- University News Archive - ��Vlog��ý Little Rock

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Public Radio to Air 100th Episode of Arts & Letters

John Hill — Thu, 26 May 2022 20:08:34 +0000

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Public Radio will air its 100th episode of the fan-favorite program, Arts & Letters, this week. The episode, which features writer, director, and producer Harry Thomason, will air at 7 p.m. Friday, May 27, and 9 p.m. Sunday, May 29, on K��Vlog��ýR 89.1. “We are so happy to be able to present our 100th episode filled with true tales and Arkansas adventures,” said J. Bradley Minnick, executive producer and host of Arts & Letters and an associate professor of English at ��Vlog��ý Little Rock. “This milestone show is dedicated to retired ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Chancellor Joel Anderson and is in memory of former K��Vlog��ýR station manager, Ben Fry.” In the 100th episode, Thomason discusses his memoir, “Brother Dog: Southern Tales and Hollywood Adventures.” Thomason shares stories from his childhood in Calhoun County, Arkansas, and his start in directing and producing. Told with humor, grit, and an open heart, Thomason’s memoir shares his small-town, working-class childhood in the late 1940s, 50s and 60s. Since the early 1970s, Thomason has been one of the best-known Southerners working in Hollywood. He has directed, written, or produced 11 films and eight television series. His credits include “The Shining Season,” “The Blue and the Gray,” and “The Fall Guy.” Together with his wife, Linda Bloodworth Thomason, he also produced the hit CBS TV series, “Designing Women” and “Evening Shade.” Founded in 2014, the award-winning Arts & Letters is in its eighth season and celebrates contemporary humanities work from Arkansas, the mid-south, and beyond. Over the years, the show has featured popular and controversial Arkansas historical figures like John Gould Fletcher, Orval Faubus, Sue Cowan Williams, Helen Spence, Sen. Hattie Wyatt Caraway, Johnny Cash, and Albert Porter. Music is also at the heart of Arts & Letters. Their partnership with amazing musicians and sound engineers helps bring the stories to life for their listeners. Over the years, they’ve worked with musical groups Still on the Hill, Folk Family Revival, the Mallet Brothers, Radio Birds, and Handmade Moments, and many more. The Arts & Letters crew includes Minnick, Mary Ellen Kubit, story editor and producer, and Joseph Fuller, sound engineer. The Arts & Letters staff will celebrate with a Zoom event, “From Arkansas to Hollywood,” at 8 p.m. Friday, June 10. The Zoom event will feature live music from Jesse Wells of Welles, a visit with Harry Thomason, and the technical wizardry of Joseph Fuller of Orchestra of One. “This has been a fantastic journey that continues to engage and inspire us with story and music,” Minnick said. “We’re just getting started.”

��Vlog��ý Little Rock Public Radio honors prolific Arkansas songwriter Rose Marie McCoy

John Hill — Wed, 22 Jan 2020 22:12:19 +0000

Arkansas native Rose Marie McCoy was arguably one of the most successful American songwriters of the 20th century. During her lifetime, McCoy published more than 850 songs recorded by music legends like Ike and Tina Turner, Nat King Cole, Elvis Presley, and Bette Midler. McCoy was recently highlighted in a two-part episode, “,” of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock Public Radio’s award-winning program, “Arts & Letters,” hosted by Executive Producer�� J. Bradley Minnick. “We learned about Rose McCoy when she was inducted into the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame in 2018,” Minnick said. “Arlene Corsano, McCoy’s friend and neighbor, wrote this great biography about McCoy. When I looked on the internet, there wasn’t much material on McCoy except for Arlene’s book and an entry in the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. I was very surprised there wasn’t more information on a woman who wrote more than 850 songs that were recorded by so many famous people.” Born in the small town of Oneida, Ark., in 1922, McCoy moved to New York in 1942 and began singing for small clubs in Harlem after learning to love the Blues in Helena. “Helena was the place people went to hear a lot of the big name Blues people,” Corsano said. “Rose never got to hear the Blues until she went to Helena in high school and lived with her grandparents. Her parents were very churchy, and Rose was taught that listening to the Blues was a sin. She would stand outside the door so that no one would see her. She did have a scholarship to Philander Smith College, but she left Arkansas to become a singer.” On a visit to Arkansas in 1943, she married her former high school sweetheart, James McCoy. The couple were married for 57 years until James McCoy’s death in 2010. “They ran into each other on a bus, and he was getting ready to be shipped off to Germany to fight in World War II,” said Mary Ellen Kubit, producer and story editor of “Arts & Letters.” “They got married within a few weeks of getting reacquainted. They didn’t see each other for several years until the war ended, but they were together until he died. They later owned a club together in New Jersey.” By 1946, one of McCoy’s songs, “After All,” appeared on the Dixieaires’ record. In the early 1950s, she partnered with songwriter Charlie Singleton. Their first hit, “It Hurts Me to My Heart,” was recorded by Faye Adams in 1954. During their six-year partnership, the duo wrote songs individually and as partners for top artists of the time, including Elvis Presley, “I Beg of You” and “Trying to Get to You;” Ruth Brown, “Mambo Baby;” Nappy Brown, “Little by Little;” Nat King Cole, “If I May” and “My Personal Possession;” and Little Willie John, “Letter from My Darling.” McCoy continued to write and publish independently, turning down opportunities to work for major record labels including Motown, Stax, and Atlantic. She wrote “It’s Gonna Work Out Fine,” which became Ike and Tina Turner’s first top 20 hit and their first Grammy nomination. She wrote her final songs with Billy Joe Conor, and they appeared on his 2013 country music album. Since McCoy passed away in 2015, the person who has worked the hardest to preserve McCoy’s memory is Corsano, who Minnick interviewed for the “Arts & Letters” episodes and provided never-before-heard recordings of McCoy’s music. “I first met Rose at a party that Maxine Brown, a soul RB singer popular in the 60s, was having,” Corsano said. “I had written a song for Maxine called ‘Wild Women Don’t Have the Blues.’ I was retired from teaching, so I was interviewing famous people. Maxine told me that I should write an article about Rose. When the article came out, we started hanging out, and Rose started telling people I was going to make her famous.” McCoy’s words from long ago have held up to the test of time as Corsano has made it her mission to make McCoy’s story known. She wrote a biography chronicling McCoy’s life, “Thought We Were Singing the Blues But They Called It Rock N’ Roll.” Corsano has also written a one-woman play about McCoy. She’s currently working on educational materials to bring McCoy’s inspirational story into the classroom. Though McCoy has been inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2008 and the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame in 2018, Corsano has always been surprised that McCoy has yet to be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. “Rose belongs in the Songwriters Hall of Fame,” Corsano said. “It was quite a different world when she entered the music business. It was really a white man’s world. To be an African American on top of a female, it was very important for her to break into the songwriting business. She was a pioneer.” Corsano has previously started a petition to garner support for McCoy’s induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. After the release of the “Arts & Letters’ episodes focused on McCoy’s life and music, Minnick and Kubit also started a that they urge people to sign.

K��Vlog��ýR named Best Radio Station

Janea Snyder — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 13:38:00 +0000

K��Vlog��ýR has once again been named Best Radio Station in the Arkansas Times annual Best of Arkansas Awards. “It’s an honor to be recognized by our listeners and the readers of the Arkansas Times as the Best Radio Station,” said Nathan Vandiver, K��Vlog��ýR’s interim general manager. “I have to feel that it’s a reflection of the hard work and listener-focused mission of NPR and K��Vlog��ýR working together to provide the best possible information for the country and our central Arkansas community.”�� For over 20 years, the Best of Arkansas issue has been the Arkansas Times’ largest issue of the year. Readers vote for their favorites in more than 100 categories. This year’s winners were announced Thursday, June 27, at the Albert Pike Masonic Center in Little Rock. K��Vlog��ýR has previously won Best Radio Station in the Times’ poll six times and has placed as a runner-up for several five years.�� “As a listener-supported service of ��Vlog��ý Little Rock – whether that’s news from central Arkansas, Washington D.C., or anywhere in the world, or the insightful interviews of “,” the differences in generational thinking presented by “,” or the best country music you haven’t heard of on “,” – K��Vlog��ýR will always focus on finding the best content, and fair and accurate information that helps our listeners. This honor is especially nice because it’s from the people in our region who rely on this service day in and day out.” In the photo top right, the K��Vlog��ýR staff collect their award for Best Radio Station. From left: Nathan Vandiver, interim general manager; Daniel Breen, All Things Considered host; Sarah Kellogg, Morning Edition host; J. Bradley Minnick, producer, Arts & Letters Radio; Michael Hibblen, news director; and Vanessa McKuin, development director.

Arkansas bands to play Tiny Desk concert

Janea Snyder — Wed, 29 May 2019 17:48:53 +0000

Three of Arkansas’s top bands will perform Thursday, June 6, as part of National Public Radio’s ��event benefiting Little Rock Public Radio’s K��Vlog��ýR FM 89.1 and its regional program “.” , , and were selected to perform in the Tiny Desk Arkansas concert set for 8-11:30 p.m. at Stickyz Rock ‘N’ Roll Chicken Shack, 107 River Market Ave., Little Rock. All three Arkansas groups entered NPR’s national Tiny Desk Concert competition, named after the Tiny Desk video series of live concerts hosted by NPR Music at the desk of host Bob Boilen in Washington, D.C. Proceeds will support local music through K��Vlog��ýR and “Arts & Letters Radio.” Doors will open at 7 p.m. “These groups are fun and very talented and are all performing for a good cause – to help support both K��Vlog��ýR and ‘Arts & Letters Radio,’ an award-winning show that provides opportunities for a celebration of the arts and humanities in our region and beyond,” said J. Bradley Minnick, executive producer and host of “Arts & Letters Radio.” Indie‑Americana singer/songwriter Ashtyn Barbaree from Fayetteville will kick off the event at 8 p.m. with an acoustic set. Her self-titled debut album was recorded at the Butcher Shoppe Studio in Nashville, Tennessee, and released April 2018. Fayetteville’s Route 358 will take the stage at 9:15 p.m. Their Americana/Roots sound is a mix of bluegrass, rock, folk and country. Songs from the band’s first album “Only The River Knows,” earned the band a nomination for Americana/Roots Artist of the Year by the Arkansas Country Music Awards as well as a selection as a showcase artist for Folk Alliance Midwest and the John Hartford Memorial Festival. The Fayetteville-based Irie Lions, a six-piece reggae band, will perform at 10:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 and at , on or at the door the night of the show. For more information, contact at 501-569-8485. Photo top right:��Route 358��is one of three bands that will perform June 6 to raise money for NPR. Above Left: Singer/songwriter Ashtyn Barbaree Above Right: The Irie Lions

Tiny Desk Arkansas event set for June 28

Ajani Oyindamola — Tue, 19 Jun 2018 15:02:14 +0000

Three of central Arkansas’s best bands will perform Thursday, June 28, as part of NPR’s �𱹱�Գ�.�� K��Vlog��ýR FM 89.1, central Arkansas’s NPR station, and its regional program, “Arts & Letters” has announced Black Horse, Monsterboy, and Dazz & Brie as the three groups selected for Tiny Desk Arkansas. K��Vlog��ýR News Director Michael Hibblen will serve as the night’s emcee. The event will be held from 8-11 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m., at Stickyz Rock ‘n’ Roll Chicken Shack, 107 River Market Ave., Little Rock. The fundraiser showcases three central Arkansas groups who entered NPR’s national Tiny Desk Concert competition. Proceeds will support local music through K��Vlog��ýR and “Arts & Letters.” “These groups are fun and very talented and are all performing for a good cause – to help support both K��Vlog��ýR and ‘Arts & Letters,’ an award-winning show that provides opportunities for a celebration of the arts and humanities in our region and beyond,” said J. Bradley Minnick, executive producer and host of “Arts & Letters.” Black Horse, a progressive surf-punk rock band who performs with an electric energy influenced by the 1960s, will take the stage at 8 p.m., followed by Monsterboy at 9 p.m.

Dazz & Brie

Monsterboy consists of husband-and-wife duo Chris Long and Veronica Wirges of Little Rock, who combine smart, original vocals with powerful sax music. Monsterboy’s reputation was enhanced by their acoustic set at Bonnaroo 2017, where they were featured and interviewed on MTV.com. Dazz & Brie will finish off the night with a 10 p.m. performance. The group was named Arkansas Times’ 2017 Musicians Showcase winners, the 2018 Kit-Kat Jingle winners, as well as ML Magazine’s Rising Idol. Reservations. There will be a recommended donation of $10 at the door. For more information, contact Vanessa McKuin, K��Vlog��ýR development director, at 501-569-8490 or svmckuin@ualr.edu. In the upper right photo, Chris Long and Veronica Wirges of Monsterboy are shown.��Photo by Nelson Chenault.

��Vlog��ý Little Rock professor receives $50,000 for public radio program

Ajani Oyindamola — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 14:16:59 +0000

A University of Arkansas at Little Rock professor has received a $50,000 commitment to create a partnership to continue a K��Vlog��ýR public radio show dedicated to humanities and literary arts in the South.�� The Arkansas Humanities Council signed a memorandum of understanding to award J. Bradley Minnick, associate professor in the Department of English, $10,000 a year for the next five years to continue the.�� “We want to highlight the intellectual work of the South, specifically the Arkansas and Mid-South region to share our rich tradition, history, and cultural production in our community,” Minnick said. Minnick is the executive producer and host of “Arts & Letters,” which airs at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Fridays of the month on K��Vlog��ýR to an audience of 8,000 to 12,000 listeners and is available for download as a podcast on artsandlettersradio.org, NPR, NPR One, Player FM, and iTunes. Now in its fourth season, “Arts & Letters” has aired more than 30 episodes. Episodes cover a wide range of arts and humanities topics from the to the search for in downtown Little Rock to the . The program also highlights the musical talents of central Arkansas and regional artists, who share their music. Minnick completes special four-minute episodes “Arts & Letters Shorts,” which highlight contributing musicians. In the upcoming season, viewers can look forward to an episode on spirit possession in the Arkansas Delta region as well a program about ��

- University News Archive - ����Vlog��ý Little Rock

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Public Radio to Air 100th Episode of Arts & Letters

����Vlog��ý Little Rock Public Radio honors prolific Arkansas songwriter Rose Marie McCoy

K����Vlog��ýR named Best Radio Station