KUAR — Little Rock, Arkansas

April 2009 – December 2022

I spent 13 years with KUAR-FM 89.1, the NPR station at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, serving as news director for the last 10 years. I oversaw a staff that ranged in size, but generally included about a half-dozen full and part-time news staffers, as well as a lot of student interns.

I had previously been on the air at KUAR in the mid-1990s, first hosting a weekly half-hour interview program in the summer of 1995 as part of an independent study class, then began filling in as a news anchor. After 12 years of working in radio news in South Florida, with the last six on Miami NPR station WLRN-FM 91.3, I was ready to return home to Arkansas. KUAR gave me an amazing place to land in 2009, working as a news anchor and reporter. Two years later, I was promoted to assignment editor, then in 2012, became news director.

Featured here are some of the bigger stories or ongoing topics I reported on for KUAR and nationally for NPR News. Many of these stories also live on KUAR’s website, so I’ve included links to some of those online versions. This page is a work in progress. Someday I’ll find the time to really dig through all the stories I reported on in my years at KUAR and expand on the experiences and include more photos, audio and other goodies. You can visit my page on KUAR’s website to see a more complete list of stories. Unless otherwise noted, all photos featured here were taken by me.

Reporting live for NPR News about a dramatic police beating

A graphic 34-second cell phone video showing western Arkansas law enforcement officers beating someone on the ground quickly spread via social media on August 21, 2022, with NPR contacting me about going live on Morning Edition. The footage showed one officer repeatedly striking the man in the head with a closed fist while another officer was kneeing the man in the body. I joined host Rachel Martin to discuss the video and the immediate response, with Gov. Asa Hutchinson calling for an investigation.

AUDIO: Reporting live on NPR’s Morning Edition, August 22, 2022, about a police beating in Arkansas that drew national attention.

AUDIO: Providing a live update on NPR’s All Things Considered later in the day after the three law enforcement officers had been suspended while an investigation of the beating was underway.

National interest in the story only intensified as the day progressed. After Hutchinson announced a federal civil rights investigation would be conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice, I again went live on NPR, talking with Ari Shapiro during All Things Considered. Five months later, authorities announced a federal grand jury had indicted two of the officers, who had been with the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office, on civil rights offenses.

ExxonMobil Pipeline Ruptures in Mayflower, Ark.

On March 29, 2013, residents in the town of Mayflower, just outside of Little Rock, say they heard a loud bang, then saw what was described as a river of oil flowing through their upscale neighborhood. While the presence of a 1940s era underground oil pipeline might have been in the paperwork when they bought their homes, many told me they were unaware that ExxonMobil’s Pegasus Pipeline was there.

The rupture of the 65-year-old pipeline, which carried about 100,000 barrels a day of heavy Canadian tar sands from Illinois to Texas, caused what the Environmental Protection Agency classified as a major spill. An estimated 5,000 barrels quickly contaminated the neighborhood, with residents of 22 homes evacuated for more than week. The incident immediately raised concerns about the potential health consequences for residents who were exposed to the raw crude, as well as the overall safety of oil pipelines.

AUDIO: One day after the Pegasus Pipeline ruptured, oil had been removed from the streets, but yards were still blackened and crews were working to clean up the spill. Hear my report from from the scene on April 1, 2013.

AUDIO: Nearly 20 minutes of highlights from my afternoon air shift on KUAR during All Things Considered, April 2, 2013, including newscasts with stories on reaction to the pipeline rupture.

AUDIO: On April 3, 2013, Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and representatives from his office met with emergency officials and oil company representatives to inspect where the oil spill occurred.

About 600 workers were brought in for the cleanup. Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who launched an investigation into the incident and subpoenaed records from the pipeline’s owner, visited the site along with representatives from his office.

“That neighborhood was like a scene from The Walking Dead. There were still Easter decorations on homes, but there was not a soul in sight other than people in hazmat suits,” McDaniel told reporters.

I was covering that visit, which was one of several times I reported from the neighborhood. ExxonMobil initially blocked access for reporters to the area, including getting the Federal Aviation Administration to issue a no-fly zone overhead, which kept television helicopters from getting a look at what was happening. Even during McDaniel’s visit, reporters at one point were threaten by police with arrest if they didn’t leave the area. After his inspection, the attorney general had to instead meet with the press at Mayflower City Hall.

One week after the accident, on April 5, I filled in hosting AETN’s Arkansas Week, with the entire program focused on the oil spill. It featured an interview with Arkansas Sierra Club Director Glen Hooks, followed by a journalists roundtable in which I shared my own experiences of covering the cleanup.

Through subpoenaed documents released by the attorney general, we learned the rupture ripped a gash 22 feet long and two inches wide in the pipeline, which McDaniel said was “substantially larger than many of us initially thought.” Two months later state and federal prosecutors filed a joint lawsuit against ExxonMobil saying the spill violated environmental laws and that contaminated waste from the cleanup had been illegally stored.

AUDIO: On April 7, 2013, nine days after the oil spill, ExxonMobil and local officials finally allowed reporters to see the neighborhood and hear an assessment of the cleanup.

The spill got some national media attention as the cleanup took longer than the oil company had originally suggested it would. A lack of transparency also caused frustration for residents, with some nearest to the rupture kept from their homes for weeks. A joint lawsuit was eventually file by the state and federal government against ExxonMobil alleging multiple violations.

AUDIO: I was one of two guests on New York NPR station WNYC’s The Leonard Lopate Show on April 18, 2013.

AUDIO: Attorney General Dustin McDaniel and U.S. Attorney Christopher Thyer announced on June 13 that a joint lawsuit had been filed against ExxonMobil seeking damages for multiple violations.

Reporting on the Little Rock Nine

One of the greatest perks of working as a reporter is when it gives you the opportunity to meet and interview people you admire. That was definitely the case when The New Yorker magazine called in 2009 looking for someone who could interview the Little Rock Nine, the group of Black students who were part of a major civil rights showdown by integrating Central High School in 1957.

The nine were only teenagers when they became the focus of international media attention as Arkansas Gov. Orval Faubus brought out the National Guard to try and prevent the court-ordered desegregation of the all-white school, with President Dwight Eisenhower responding by sending the Army to enforce the court order.

The magazine got the nine together for a photo shoot in front of the school on Nov. 8, 2009 for an article about civil rights icons. I was hired to assist a videographer by interviewing each of them for a video that was featured on its website. I also produced a story for KUAR about the gathering, which I held until the following February to coincide with the publication of the article and photo in The New Yorker. The photo shoot ended up being the last time all nine were together. Jefferson Thomas died about a year later on Sept. 5, 2010 from pancreatic cancer.

AUDIO: My report for KUAR on the Little Rock Nine getting together for a photo shoot by The New Yorker in front of Central High School, which aired Feb. 2, 2010.

AUDIO: Reports for NPR News and KUAR on the death of Jefferson Thomas on Sept. 5, 2010.

On a state holiday honoring Daisy Bates, Feb. 20, 2012, the National Park Service offered tours of her house at 1208 W. 28th Street. She and her husband L.C. Bates were civil rights leaders in Little Rock and Mrs. Bates was a mentor for the Little Rock Nine. When National Guard troops kept the students from attending Central High, the nine would meet with tutors in the basement of the home.

The house is today a National Historic Landmark and overseen by the National Park Service. As Park Ranger Jodi Morris told me when I interviewed her for my story, “Daisy’s home was the scene of many cross-burnings and rocks thrown through the window, so she was regularly threatened here.”

One photo hanging inside the house shows Mrs. Bates standing at the picture window watching as Army Jeeps were lined up outside ready to escort the nine to Central High.

AUDIO: My report touring the home of Daisy Bates on a state holiday in her honor on Feb. 20, 2012.

I met Daisy Bates at the state Capitol in 1996 while covering an event where she was being honored. Unfortunately I didn’t know until I attempted to interview her that she had experienced strokes that left her barely able to talk. She was polite, but a woman pushing Bates’ wheelchair finished most of her sentences.  Needless to say I was disappointed that the interview was not usable, but greatly appreciated having the opportunity to meet her. It inspired me to read her book The Long Shadow of Little Rock and learn more about what happened in 1957.

On July 15, 2016, three of the nine joined former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush in the auditorium at Central High School to speak to graduates of the Presidential Leadership Scholars program. In my story I reported on how the former world leaders lamented a growing, hyper-partisan political culture, while Minnijean Brown-Trickey, Ernest Green and Carlotta Walls LaNier spoke about their experiences at Central and their thoughts about how things are today. The following year, the eight surviving members of the nine came together to mark the 60th anniversary of the desegregation.

AUDIO: My report on three of the Little Rock Nine, former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair speaking to graduates of a leadership program on July 15, 2016.

AUDIO: In 2017, the eight surviving members got together to mark the 60th anniversary of the desegregation of Central High. They took part in four days of events, including a press conference on Sept. 22 to offer their reflections.

One of the most horrifying scenes from the desegregation of Central High was when Elizabeth Eckford was surrounded alone outside the school by an angry jeering mob on Sept. 4, 1957. On the 61st anniversary of that, a bench was dedicated to commemorate that moment. It is a replica of one Eckford sat on that day after being kept from entering the school by national guardsmen.

Because her family did not have a telephone, she didn’t get the word that because of the circumstances, a decision had been made by the others not to try to attend the school that day. After being turned away by guardsmen from entering the school, Eckford said she didn’t know where to go as she was surrounded by the angry crowd. She walked along in front of the school and said she spotted the bench, where she ended up sitting, waiting for a bus that would take her away. It’s also worth noting that reporters practically formed a line to keep her away from the crowd and record anything that happened.

AUDIO: Hear Elizabeth Eckford’s comments to reporters at the dedication of the bench on Sept. 4, 2018.

While the story of Central High School is well known, phase two of the Little Rock School District’s desegregation plan is not. That involved 25 black students attending five previously all-white junior high schools in 1961 and ’62. Several of those students sought to expand the awareness of what they endured with the publication of a book in 2018 called The First Twenty-Five: An Oral History of the Desegregation of Little Rock’s Public Junior High Schools.

The collection of first-hand accounts was compiled by Dr. Laverne Bell-Tolliver, who was the first black student to attend Forest Heights Junior High. She and Dr. Kenneth Jones, who helped desegregate West Side Junior High, joined me for an interview to discuss the book.

AUDIO: Hear my interview with Dr. Laverne Bell-Tolliver and Dr. Kenneth Jones on their book The First Twenty-Five.

Suspicious Fire Destroys KUAR’s Transmitter 

On Saturday, April 2, 2011, KUAR suddenly went off the air. Our engineer Tom Rusk went to transmitter site on Shinall Mountain, discovering smoke was pouring out of the small transmitter building. He said a padlock that was normally on the door had been replaced by an unknown locked padlock, preventing him from immediately getting inside. Fire crews eventually arrived and put out the fire.

Police and investigators from the ATF and FBI became involved as it was determined that an accelerant had been used to start the fire. The arson investigation was one of the stranger stories for me to report on, in that we were the subject of it. For three consecutive days the investigation was featured on the front page of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, as well as industry trade publications. On the Monday after the fire, I went on the air with Tom and General Manager Ben Fry to discuss the situation.

AUDIO: My report from April 4, 2011, shortly after the station learned that investigators had determined a fire at KUAR’s transmitter had been intentionally set.

A motive for the fire was never conclusively determined. An additional reason for suspicion was that it occurred just four days after NPR station KTXK in Texarkana, Texas was knocked off the air by damage to its transmission line, possibly by gunfire.

For several years by that time, KUAR had been planning to move its transmitter and antenna to a new tower to be shared with KATV, channel 7. The television station’s massive 2,000-foot tower in Redfield had collapsed on January 11, 2008 while workers were restringing guy wires. Rather than rebuilding in the same location, KATV was interested in putting a new tower on Shinall Mountain, west of Little Rock. KUAR already had an interest in the piece of land KATV wanted to use, so an agreement was reached for KATV to build its tower there and donate tower space to KUAR.

KATV built the new tower and went on the air from it on Feb. 1, 2009. But KUAR was still working to raise money to pay for the move when the fire happened in 2011. Needless to say the fire accelerated the process and we finally broadcasting from the tower the following year. The 15-year agreement called for the radio station to pay $10 each year, while KATV provided equipment space in the transmitter building, along with maintenance and upkeep.

The Restoration of Johnny Cash’s Boyhood Home

Having been a longtime fan of Johnny Cash, the campaign to raise money to restore the late singer’s dilapidated boyhood home in the east Arkansas town of Dyess was a real treat to cover. The home was eventually acquired by Arkansas State University, which elaborately preserved it and the downtown circle as part of the school’s Arkansas Heritage Sites program. I covered several fundraising events held over the years and got the opportunity to interview several of Cash’s family members.

The first fundraising concert was held on August 4, 2011 at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, with a sold out crowd of more than 8,000 people. It featured performances by four generations of the Cash family, including daughter Rosanne Cash, as well as his longtime friends and country music legends George Jones and Kris Kristofferson.

“I’ve never met another human being who had the power just in the presence that John had and to be working on a tribute for him and for his home is just a real honor for me,” Kristofferson said at a press conference before the show. “John was unlike any human being I ever knew. But he was the reason I got out of the Army and went to Nashville to be a songwriter and he was very encouraging and it was like being touched by God or something. I never lost my awe of Johnny Cash.”

AUDIO: My report on the first Johnny Cash Music Festival, held August 4, 2011 at Arkansas State University.

I repeatedly pitched NPR on the story, knowing the broad appeal Cash continued to have. Even before the restoration project, the boyhood home continued to draw people from around the world who wanted to see the place Cash often talked about in songs, concerts and interviews. The initial response from the network’s arts editor was, so this is an old home that a famous person grew up in, that doesn’t make it nationally significant. But after I explained the back story of the town, that the Dyess Colony was created during the Great Depression as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and that Cash’s family was one of 500 selected, NPR approved the story.

I joined Cash’s sister Joanne Cash Yates and brother Tommy Cash as they walked into the house for the first time since preservation work had begun and was able to document the emotion in their voices. My story for NPR ended up being a nearly six minute feature that aired during Weekend Edition on Dec. 29, 2012.

The home was opened to the public during a ceremony on Saturday, August 16, 2014. It capped four years of work, with hundreds of people taking part in the event held at the Dyess town circle. The ceremony was important enough to me that I used my DSLR camera and produced a video to go with my story.

Various reports over the years

Here’s an assortment of reports for KUAR and NPR News over the years, as well as newscasts, airchecks of entire shifts, special reports and photos in chronological order.

AUDIO: Central Arkansas Fire Chief James Strawn departed for a year-long job in Iraq working in a similar position for a civilian contractor. In this report aired May 29, 2009, Strawn noted he could earn drastically more money working in the war-torn country. I went to high school with Strawn and came up with this as a story idea when I saw a post of his on Facebook.

AUDIO: A report aired nationwide on NPR News on July 31, 2009 about the federal government’s “Cash for Clunkers” program, with reaction from a Little Rock auto dealership.

A decades-long desegregation case involving central Arkansas schools got preliminary approval by a federal judge on Nov. 22, 2013, which generated national attention and me filing a newscast report for NPR News. I was in court for the hearing. Afterward, state Rep. John Walker, an attorney for a group that advocated on behalf of kids from poorer neighborhoods, said he reluctantly went along with the agreement, saying it was better than leaving it in the hands of the judge.

AUDIO: My report for NPR News about the settlement agreement, airing on Nov. 22, 2013.

The 2014 U.S. Senate race in Arkansas received national attention as millions of dollars were poured into the fight between incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor and Republican Tom Cotton. Democrats had long been dominant in the state, but by this time had lost nearly all congressional and constitutional offices. I spoke about the Senate race live on NPR’s Here & Now with Jeremy Hobson on Aug. 13, 2014.

Because KUAR was no longer maintaining an ISDN line for live feeds by that time, I did my part of the broadcast from Soundscapes, a longtime studio in Little Rock that closed three years later after 36 years of operation. Part of the joy was being on a Neumann U87 microphone, considered by many to be the finest every made.

Pryor was the son of former Arkansas Governor and U.S. Senator David Pryor. Cotton was a military veteran and staunch conservative who, after winning the election, would be considered a rising star in Republican circles destined for even higher office.

AUDIO: Gov. Asa Hutchinson called a three-day special session of the Arkansas General Assembly beginning on April 6, 2016 to consider a continuation of the state’s Medicaid expansion program. Here are newscasts from that week, including live reports from political reporter Jacob Kauffman.

Arkansas-born jazz musician Bob Dorough died April 23, 2018 at the age of 94. While he was an acclaimed bebop pianist who was part of the 1950s New York jazz scene, Dorough reached his widest audience writing and singing songs designed to make learning fun for kids. He was one of the primary musicians used in the Schoolhouse Rock! short films that aired on ABC between Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s and ‘80s. In addition to a report for KUAR on Dorough’s death, I filed this report for NPR’s All Things Considered.

AUDIO: My report for NPR’s All Things Considered on April 24, 2018 looking at the life of jazz musician Bob Dorough.

AUDIO: Ahead of the start of opening arguments in the first impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in the Senate on Jan. 22, 2020, I interviewed Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas for his thoughts. The trial regarded a request by Trump for Ukraine’s president to investigate the son of Joe Biden.

Reporting on the COVID-19 pandemic

In March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Arkansas, beginning a pandemic that would shut down schools, close businesses and change nearly every aspect of live for a while. Thousands of deaths over the next couple of years in the state were attributed to the virus.

As the seriousness of the situation became clear, Gov. Asa Hutchinson started holding daily press briefings that had such important, developing information that I opted to air nearly all of them live. During one on Sunday, March 15, 2020, Hutchinson announced all schools would be closed that Tuesday through Friday in an effort to contain the spread.

AUDIO: During a press briefing aired live on KUAR March 15, 2020, Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced Arkansas schools would be closing in the coming week to try and limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The subsequent delta variant of the virus was more easily transmitted and brought another surge in cases. it caused a more severe disease, health officials reported, and was causing younger people to need hospitalization. At one point, Arkansas had the highest number of new cases per capita compared to the rest of the nation, along with one of the lowest vaccination rates.

On July 16, 2021, I filled in hosting a segment of Arkansas Week on Arkansas PBS. On that day, the number of active cases reached 9,750, the highest number since Feb. 15. State Epidemiologist Dr. Jennifer Dillaha told me in the interview that health officials were “trying to communicate the urgency of the situation” as just 35% of the state’s population in Arkansas was vaccinated, compared to 48.5% nationwide.

Eventually cases of COVID-19 subsided, though health officials say it will likely continue to be with us, but more like variants of the flu.

Interviewing Pearls Before Swine Cartoonist Stephan Pastis

I was excited to be part of an event on March 16, 2022 with Stephan Pastis, the man behind the comic strip Pearls Before Swine, which runs in hundreds of newspapers worldwide. It had long been my favorite strip, with characters like Rat, Pig and Goat very effectively addressing a wide range of topics and emotions with social commentary while being incredibly funny.

On Twitter, I had been liking or retweeting strips that especially resonated with me. After one post in 2021, I received a direct message from Pastis thanking me for a comment. Then in February 2022, I got another message telling me he was planning a book tour that would bring him to Little Rock and asking if I would like to be involved. Of course, I said yes. The appearance was initially planned for the local bookstore Wordsworth, but within a matter of days it became apparent this would draw a much larger crowd than Wordsworth could host, so it was moved to the Central Arkansas Library System’s Ron Robinson Theater, which could seat hundreds of people.

In advance of the event, I interviewed Pastis via Zoom for a segment I aired on KUAR during All Things Considered. The visit to Little Rock was part of his “I Just Gotta Get Out of the House” mini-book tour, which included his first public events since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic two years earlier. We discussed how he addresses current issues in the strip, including the pandemic. The uncertainty, anxiety and isolation presented a situation like nothing in our lifetimes.

“This is the only time in my career where I knew the whole world was talking about one thing,” Pastis said. “If you don’t address that one thing, you’re not going to be very relevant.”

It was fascinating being able to ask him about the inspirations for the strip, how the characters represent different aspects of his personality, and how he met his hero, Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz. Pastis had sought him out, getting advice and encouragement at a time when he was hoping to give up being an attorney to launch a syndicated strip. 

The event at the theater ended up being a capacity crowd of about 300 people. I introduced Pastis, who gave a multimedia presentation followed by audience questions. I facilitated questioned by moving around the theater with a wireless microphone.

After the event, we went to get a few beers at the White Water Tavern, where he ended up leaving graffiti on the wall declaring it the “best bar in Arkansas.” Protective plastic would soon be placed over that graffiti. The following day I also took him to see some landmarks in the city, including Central High School. I wrote more about his first visit to Arkansas in this post.

AUDIO: Little Rock radio legend Bob Robbins, best known as the morning DJ for KSSN, died on May 21, 2022. He was 78. I prepared this obituary including parts of an interview with him and details about his career from Arkansas Business reporter Kyle Massey.

Leaving KUAR to work for Arkansas PBS

On Nov. 21, 2022, I announced my resignation from KUAR after 13 years with the station, longer than I had worked anywhere else. Sometimes, especially as we get older, I think it’s easy to get too comfortable in a job. I had a wonderful position, but was ready to try something new. Earlier in the month I had interviewed for a position with Arkansas PBS to become its Senior Producer/Director of Public Affairs.

I won’t change my profile photo just yet, but after 34 years in radio, the last 13 at @kuarpublicradio, today I submitted my resignation letter. On Jan. 3, I’ll begin at @ArkansasPBS as Senior Producer/ Director of Public Affairs. Looking forward to new adventures! pic.twitter.com/xX89UMJZXq

— Michael Hibblen (@hibblen) November 22, 2022

It was bittersweet leaving KUAR, but felt Arkansas PBS was providing a great opportunity to try new things. I had been a regular panelist and fill-in host for the network’s “Arkansas Week” program, so I already knew several of the people I would be working with.

I got a wonderful going away gift from the staff of KUAR which included words that I could say in my sleep.

These are the words I've used to open hundreds, maybe thousands of newscasts over the last 13 years at @kuarpublicradio. Thank you to my colleagues for this going away keepsake and a knit NPR cap! I'll be on the air another week, then start at @arkansaspbs on Jan. 3. pic.twitter.com/S6G0IPtWDn

— Michael Hibblen (@hibblen) December 16, 2022

While I loved reporting, the most fulfilling days were when I was off the air, working with student interns. Giving young people their first professional experiences, knowing how important such opportunities were for me,  were very rewarding.