Wynne Broadcaster Honored by National Group in Las Vegas

               Bobby Caldwell

Bobby Caldwell is picking up a national broadcasting leadership award Wednesday in Las Vegas, and in retrospect, he owes it all to a girl he was drawn to a half-century ago.

The CEO of East Arkansas Broadcasters Inc., Caldwell married into the radio business. If it hadn’t been for Peggy Raley, daughter of Wynne radio station founder Bud Raley, Caldwell never would have changed his college major to broadcasting after Bud Raley’s death in a 1966 car crash and he wouldn’t own some 30 radio stations today.

Caldwell was one of six honorees chosen for 2019 leadership awards by the Broadcasters Foundation of America, the nonprofit devoted to help broadcasters in acute need. Other winners were Jean Dietze, president of affiliate relations for NBC; Richard A. Foreman, owner of a major media broker; Mark Gray, CEO of Katz Media; Paul McTear, former CEO of Raycom Media; and David Poltrack, president of CBS Vision.

The leadership awards are presented each year in recognition of career contributions to broadcasting and the community at large, and if there is a very model of a modern community broadcaster, it might be Caldwell.

A native of the tiny Caldwell, population 500, in St. Francis County, Caldwell followed in the footsteps of his father-in-law, who edged Sun Records legend Sam Phillips to win the Federal Communications Commission’s license for KWYN-AM in Wynne in 1956. The station started airing Wynne High School football games immediately, and has relied on local coverage of news and sports ever since.

“Being on the air is very important in these smaller markets,” Caldwell once told Radio & Records, a trade publication. “When you go to the coffee shop, people know you. When they turn on their radio in the morning, they’re inviting us into their homes. You’ve got to build a relationship with the community.”

As Rex Nelson noted in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette a year ago, Caldwell started working weekends at KWYN while still a student at Arkansas State University in the late 60s, and became station manager in 1973. Meanwhile, sister station KWYN-FM went on the air in 1969. Now East Arkansas Broadcasting has a half-dozen stations in the Jonesboro market, along with stations across the state.

He clearly identifies with the mission of the broadcasting foundation, which has distributed millions of dollars “to broadcasters who have lost their livelihood through a catastrophic event, debilitating disease or unforeseen tragedy,” according to the charity’s literature.

The Arkansas Broadcasters Association, led by Executive Director Luke Story, noted Caldwell’s award, calling it “much deserved recognition” for his leadership.

Caldwell graduated from A-State in 1970 with a bachelor’s in radio-TV and serves on the advisory board of the university’s College of Communications. He’s also on the board of First National Bank of Wynne and is a former member of the Wynne Industrial Development Commission, the Cross County Hospital Board and the Wynne Chamber of Commerce.

He hopes his radio stations never lose their intimate connection with listeners. “People can walk in off the street if they’ve got a subject they want to talk about,” Caldwell was quoted in Radio & Records. “If it’s a commercial, we charge for it. If not, we give a way lots and lots of time. Too many people are looking at stations like commodities now. They should look at the communities the stations serve.”