Sports director Jim Elder seemed like the grandfather of the newsroom. I was always amazed that, even when I worked as early morning producer, he always beat me into work, usually getting in around 3:30 am. He said he didn't sleep very long at night, so he went ahead and came in extremely early each morning. That proved extremely helpful for me one morning when I had a flat tire while driving in on I-630. It was a pretty rough area and I really didn't want to change it at that hour. So I called the newsroom and Jim answered, immediately driving out to pick me up. I was extremely grateful. I was saddened to learn on June 23, 1998 that he died at the age of 73. He had done his regular sportscasts that morning, but died later while walking his dog.

(Above left) Program Director Tracy Allen hosting the afternoon, which at that time was continuous news, sports, weather and traffic. Today Tracy is morning host at KUAR, where I would also work. (Above center) Production Director Kevin Kilpatrick doing play by play for a UALR Trojans basketball game. He would become one of my best friends and for a year we were roommates, splitting an apartment off Reservoir Road. Toward the end of 1994 he got a job at a production studio in South Florida and moved away from Arkansas. A short time later he got a job at country station WKIS/Miami using the name Gator. He would stay there more than a decade before moving to a small town in Tennessee, where he has a production studio in his house and makes a decent living doing commercials, promos and more. (Above right) Jim Elder on the air anchoring a 4:45 pm sportscast. (Left) Arkansas Radio Network Operations Manager Paul Rice. He also hosted a four-hour Sunday Morning talk show on KARN. During the show I was his news anchor, doing casts at the bottom of the hour, then doing five-minute state newscasts on the network at :55 and the two minute updates at the top of the hour. Within a year or so Paul left KARN to go to work for a company that the station had used to digitize commercials and promos. But I hear that eventually he returned to his native Carlisle, Arkansas.

(Above left) Dianne Vias was afternoon anchor on the Arkansas Radio Network. (Center and Right) Mike Frontiero was afternoon anchor on KARN. Within a year he moved to Richmond, Virginia and worked for news station WRVA. Three years later, at the start of 1997, he helped me get a job there. Today he handles public relations for Virginia Commonwealth University.

Pat Lynch hosted KARN's 9 am to noon talk show. The coffee mug above shows Lynch on one side, with Rush Limbaugh, whose program began at noon, on the other. The station marketed Lynch, who is liberal, and Limbaugh, who is conservative, as balancing each other out. I took the photo to the right during a drive the station did in February of 1994 collecting clothes and other items for needy people. At that time KARN was located along an exit ramp off I-630, which meant that it was convenient for people to stop by and donate items in front of the building during those kind of events. I had already been a listener of Lynch long before getting the job at KARN and it was really cool the many years I worked with him.

MP3 AUDIO: 11-years later I was a guest on Lynch's daily program, heard on a half-dozen radio stations around Arkansas. It was a treat to go on the air with him in August 2006, talking about Fidel Castro, trains and now living in Miami. MP3 runs 40:26 (16.2 mb).

On August 8, 2006 I met up with Pat Lynch for the first time in nearly a decade and was a guest for two hours on his daily talk show on the Super Talk Arkansas Network. It was a great, casual conversation, talking about changes in radio since our earlier years together. Being that a long travel piece I had written about trains had just run a few days earlier in the Miami Herald, we also discussed rail travel quite a bit, as well as what life is like for me today living in South Florida. You can hear much of that show on the MP3 above. Twice since I have again joined Lynch on the air during visits to Arkansas.

It's good to see he has survived the ups and downs of a very difficult business. He also today is a political columnist for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and has a great blog.

I took the photos above in 1995 in KARN's newsroom. All three include Lauri Buckley, who I wrote more about below. (Left) Lauri talking with Robin (last name escapes me -- sorry!) and Linda Glenn, who handled payroll. (Center) Neil Tate, who started as an intern and became Operations Manager for the Arkansas Radio Network talks with Lauri.

MP3 AUDIO: A good buddy of mine when I worked at KARN was Scott Crowder, who worked primarily as an anchor. But for a time he also did a talk show on KARN with a more abrasive style of talk. Here is a sample of three segments from his show. MP3 runs 10:14 (9.37 mb).

Unfortunately there are many photos that I took, but never had a chance to enlarge during my classes. So here I've got some low quality images scanned from a contact sheet. To the left are more photos of Pat Lynch outside KARN, helping to collect donated goods. For several years I also maintained bump music for Lynch's show. Those are short bits of songs played coming out of commercial breaks, that help with the transition back to the show. It was really cool and I had a lot of fun with it, putting in a lot of hip, alternative or just obscure songs. And he would often refer to me, especially after I had put in something new, as "Musicologist Michael Hibblen."

To the right are two images of Elton Cannon getting needed carts stacked up before anchoring a newscast. I liked Elton a lot. He was from Philadelphia and was just a real hip guy with a great sense of humor. He also knew a hell of a lot about music. Unfortunately he only stayed with KARN about a year or so and I lost track of him after that.

To the left again is Lauri Buckley who, at that time, was afternoon anchor for KARN. Her husband was eventually transferred within the military and for the a decade or so she worked in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, doing mornings there. I visited her a few times in Florida in the late 90's when I would drive through that area.

To the right is Lisa Carter who was then the afternoon producer on KARN. I used to have a lot of fun with her. The last I heard I think she had gone to the Dallas area where she was working some kind of news position, I think at a TV station. Finally to the left is the woman who was often at the front desk of the Snider building. Unfortunately I can't remember her name! Sorry! But I used to enjoy talking with her!

Below I've got a few more recent photos of people I used to work with at KARN. I developed a lot of good friendships during my years there and still keep up with quite a few people.

I still visit Kevin Kilpatrick a few times a year. I was a groomsman in his wedding in March of 2004 in South Florida before he and his wife Christie moved to Tennessee. Next to that is a photo of them outside their home near the town of Lawrenceburg. Below are recent photos of former news directors Ron Breeding and Vern Beachy and one more shot of Pat Lynch.