Collect • Preserve • Connect

Ozarks at Large

Pryor Center Profiles

Beginning in 2018, Randy Dixon, director of news media and archives at the Pryor Center, has been a weekly guest on Ozarks at Large hosted by Kyle Kellams on KUAF, the NPR radio station in Northwest Arkansas. The weekly Monday segments, titled "Pryor Center Profiles," examine historical personalities and events highlighted with audio clips that Dixon has discovered in the KATV Collection archives.

KATV Channel 7, the ABC television affiliate in Little Rock, began broadcasting in 1953 when all news footage was captured on film. In the late 1970s when the station was making the transition from shooting news stories on film to recording on videotape, the news director, Jim Pitcock, created the KATV News archive.

In 2009 KATV donated the collection of 300 hours of film and 26,000 hours of videotape to the Pryor Center. The MediaPreserve, a Pennsylvania-based company, is currently restoring and digitizing the collection. The digitized files will eventually be made available on the Pryor Center website when the process is completed.

Before coming to the Pryor Center in 2012, Dixon spent more than three decades of his media career at KATV News in Little Rock. At KATV, Dixon oversaw the donation of the archive, and he is now organizing the digitization of the archive at the Pryor Center.

Kellams is the news director at 91.3, KUAF, the NPR affiliate for northwest and western Arkansas, southwest Missouri, and eastern Oklahoma. For more than 30 years he has produced the station's news magazine, Ozarks at Large. The program is aired every Monday through Friday at noon and 7 p.m. and Sunday mornings at 9 a.m. 

All of the previous episodes of "Pryor Center Profiles" are listed below and can be streamed by clicking on the title link. Accompanying video footage compiled by Dixon is available by clicking on the video icon that appears after the date. This section will be updated on a regular basis so be sure to check back soon.

  • "Pryor Center Past and Present" - Sep 06, 2018
  • "Pryor Center Archive Offers Glimpse Into Political History" - Dec 03, 2018
  • "More Gems from the Pryor Center Archives" - Dec 17, 2018
  • "The Art of the Political “Documentary”" - May 14, 2019
  • "Sounds of Arkansas’s Past in an Uncertain Present" - Apr 06, 2020
  • "The Rise, Fall and Rise of Governor Clinton" - Apr 13, 2020
  • "The Curious, and Infamous, Career of Orval Faubus" - Apr 20, 2020
  • ""Hogs Might Be Sidelined, but Razorbacks-Inspired Music Is Not"" - Apr 27, 2020
  • "The Powerful Career of Wilbur Mills" - May 04, 2020
  • "The Many Lives Lived at Fort Chaffee" - May 11, 2020
  • "Remembering the Titan Missile Disaster That Almost Was" - May 18, 2020
  • "From Delight, Arkansas to World Fame, Remembering Glen Campbell" - May 26, 2020
  • "Remembering Eddie Sutton’s Time With the Arkansas Razorbacks" - Jun 01, 2020
  • "The Creation of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System" - Jun 15, 2020
  • "A Look Back at the Life of the Man in Black" - Jun 22, 2020
  • "The Story of the Best Third Baseman in Baseball History" - Jun 29, 2020
  • "The Life and Career of Architect E. Fay Jones" - Jul 06, 2020
  • "A Trip Through March of 1976" - Jul 13, 2020
  • "The Origins of the Arkansas Folk Festival" - Jul 20, 2020
  • "The Legacy of Jimmy Driftwood" - Jul 27, 2020
  • "The Great Arkansas Debate of 1974" - Aug 03, 2020
  • "The Battle Over a Professor's Politics " - Aug 10, 2020
  • "All the News 45 Years Ago" - Aug 17, 2020
  • "The Rise and Fall of Dogpatch USA " - Aug 24, 2020
  • "Arkansas Visits: From Muhammad Ali to Anita Bryant" - Aug 31, 2020
  • "When Presidents Visited Arkansas" - Sep 14, 2020
  • "Keeping Arkansas's History for 50 Years" - Sep 21, 2020
  • "Crimes of the Century Across Arkansas" - Sep 28, 2020
  • "The Real Story Behind "Brubaker"" - Oct 05, 2020
  • "Navigating the Arkansas River" - Oct 12, 2020
  • "The Long History of Corruption and Violence in Arkansas's Prison System" - Oct 19, 2020
  • "Living in Arkansas During the Vietnam War" - Oct 26, 2020
  • "The Gas Shortage That Changed How Arkansans Lived" - Nov 02, 2020
  • "When Famous News Voices Visited Arkansas" - Nov 09, 2020
  • "Looking Back at Arkansas's Triple Execution" - Nov 16, 2020
  • "Turkey Time in Arkansas" - Nov 23, 2020
  • "Remembering The Group, Their Dinner Theater and Cutting Edge Web Technology" - Nov 30, 2020
  • "Remembering May of 1969" - Dec 07, 2020
  • "An Audio Time Capsule From June, 1972" - Dec 14, 2020
  • "Christmas Past for Our Christmas Present" - Dec 21, 2020
  • "Taking a Bite Out of the Pryor Center Archives" - Jan 04, 2021
  • "Arkansas State Parks Throughout History" - Jan 18, 2021
  • "The Amazing Life of "Footsie" Britt" - Jan 25, 2021
  • "Veteran, Lieutenant Governor and, For 11 Days, Governor of Arkansas" - Feb 01, 2021
  • "A Calm, Effective Political Figure in Arkansas Politics" - Feb 08, 2021
  • "A World War II Hero Who Became Lieutenant Governor" - Feb 15, 2021
  • "The Legacy of Daisy Bates" - Feb 22, 2021
  • "The Lasting Legacy of the Little Rock Nine" - Mar 01, 2021
  • "Lights, Camera, Archives" - Mar 08, 2021
  • "The Voices of Arkansas's First Ladies" - Mar 15, 2021
  • "A Job and a Privilege, Continued" - Mar 22, 2021
  • "Back When Arkansas Went Nuclear" - Mar 29, 2021
  • "A Legendary Arkansas Political Machine" - Apr 05, 2021
  • "Two Murder Convictions, an Escape, and Eventually, Release" - Apr 12, 2021
  • "Questions Remain in Nearly 60 Year Old Murder" - Apr 19, 2021
  • "1971: New Voters, New Justices and the Same Football Frenzy" - Apr 26, 2021
  • "Drawing Arkansas History" - May 03, 2021
  • "The Unusual Saga of James Dean Walker" - May 17, 2021
  • "Concluding the Saga of James Dean Walker" - May 24, 2021
  • "Now Playing: Everly Brothers, Herman's Hermits and The Beatles" - Jun 07, 2021
  • "Those Hot August Days of 1975" - Jun 14, 2021
  • "Jerome and Rowher Rememberd" - Jun 21, 2021
  • "Tough Times in 1974" - Jun 28, 2021
  • "Nixon's Pardon and Arkansas" - Jul 12, 2021
  • "The Long Congressional Career of JPH" - Jul 19, 2021
  • "The News for Today, From 27 Years Ago" - Jul 26, 2021
  • "Using History to Make Connections" - Aug 02, 2021
  • "Razorback Realignment" - Aug 09, 2021
  • "Whitewater, Casinos and the 1994 Election" - Aug 16, 2021
  • "Are You Ready for Some Football?" - Aug 23, 2021
  • "Getting Ready for Kickoff" - Aug 30, 2021
  • "One of the Best: Arkansas' Brooks Robinson" - Sep 13, 2021
  • "Seven Years of Lou Holtz" - Sep 20, 2021
  • "Mr. Sam in Today's Pryor Center Spotlight" - Sep 27, 2021
  • "From Football Field to Front Office" - Oct 04, 2021
  • "A Scandalous Crime with Plenty of Coverage" - Oct 11, 2021
  • "The Remarkable Career of Dale Bumpers" - Oct 18, 2021
  • "Dale Bumpers in His Own Words" - Oct 25, 2021
  • "1994: A Blue Arkansas Hints at Turning Red" - Nov 08, 2021
  • "When Arkansas Inaugurated a Young Governor" - Nov 15, 2021
  • "Listening to Virginia Kelley, First Mom" - Nov 29, 2021
  • "December 1968…A New President and Faster Telegram Delivery" - Dec 06, 2021
  • "From Football to the Weather: Bud Campbell's Career in Arkansas" - Jan 10, 2022
  • "The News of December, 1975 Sounds Familiar" - Jan 13, 2022
  • "A Legendary Arkansas Voice" - Jan 17, 2022
  • "Putting Movies in Arkansas" - Jan 21, 2022
  • "Remembering the Little Rock Nine" - Jan 24, 2022
  • "The Career of Dr. Joycelyn Elders" - Feb 21, 2022
  • "Legendary Radio Voices of Arkansas" - Feb 28, 2022
  • "The Buffalo's First 50 Years as a National River" - Mar 07, 2022
  • "All the News for March...1969" - Mar 14, 2022
  • "A Legend of Arkansas Labor" - Mar 21, 2022
  • "Gas Shortages, Watergate and the Devil" - Mar 28, 2022
  • "When The Congressional Black Caucus Came to Arkansas" - Apr 04, 2022
  • "Past, Present and Future of a Newspaper" - Apr 11, 2022
  • "Jim Dandy to the Rescue" - Apr 18, 2022
  • "The Good Old Days: More Old Than Good?" - Apr 25, 2022
  • "May 1975: A State Changing" - May 02, 2022
  • "A Tour of Arkansas Blues Music with The Pryor Center" - May 09, 2022
  • "'Legends of Radio' in Their Own Words" - May 16, 2022
  • "Discovering the Real Martha Mitchell" - May 23, 2022
  • "'All Too Familiar' Revisiting the Jonesboro School Shooting 24 Years Later" - Jun 06, 2022
  • "Remembering Ronnie Hawkins" - Jun 13, 2022
  • "Arkansas' First Pollster" - Jun 20, 2022
  • "When the Clintons Lived in Fayetteville" - Jun 27, 2022
  • "Recalling a Horrible Night in Little Rock in 1999" - Jul 11, 2022
  • "The Natural State and Recessions" - Jul 18, 2022
  • "Tony Alamo's Dark Legacy" - Jul 25, 2022
  • "From Football to Real Estate" - Aug 01, 2022
  • "Shocked! Shocked to Discover Gambling in Hot Springs" - Aug 08, 2022
  • "A Gangster's Life in Hot Springs" - Aug 15, 2022
  • "A Check on the Climate, 25 Years Later" - Aug 22, 2022
  • "Marching for 150 Years" - Aug 29, 2022
  • "The Arkansas Roots of The Sharper Image" - Sep 19, 2022
  • "Webster Hubbell and His 7 Lives" - Sep 26, 2022
  • "The Noisy History of Gerald L.K. Smith" - Oct 03, 2022
  • "When "Whitewater" Ruled the Headlines" - Nov 14, 2022
  • "Whitewater, Part 2" - Nov 21, 2022
  • "After Whitewater" - Nov 28, 2022
  • "A Spotlight on a Central Figure of the Whitewater Days" - Dec 05, 2022
  • "Wrapping Up the Long Thread of Whitewater" - Dec 12, 2022
  • "Cooking For Seven Arkansas Governors" - Jan 16, 2023
  • "The Arkansas Origins of FedEx" - Jan 23, 2023
  • "Daisy BB Guns' Long History" - Jan 30, 2023
  • "Visiting Famous Voices" - Feb 13, 2023
  • "And They're Off...The Story of Oaklawn" - Feb 20, 2023
  • "From Kindergarten Friend to Chief of Staff" - Feb 27, 2023
  • "Lum & Abner, Early Arkansas Celebrities" - Mar 06, 2023
  • "Reporting From Danger Zones" - Mar 13, 2023
  • "More Special Assignments: From the Arctic Circle to Thailand" - Mar 20, 2023
  • "An Arkansas Education Icon" - Mar 27, 2023
  • "A Fortune Made, a Fortune Spent" - Apr 03, 2023
  • "Jennings Osborne's Medical Studies, Dazzling Lights and Barbecue" - Apr 10, 2023
  • "A Bizarre Criminal Case, Decades Later" - Jun 12, 2023
  • "Part 2 of bizarre a criminal case, decades later" - Jun 19, 2023
  • "The odd story of Sheriff Coolidge Conley" - Jun 26, 2023
  • "The Never-Say-Quit Approach of Jack Hill" - Jul 03, 2023
  • "A man of all subjects" - Jul 31, 2023
  • "From Cabbage Patch Kids to Rubik's Cube, a survey of fads" - Aug 14, 2023
  • "How audio giant Klipsch got its start in Arkansas" - Aug 21, 2023
  • "The last 50 years of home buying" - Aug 28, 2023
  • "Remembering 9/11 in Arkansas" - Sep 11, 2023
  • "Scotty Scott- An Arkansas crime story" - Sep 18, 2023
  • "The surprise success of 'The Legend of Boggy Creek'" - Sep 25, 2023
  • "The Pryor Center's greatest hits" - Oct 02, 2023
  • "Patti Upton makes millions with Aromatique" - Oct 13, 2023
  • "Remembering Jim Pitcock" - Oct 23, 2023
  • "Recalling duck boat disasters" - Oct 30, 2023
  • "The many lives of the USS Arkansas" - Nov 06, 2023
  • "Remembering the Turkey Drop" - Nov 20, 2023
  • "Looking at Arkansas' political debates" - Dec 11, 2023
  • "Arkansans' past presidential runs" - Jan 08, 2024
  • "Remembering 'The Blue and the Gray' Arkansas Shoot" - Jan 15, 2024
  • "What happened 49 Januaries ago?" - Jan 29, 2024
  • "Late '76 in Arkansas: politics and primaries" - Feb 05, 2024
  • "Remembering Republican Arkansas Congressman Ed Bethune" - Feb 19, 2024