Hibblen Radio -- The Online Home And Archive Of Michael Hibblen

The Online Home And Archive Of Radio News Anchor & Reporter Michael Hibblen

RECENT REPORTS:
-After years of work being delayed, renovations were finally completed on a 112-year-old Bridge that opened September 30th as a pathway for pedestrians and cycists crossing the Arkansas River at Little Rock. For much of the 20th century it was used by the Rock Island Railroad, but was abandoned when the railroad shut down in 1980. Now it's part of the Clinton Presidential Library and completes the 14-mile river trail.
-It was a flashback to my childhood reporting on the creation of a small museum looking at the history of performances held at Barton Coliseum at the Arkansas State Fairgrounds. For decades, it was pretty much THE place for large concerts in Little Rock. On the link, you can hear an interview I recorded while touring it with the person behind the project.
-A wrongful death Lawsuit was filed against the U.S. Forest Service by the relatives of three of the 20 people killed in a horrific flash flood in 2010 that swept through the Albert Pike campground in southwest Arkansas. An attorney argues the campground never should have been developed along the Little Missouri River given its history of flooding.
-See my Previous Reports page on KUAR-FM 89.1's web site to listen or read earlier stories that I've reported in Little Rock. You can also hear me live each weekday afternoon from 4 pm to 6:30 anchoring newscasts during NPR's All Things Considered. If you're not in Arkansas you can listen live on KUAR's web site or with an iPhone through the Public Radio Tuner.
		After 12 years in Miami, most recently serving as Assistant News Director of The Miami Herald's radio department, in April 2009 I returned home to Little Rock, Ark. to work for NPR station KUAR-FM 89.1.

Watch the full episode. See more Arkansas Week.

Friday, October 7, 2011

This time on AETN's Arkansas Week...

I joined Jay Barth from Hendrix College and Jeff Hankins from Arkansas Business for the week in review program aired on public television stations in the state. You can see the discussion about the resignations and one firing of the top three officials from the Arkansas Lottery about 13 minutes into the program. We also discussed state Republican leaders beginning to offer endorsements of presidential candidates about 18 minutes in, though as I explain, one, Senator John Boozman, says he's still uncertain of the direction Texas Governor Rick Perry would take the country and is hoping to talk with him before decided who he will back. We also talked about better revenue numbers for Arkansas and unemployment.

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Filling in, hosting KUAR's Not Necessarily Nashville

It's always a treat to be able to sit in for Flap Jones and play some of my favorite alt-country. That night's show came just a few days after I saw the legendary outlaw songwritter Billy Joe Shaver perform in Little Rock, so I played a few songs he had done at the previous week's Farm Aid concert. I played Sun Records-era Johnny Cash to note the passing of his longtime bass player Marshall Grant in Jonesboro, Ark. I slipped in a couple of songs at the start referencing the L&N Railroad, as well as some Steve Earle, Matt Stell, Del McCoury, Gary Stewart and more. I'll be filling in again for Flap on October 15th so that she can attend the Yonder Mountain Harvest Festival in north Arkansas, so there's more fun ahead.

AUDIO: Hosting Not Necessarily Nashville on KUAR-FM 89.1 on August 20, 2011. It runs just over an hour. Download as MP3.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Remembering the Elian Gonzalez Custody Fight 11 Years Later

Six-year-old Elian Gonzalez in 2000 This was, without question, the biggest story of my career, and yet I haven't had audio of it on my web site until now. The saga of a little boy, caught in a custody fight between family members in the U.S. and his father in Cuba, brought renewed attention to the plight of people on the island and the exile community in Miami. I was working at WIOD the day the five-year-old boy arrived in the U.S. on a raft, one of the few survivors of a failed attempt to brave the Florida Straits, which took the life of his mother and several others.

For the next five months I spent much of my time in Miami's Little Havana, getting outraged reaction among Cuban-Americans, as officials and courts repeatedly said he should be returned to his only surviving parent. It was during my coverage of this story that I went from being a reporter for local news station WIOD to a national reporter for CBS Radio News. As I was recently revising the page looking at my time at WIOD I decided I needed to finally get this together. My reports from those days were packed away on mini-discs and cassette tapes that I've only recently, finally compiled into one retrospective, which you can listen to or download. It's only a fraction of my reporting, but it's some of the more memorable moments and what I happened to be able to preserve. Listening back, I had forgotten the sheer emotion of that story. I also can't help but wonder how Elian Gonzalez is doing as he nears adulthood.

AUDIO: A compilation of reports on the Elian Gonzalez custody battle from 1999 and 2000 for WIOD, CBS News and the Westwood One program America In The Morning, runs 25:07. Download as MP3.

See Previous Entries and Reports

	Details my 22 years in radio and news with photos and MP3 audio from each station, network or newspaper. I started as a DJ on stations in Arkansas, made the transition to news through a C-SPAN internship, spent 12 years in Miami working for CBS News and the Miami Herald and recently returned home to Little Rock.
	While I love the convenience and quality of my digital camera, nothing compares to the look of black and white film. Many years back I put together a few galleries, focusing on some of the more consistent topics I had shot over the years. I hope to eventually revise and expand this section to include more photos.
	For about a year in 1994, in addition to my regular show on KABF, I hosted a beat poetry and spoken word program. I took every opportunity to interview some of my favorite writers and poets, including Allen Ginsberg when he gave a reading in Arkansas. I've included MP3 files of some of those interviews here.

I also have a few other sections that may be of interest for some. I maintain a section looking at the long gone Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas, with recent photos and MP3 interviews with former employees. As Mike Huckabee emerged as one of the leading candidates for President in 2007, I put together this profile of him based on my experiences. This includes an MP3 with an interview I recorded in 1996 just before he became governor, articles, reports and photos from my days of covering him in the mid-1990s. I've also got photos of Miami's fascinating, long shuttered Marine Stadium, which was damaged by Hurricane Andrew, but is the focus of preservation efforts by those who would like to see it reopened and restored to its former glory.

I welcome your Feedback. If you have any questions, notice any errors, links that no longer work or other problems with this site, please let me know. Or if you just want to share any comments about what I've got here, I'd love to read it. Thanks for stopping by and please check back again. I try to update this regularly, it's just a slow, slow process!.


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