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

James (Jim) Pitcock, a legendary figure in Arkansas television news, began his career in broadcasting at KFSA-TV in Fort Smith in 1957.

While at KFSA-TV, he worked his way up from intern to studio cameraman.

Pitcock moved to Little Rock in 1963 to work for KAAY Radio, eventually getting his big break at KATV in 1964.
During the Vietnam War, Pitcock was the only broadcast journalist from Arkansas to go to Vietnam and record the stories of Arkansan soldiers.

After serving at KATV in various roles, he was eventually named news director. As news director, Pitcock grew the news staff from three employees to 55.

Pitcock is fondly remembered as a dedicated leader in the newsroom, always pushing himself and others in their shared mission to deliver the best quality news coverage possible for KATV’s viewers. Pitcock died last year at the age of 83.

Contributions to their community during their time as an Arkansas Broadcaster

What may have been Pitcock’s greatest contribution to the state was his recognition of the value of preserving Arkansas’ history through KATV’s news reels. He painstakingly and personally ensured that news footage was archived and catalogued, labelling everything down to the individual shots.

Thanks to Pitcock’s determination to safeguard Arkansas history, KATV was able to eventually donate the priceless archives to the Pryor Center for preservation and digitization. The Pryor Center has made the extensive collection—Pitcock’s legacy—available to all on its website at http://pryorcenter.uark.edu.

Contributions to our industry

Pitcock is fondly remembered as a dedicated leader in the newsroom, always pushing himself and others in their shared mission to deliver the best quality news coverage possible for KATV’s viewers.

“Well I think if you talk to people of my era, we’re going to talk about Pitcock, because he mentored many of us and he gave us chances and opportunities. He was kind of our Edward R. Murrow. He could be tough, but he invested in us,” said former KATV Reporter Larry Foley.

There’s so many great things about Jim. He was hard to work for, because he wanted you to always do your best. He knew how far to push you when he was critiquing you and helping you get better,” said Tim Hamilton, former chief photographer at KATV.

I think Jim Pitcock was a visionary and way ahead of his time. [He] knew what people were interested in, he knew what we should cover…things that most news departments may not think that you need to be on top of, he would be on top of those kinds of stories. New construction, he would have us go out and shoot a building that was coming up where we could time-lapse it and show the growth of the city,” said former KATV News Director Bob Steel.

Probably the best news director I ever worked for, definitely one of the smartest. He created a lot of the systems that [the Main Street] station still uses. Nobody was a better political planner, nobody was a better journalist,” former KATV Reporter Philip Bruce said of Pitcock.