I am proud to share that I’m now managing editor of the recently formed Newsroom Ventures LLC, which is the parent company of six newspapers acquired over the last year by Roby Brock. I’ll also be a contributing reporter for Talk Business & Politics.
Michael Hibblen and Roby Brock on April 24 in the Little Rock television studio of KARK-4 and KLRT-Fox 16.
I’ve known Roby since I moved back to Arkansas 17 years ago, partnered with him on many stories while working at Little Rock NPR station KUAR-FM 89.1 and am pleased to now be working for him. KUAR aired a radio version of Talk Business & Politics and Roby often joined me on the air to discuss political topics.
I greatly appreciate that he has purchased these newspapers — many of which were on the verge of being shut down. All have histories stretching back a century or longer of serving their communities. I’m glad Roby came up with a viable business model to keep publishing weekly editions of each paper, while we are also expanding their websites and social meida presense.
At this point, I’m primarily editing and reporting for The Glenwood Herald and The Grand Prairie Herald in Hazen. I’m steadily expanding my responsibilities for our other newspapers, which are The Pine Bluff Commercial, The England Democrat, The Fordyce News Advocate and The Waldron News.
I started as a freelance reporter for the company on March 9, then on April 24 Roby announced I was becoming its managing editor. In a story that ran in the newspapers about my news position, Roby said: “I’ve known Michael for many years and I value his friendship as much as I do his news reporting, editing skills and attention to detail. He will be a great asset to our collection of newspapers, websites and social media platforms.”
I greatly appreciate his confidence and have enjoyed writing for the newspapers, especially feature stories about the people of the communities I’m getting to know. The Arkansas Press Association also published the story about me becoming managing editor.
The cover of the May 7 issue of the Arkansas Press Association’s weekly magazine Publisher’s Weekly. Click to read as a PDF.
The association is a nonprofit trade organization that supports the state’s newspaper industry. The following week, Ron Kemp interviewed me for a very kind profile which was run in the APA’s May 7 issue. He noted the irony of me now being part of the England newspaper as I spent a year working for a radio station in the city, KLRA-FM 96.5, while I was in high school 36 years ago.
I occasionally meet with Roby at the England Democrat, with the newspaper office still located in the downtown building that has long been its home. It features some fascinating old newspaper equipment that Roby eventually plans to display as part of a museum there. The England building is also the company headquarters for Newsroom Ventures. The Hazen newspaper, where I work each Tuesday, is also in its original downtown downtown, looking out on the unused tracks that once carried passenger and freight trains of the old Rock Island Railroad. The historic passenger depot is a block over.
I joined Roby on his May 3 episode of his television show Talk Business & Politics, which airs on KLRT-Fox 16, while the audio of the program airs on my former radio station KUAR. He opened the segment by announcing I had been hired as managing editor, then we discussed the end of the fiscal session of the Arkansas Legislature and plans for a special session which would begin the following week to consider a state tax cut package.
I’ve always loved writing for newspapers and am looking forward to what’s ahead. While early in my career, I wanted to work in the biggest markets possible, today I’m finding incredible joy working at community newspapers which provide unique storytelling experiences.
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.
In the last episode of Arkansas Week that I hosted while working at Arkansas PBS, discussions delved into two aspects of the criminal justice system: prison recidivism and drug addiction.
Joining me in the first segment of the Oct. 31 program were state Sen. Ben Gilmore, a Republican of Crossett, and Jim Bell, the owner of a reentry facility in Little Rock. Gilmore has sponsored prison-related legislation in recent years while Bell works to prepare inmates for their return to society.
Arkansas has one of the highest recidivism rates in the country, with data showing within three years of their release, about half of all state prison inmates end up back behind bars for new offenses or violating the terms of their release. The pattern is not only bad for inmates who don’t get the support needed to change their lives, but expensive for the state, costing about $2,200 a month per inmate.
Arkansas’s prison population is growing, with projections indicating an average annual increase of about 2% through 2035. State prisons have been at capacity for years, with about 1,500 inmates currently backed up in county jails. To accommodate the situation, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced a plan in October 2024 to construct a 3,000-bed prison in rural Franklin County.
Local residents were surprised by the announcement and to learn land had already been purchased by the state. Among their complaints were a lack of transparency and poor site selection. Test wells showed there isn’t enough water in the area to support the needs of a prison. Meanwhile the cost, which was initially said to be $470 million, has quickly grown to be about twice that.
In the second segment, state Attorney General Tim Griffin shared the story of addiction that eventually took the life of his brother Daniel. He’s working to raise awareness of the dangers of opioids through the “One Pill Can Kill” initiative, in which he has been speaking at college campuses across the state.
Arkansas PBS streamed several of those events, and I had been moved by hearing him describe what happened to his brother. After a botched back surgery 15 years ago, Griffin said his brother was prescribed powerful painkillers and quickly became addicted. While there were plenty of other unrelated issues I could have asked Griffin about, including the prison-related topics discussed in the first segment of the program, I wanted to limit our discussion to addiction and what he’s trying to accomplish now.
A few final thoughts on Arkansas PBS, added Dec. 14
My last day of work as Director of Public Affairs for Arkansas PBS was Nov. 12. Maybe I’ll discuss more about the circumstances of the end of my employment in the future, but it wouldn’t be appropriate now. I really enjoyed the past three years, which were filled with a lot of challenges and opportunities. In addition to overseeing Arkansas Week, I appeared on camera for pledge drives and organized our 2024 congressional debates. The staff of nearly 80 people really was like a family with employees being very supportive and protective of one another. Also, the level of talent in the building was amazing.
The key challenge in my department was not having editorial independence while attempting to produce a public affairs program with journalistic integrity. Being a state agency, my bosses at Arkansas PBS lived in fear of upsetting the governor’s administration or state legislators. The General Assembly has control over the station’s budget allocation and lawmakers often grilled managers during public hearings, sometimes with rather petty grievances. Also, the commission which has oversight over Arkansas PBS is made up of appointees of the governor, each serving eight-year terms. While this has always been the structure the station has operated under in its nearly 60-year existence, the sharply partisan tone of politics in 2025 has made it harder to function.
While leading weekly editorial meetings to discuss potential topics for Arkansas Week, top leadership often instructed us not to include some controversial issues, even if they were huge legitimate news stories. The episode above, for example, was the first time we had been allowed to question a state lawmaker about the proposed Franklin County prison, which had been one of the most discussed ongoing issues for the previous 13 months. When I began appearing on Arkansas Week in 2010 as one of the journalists taking part in roundtable discussions, there were no such restrictions or topics that were out of bounds.
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.
A veteran broadcaster and five-term state legislator is the new head of Arkansas PBS. Carlton Wing started as Executive Director/CEO on Sept. 30, the same day he submitted his resignation for the district 70 seat in the Arkansas House of Representatives.
After less than two weeks on the job, Wing sat down with me on Arkansas Week to discuss his background and how he’s meeting with each member of the staff to prepare a plan for our future. While the end of federal funding has made this a challenging time for public broadcasting, there are immense opportunities ahead, Wing said.
In another segment of the program, I discussed the ongoing federal government shutdown and the impact it was having on agriculture. An economic support package was expected to have been announced that week by the White House, but was delayed, with administration officials blaming the shutdown. Joining me to talk about that were Dr. Hunter Biram, an agriculture economist with the UA Division of Agriculture, and Dr. Jeremy Horpedahl, director of the Arkansas Center for Research in Economics at UCA.
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.
With a Sept. 30 deadline to avert a federal government shutdown, U.S. Rep. Steve Womack is urging Congress to pass a new government funding bill for the coming fiscal year. Republican leaders, however, have been backing a stopgap spending bill, which is what ultimately passed in the House.
Speaking with me on Arkansas Week, which aired Sept. 19 on Arkansas PBS, Womack (R-District 3), expressed frustration with the short-term fix which would only extend funding through mid-November. He’s a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee which in the previous week passed the 12 bills needed for a new funding plan. He had called on the full House to consider the bills
“I’m a bit at odds with my own leadership team on this subject because continuing resolutions are not the answer to America’s fiscal problems,” Womack said. “And once again, here we are at the very end, right on a cliff of a potential lapse in government funding and we don’t have a plan for how we’re going to fund today’s urgent priorities.”
The legislation moved to the Senate, but with Republicans and Democrats locked in a standoff and neither side showing a willingness to compromise, a government shutdown now looks likely. Republicans hold only a small margin in their majority and will need the support of at least a few Democrats to get the bill passed.
During the interview, Womack also spoke about the need for the federal government to help farmers facing their worst financial situation in decades. It’s estimated that about one-third of all farmers won’t survive to plant another crop next season. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins visited Womack’s district earlier in the week, saying direct financial assistance was in the works and would soon be presented to Congress, though Womack said he didn’t know details of what was being planned. We also talked about legislation he sponsored to ensure veterans get continued access to telemedicine, which was passed last week by the House and now advances to the Senate.
In the second segment of the program, I was joined by Shannon Newton, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association. The industry — which is one of the largest in the state, employing about 100,000 people — is in the third year of a freight recession. Trucking companies had expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic to address problems with the nation’s supply chain, but as life returned to normal, they needed to scale back their operations.
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.
Several important matters are pending in Congress, including negotiations for a new government funding bill and calls for the federal government to provide assistance to farmers who are facing their worst financial crisis in decades. Joining me on Friday’s “Arkansas Week” to discuss the latest was Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Washington Correspondent Alex Thomas.
With just over two weeks left in the federal fiscal year, a spending plan will need to be passed by that deadline to avoid a government shutdown or the need for a short-term fix. The White House is encouraging Congress to pass a stopgap spending bill to extend funding through the end of January. But U.S. Rep. Steve Womack (R-District 3) wants a spending plan to be passed this month.
He sits on the House Appropriations Committee, which on Wednesday voted to advance the 12 funding bills needed for the plan. In a statement later that day, Womack said, “It’s now time for the rest of Congress to finish the job, leave Biden-Harris funding levels in the past, and pass the FY26 appropriations bills that are attuned to the current needs of the American people. This Congress has already shown it can exceed expectations and meet tough deadlines. I strongly urge my colleagues to bring that same energy and commitment to funding the government through regular order.”
In the second segment of the program, Arkansas State Broadband Office Director Glen Howie spoke with me about the state’s application for a federal grant which aims to achieve universal high-speed internet service throughout the state. After years of work to develop the extensive proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, it was submitted on Sept. 4. He’s confident on the prospects for the proposal.
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.
An amazing project to honor many Arkansas musicians who were influential across a broad range of genres is being planned for North Little Rock. Artist Kevin Kresse, best known for sculpting an eight-foot-tall bronze statue of Johnny Cash that was unveiled last year in the U.S. Capitol, is planning to make busts of 19 additional musicians, along with one of industry executive Al Bell.
The busts, which are scheduled to be completed in 2029, will be displayed in the ATG Pavilion in Argenta Plaza. They will be anchored by a full-size replica of the Cash statue, to be made using the same mold that created the statue for the Capitol. I discussed what’s being planned with Kresse and project Campaign Chair John Gaudin on “Arkansas Week,” which aired Friday, August 29 on Arkansas PBS.
In addition to the busts being placed in the pavilion, replica busts will be provided to the hometowns of each musician. Fans travel from around the world to see the places where Cash, Levon Helm, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and others grew up. This will help those communities honor their legacies.
Below is a complete list of the Arkansans being honored and the towns that will receive busts:
Johnny Cash — Kingsland
Louis Jordan — Brinkley
Al Green — Forrest City
Levon Helm — Marvell
Glen Campbell — Delight
Florence Price — Little Rock
Pharoah Sanders — North Little Rock
Lefty Frizzell — El Dorado
William Grant Still — Little Rock
Charlie Rich — Colt
Sonny Boy Williamson — Helena
Scott Joplin — Texarkana
Big Bill Broonzy — Pine Bluff
Jimmy Driftwood — Mountain View
Conway Twitty — Helena
Sister Rosetta Tharpe — Cotton Plant
Granny Almeda Riddle — Heber Springs
Al Bell — North Little Rock
Albert King — Osceola
Ronnie Hawkins — Fayetteville
Howlin Wolf — West Memphis
In the second segment of the program, I talked with Dr. Pearl McElfish, director of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Institute for Community Health Innovation about efforts to improve maternal health. She provided an assessment of postpartum care, which is especially dire in rural areas. The institute is working to reach new mothers through a combination of telemedicine, mobile clinics and remote monitoring, she 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.
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.
Preserving the 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 ABOUT THE PRESERVATION OF THE DEPOT.
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. 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.
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.
