![]() ![]() He has overseen a growth in the membership of donors to KLRE/KUAR. "With the death of Ben Fry, it was a big transition to make and we stabilized the station after that difficult period." "I’m proud of the work we’ve done in the time that I’ve been here," Vandiver said in an interview Friday. He formally became general manager in December 2019. After Fry’s unexpected death from a heart attack in 2016 at the age of 54, Vandiver served as interim general manager of UA Little Rock Public Radio. Under the guidance of longtime General Manager Ben Fry, Vandiver was promoted to program director in June 2013. At the end of the semester he was hired as a part-time anchor/reporter, covering stories around the state. Vandiver started as an intern in the spring of 2009 in KUAR's newsroom. His last day as a fulltime staff member will be July 8. ![]() Vandiver’s family is moving to Portland, Oregon where his wife, federal public defender Julie Vandiver, has accepted a similar position with the government. A national search will be conducted by the university to fill the position which oversees NPR member station KUAR-FM 89.1 and classical music station KLRE-FM 90.5. He maintains a personal website with details on his career and other interests: 13 years with UA Little Rock Public Radio, General Manager Nathan Vandiver has announced he will resign. He has also been involved in the preservation of the railroad's depot in Perry, Ark. Hibblen enjoys researching radio and railroad history in the state and is the author of Rock Island Railroad in Arkansas, which was published by Arcadia Publishing in April 2017. It involved a week of training that August at the Phoenix campus, working regularly with a coach and smaller group remotely, then returning to give a final presentation and graduate in January 2020. The intensive 100-day training program for newsroom leaders from across the country was funded by a $1 million grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. ![]() In March 2019, Hibbblen was named one of 53 fellows selected to participate in the Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. In 2011, he resumed taking classes to finish his Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication, graduating in May 2013. He had previously worked part-time for the station while a student at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in the mid-1990s. Hibblen returned home to Arkansas in 2009 to take a position with KUAR. He also frequently wrote articles for the newspaper. Hibblen initially worked as a morning news anchor and reporter, later became the department's Editor, then Assistant News Director. He was hired by the Miami Herald in 2003 when the newspaper partnered with NPR station WLRN to provide local news. In 2000, Hibblen became a nationally-heard, Miami-based radio reporter for CBS News covering major stories in the region, including the 2000 presidential recount, an anthrax attack at a tabloid publishing headquarters, and an international custody fight over Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez. After a 1993 internship at the C-SPAN Cable Network in Washington, DC, he transitioned to news, working as a reporter and anchor for commercial radio stations KARN in Little Rock, WRVA in Richmond, Virginia and WIOD in Miami, Florida. In January 2023, Hibblen was hired by Arkansas PBS to become the television network's Senior Producer/ Director of Public Affairs.Ī native of North Little Rock, Hibblen started in radio in 1988, spending his first five years as a DJ for music stations in central and northeast Arkansas. In his final 10 years with the station, Hibblen served as News Director. In 2011, he was promoted to Assignment Editor. During his first two years, he was a news anchor and reporter. Michael Hibblen was a journalist for KUAR News from May 2009 - December 2022. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |