The Online Home And Archive Of Radio Journalist Michael Hibblen

RECENT REPORTS:

After initial skepticism from some Republicans, it's now looking more likely that Arkansas could see some kind of expansion of health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act. A private option now has Republican leaders in the state Legislature giving it serious consideration. The party's leader in the negotiatons took part in a Rally organized by those pushing for an expansion, which would allow coverage to be expanded to about 250,000 additional Arkansans.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe had a big announcement: a company wants to build a $1.1 billion Steel Mill in the struggling east Arkansas town of Osceola. It would create 525 jobs with an average salary of $75,000, while also creating 2,000 temporary jobs as the massive facility is being built. But the catch is that the state Legislature must approve $125 million in incentives to make the project happen.

A former speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives has been named to a 10 year term on the Arkansas Highway Commission. The appointment of Robert Moore comes at a time when several key highway projects are being considered, and as an idea is being floated in the legislature to use state general revenue for highway funding.

As part of a series looking at the lesser known prison concerts by Johnny Cash, British public broadcaster the BBC sent a reporter to Arkansas to visit Cummins Prison, where Cash played in 1969. The reporter also delved into the notorious history of Cummins Prison and the role Cash and then Governor Winthrop Rockefellor had in bringing about changes. You can find a link to listen to the full BBC broadcast within my story.

See my Previous Reports for KUAR.

After 25 years in radio, today I'm the news director of KUAR-FM 89.1, the NPR station in Little Rock, Arkansas. I'm a native Arkansan who returned to my hometown in 2009 after 12 years in Miami, Florida. While my passion is radio, I have also written for newspapers and appear regularly on the public television program Arkansas Week.

Watch Arkansas Week January 11, 2012 on PBS. See more from Arkansas Week.

This time on AETN's Arkansas Week:

I'm a regular panelist on the week in review program Arkansas Week, which airs on six PBS television stations in the state. That week I was joined by Lance Turner from Arkansas Business and Price Dooley, a political science professor at the University of Central Arkansas. Our dicusssion came as the Arkansas Legislature was preparing to get to work in its 2013 session, which was significant because it was the first time since reconstruction, following the Civil War, that both chambers had Republican majorities. The big issue to be decided is whether Arkansas will expand Medicaid as part of the federal health care law. Gov. Mike Beebe has touted expansion as being a good thing for the state because it would add coverage to a quarter of a million Arkansans, while Repbulicans aren't as enthusiastic, questioning what it could end up costing the state. If you have trouble watching the program in the viewing window, Download the video as an MP4

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Reporting for NPR on the restoration of Johnny Cash's boyhood home

The story behind the house where Johnny Cash grew up is one that has fascinated me. Dyess, Arkansas was a planned community, created during the great depression as part of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Cash was only three when he and his family were among 500 families chosen to get a fresh start in life with a new house and piece of land for them to farm. His experiences during those days would provide the inspiration for many of his songs like "Five Feet High and Rising," which was based on his community being flooded. Even a decade after his death, fans from around the world seek out the home, which was recently purchased by Arkansas State University as part of its Arkansas Heritage Sites. The goal is to turn it into a museum, not only looking at Cash, but to help tell the history of the town.

I had reported several stories related to the house when I finally pitched the story to NPR. I'd first reported when ASU negotiated the purchase of the property, covered the first fundraising concert at ASU, then covered the ceremony in February of 2012 that marked the beginning of the restoration project. So I knew it was an extremely interesting story. And with Cash still popular today, nearly 10 years after his death, I figured people elsewhere around the country would also find it interesting. So I was glad when NPR finally gave me the green light to produce a five minute piece. I recorded the interviews at the house on Oct. 6, the morning after the second fundraising concert for the project, which brought many of the family members to town. I met up with Cash's brother Tommy and Sister Joanne, who were seeing the house for the first time since work to restore it had begun. So I had the tremendous fortune to be there to record their reactions walking inside. I also spoke with Dr. Ruth Hawkins, who is overseeing the project and Dyess Mayor Larry Sims. I was pleased with how the piece came out, though I could have easily gone twice as long. NPR's web version of the story also came out nice.

AUDIO: Report on the restoration of Johnny Cash's boyhood home in Dyess, Arkansas, aired on NPR's Weekend Edition Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012, runs 5:51. Download as MP3.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Filling in for Flap Jones, hosting KUAR's Not Necessarily Nashville

A few times a year I get the chance to sit in for my longtime friend Flap Jones hosting her alt-country program Not Necessarily Nashville on KUAR. She was under the weather that weekend, so I sat in, pretty much playing the music she had set up for that week. I also reaired the NPR piece that had been broadcast earlier that morning, looking at the restoration of Johnny Cash's boyhood home in Dyess, Arkansas. You can listen to the show below.

AUDIO: hosting Not Necessarily Nashville on December 29, 2012. The weekly hour-long program airs at 7 pm on Saturday nights on KUAR-FM 89.1. Download as MP3.