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 news reporter, editor and manager spanning more than 30 years at newspapers, radio and television stations. I’m also a photographer, historian and author, having written the 2017 book Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas and hosting a podcast of the same name.
