.
