The information below is the actual nomination language used by the person who submitted the nomination. All submissions had to answer three questions: one about the nominee's career, one about their contribution to the communist they served, and finally, about their contribution to the broadcasting industry in Arkansas.

Career and accomplishments as an Arkansas Broadcaster

Mike Horne’s career in Arkansas Broadcasting spans decades of hands-on leadership, innovation, an unwavering commitment to the communities his stations served. There is a long list of programs and ideas he introduced that many station copied and some still use today and an impressive list of broadcasters that worked and trained under his tutelage, magnifying his contributions to Arkansas Broadcasting. Mike served as ABA President in 1972.

I proudly nominate Mike Horne to become a member of The Arkansas Broadcaster Association Hall of Fame.

Mike started in radio at age 13 in 1956 at KXRJ (now KARV) in Russellville. He assumed management of KWCB AM in Searcy in 1965 and quickly transformed the station into a true community voice. In 1966, he launched “Party Line” and “Telephone Trading Post,” live call-in programs that became fixtures of daily life connecting neighbors, supported small businesses, and established radio as the center of conversation in White County.

In 1967 at only 24 years old, he added management of KXRJ in Russellville. Like in Searcy he transformed station into the voice of the River Valley. Party line, Dial a Trade, local sports and in 1971 introduced Bids for Bargains that many stations copied not only in Arkansas but around the country.

He later rebranded the stations as KWCK (Searcy) and KARV (Russellville), building strong local identities that listeners embraced. He relocated KWCK into a new facility on the courthouse square, symbolically placing the station at the heart of the community.

One of his most significant accomplishments was pioneering in-house weather radar in Arkansas radio. In 1972, KARV became the only radio station in the state with its own ground-based weather radar system. With the help of Chief Engineer Jim Alexander, they installed a similar system in Searcy in 1973. At the time the only other broadcast group that had radar in Arkansas was KARK-TV. The radio stations delivered highly accurate tornado and severe weather warnings that help protect property but more importantly protected and saved citizens in the River Valley and White County.

His commitment to public safety extended further. When Arkansas Nuclear One began operations, AP&L partnered with KARV to provide emergency broadcasting capability. The station maintained overnight staffing and activated 1000’s of special receivers placed in homes throughout the area. During the extreme heat of 1980, KARV worked with Tyson Foods to issue alerts to poultry growers when heat and humidity reached critical levels, helping protect thousands of farmers’ livelihoods. These are just a couple of the many programs and issues the radio stations provided to the communities they served.

In 1974, he put KSER FM (now KWCK-FM) on the air. In 1979, he secured FCC approval to move KARV from 1490 to 610 kHz and constructed a four-tower directional array, significantly expanding coverage and strengthening service to the River Valley.

Throughout his career, Mike Horne emphasized news and local programming. His stations consistently covered city council meetings, school board proceedings, and high school athletics. He established annual “Dream Team” banquets honoring outstanding student-athletes and personally served as play-by-play broadcaster for Arkansas Tech University and numerous Arkansas high schools. His stations became places where young broadcasters could learn how to cover news, broadcast sports, sell advertising, and operate a station day to day. I will go into more detail on the impressive list of people who got their start and training in our industry from Mike in the “Contribution to Industry Section”.

Mike worked continually in Arkansas radio from 1956-1993. During that time he also had broadcast interest at various times in small markets in Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma.
Later in life he continued his leadership in multi-station groups in Searcy, Conway, Little Rock, and Pine Bluff for many years. Actively working as a manager or owner from 2012-2020.

And to this day he consults small market station owners and managers daily preaching the importance of serving your community with local news and information.
His career reflects the best traditions of Arkansas Broadcasting: innovation, service, leadership and a lifelong commitment to local radio.

Contributions to their community during their time as an Arkansas Broadcaster

Mike Horne’s commitment to his community has always extended well beyond the radio stations he owned and operated. Throughout his career he believed that if you were going to serve a community through broadcasting, you also needed to be personally involved in helping that town grow and succeed.

In Russellville, Mike served as President of the Russellville Chamber of Commerce and was a longtime member of its board. During his time in leadership he worked to strengthen the organization and support business growth in the community. He also served as Chairman of the Russellville Industrial Development Commission, where he helped recruit Ladish Industries to the area, bringing approximately 200 new jobs to the region.

His stations were also active in civic improvement projects. In Searcy, the courthouse clock had been silent for years. Through fundraising efforts on the air, the station helped raise the money needed to repair it. When it began running again, the moment was celebrated with a station identification many people still remember: “Tick Tock, this is KWCK, the station that fixed the clock.” The stations also helped lead a community effort to place a large American flag in downtown Russellville.

That same spirit of service carried directly into the way Mike operated his radio stations.
In addition to having some of the best newsrooms in small market radio in the country he initiated programs like “Party Line” and “Telephone Trading Post/Dial a Trade” became daily fixtures in Searcy and Russellville. Listeners called in to buy and sell items, announce community events, find lost pets, or simply visit with neighbors. For many people across White County and the Arkansas River Valley, those programs became the town square over the air.

Public safety was also a major focus of his stations. In the early 1970s Mike installed in-house weather radar systems at KARV in Russellville and KWCK in Searcy, something very unusual for local radio at the time. These systems allowed the stations to track storms and provide accurate warnings during severe weather. When tornadoes or strong thunderstorms threatened the area, many families depended on those broadcasts for their first alert.

Mike also worked with Arkansas Nuclear One and AP&L to ensure KARV could provide emergency information if it was ever needed. The station maintained overnight staffing and had the capability to activate special receivers placed in homes throughout the region.

Mike partnered with Tyson Foods to broadcast warnings to poultry growers when temperature and humidity levels became dangerous. Those alerts helped farmers know when to spray water on their chicken houses, protecting thousands of birds and supporting an important part of the local economy.

Mike also believed strongly in supporting local schools. He provided play-by-play coverage for Arkansas Tech University and numerous area high school teams so communities could follow their teams. He also started Dream Team banquets in Russellville and Searcy to recognize outstanding high school athletes.

Throughout his career, Mike Horne approached broadcasting as a form of community service. Whether through civic leadership, public safety efforts, or local programming that brought neighbors together, his work helped strengthen the communities his stations served.

Contributions to our industry

Probably Mike Horne’s greatest contribution to the industry is the number of people who got their start working for him. His stations became places where young broadcasters could learn the business from the ground up. They learned how to cover news, broadcast sports, sell advertising, and operate a station day to day. Many of those people later moved into leadership roles in radio, television, public communications, and government. Mike believed in giving people opportunities and letting them grow into bigger responsibilities. Numerous times KATV GM Dale Nicholson sent young reporters to KARV to train before hiring them to the Channel 7 newsroom.

Some of those who Mike hired and worked under his leadership include:

E.J. (Jim) Alexander (Chief engineer for both KWCK and KARV)
Kermit Womack (Group sales manager then station manager KARV)
Chuck Barrett (Chuck tells story… 1st game ever called was little league baseball on KARV)
Alan Risener (Programming, Sales then station manager)
John Paul Capps (State representative and Senator, station manager)
Dan Nicholson (Programming, Sales then station manager, KARV)
Max Morgan (Sports who went on to TV sports anchor in both Little Rock and Dallas)
Bill Stanton (News director, later become the Comms director for the AR highway dept)
US Rep. Steve Womack (“Best sports director I ever had”)
Tom Kammerling (Programming and Sports KARV, Longtime voice of Arkansas Tech )
Johnny Storey (Programming and news KARV)
Paul Coates (Programming and Sales KARV)
Guy P “Pat” Russellville (Sales, then partner and station manager in out of state Stations)
Jay “J R” Runyon (programming. sales, station manager in Conway)
Ken Simmons (programming and news in Searcy)
Jim Wise ( News Director, Searcy, Russellville)
Pete Cole (Long time sales in Searcy)
Frank Thomas (News, later worked at Channel 7)
Amy Oliver (News, later worked at Channel 7)
Greg Horne (Operator of stations Russellville, Conway, Pine Bluff, Clarksville and Morrilton)

Installing ground-based weather radar at his stations (mentioned earlier) At the time almost no broadcasting stations had that kind of capability. This demonstrated that local radio could use advanced technology while still staying focused on serving its community. It also reinforced the idea that radio stations could play a critical role during emergencies.

Mike served as President of the Arkansas Broadcasters Association and spent many years on its board of directors. He consistently supported professionalism in the industry, encouraged training for young broadcasters, and promoted the importance of strong local service.

Over the years he also demonstrated the kind of entrepreneurial leadership that helped build the industry. He owned and managed stations in several states while maintaining his strongest ties to Arkansas broadcasting. His career showed that local ownership, service, innovation, and community service could go hand in hand.

Mike Horne came from a generation of broadcasters who believed local radio mattered and treated it that way every day. Through his leadership, the stations he operated and the people who worked with him helped strengthen broadcasting across Arkansas.