I’m a rail fan, especially when it comes to railroad history in Arkansas. I’ve been working for decades to document the history of the long-gone Rock Island Railroad, but also occasionally get out to photograph existing railroads, especially Union Pacific and Amtrak’s passenger trains. After maintaining a website since 2002, In March 2017 I began completely rebuilding my site from scratch on a more modern platform. This is where I’ll add some of my older material in the coming months. For now, this section of my website is rather bare-bones!
About Me
On the web since 2002, this is the online home and archive of broadcasting news veteran Michael Hibblen. Starting in 1989, I've worked for newspapers, radio and TV stations around the country. Today I'm Director of Public Affairs at Arkansas PBS. This website tells the story of my career, including audio, photos and videos. Also featured are various interests I've researched, primarily about broadcasting and railroad history.
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
My Podcast
Reports for KUAR
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.