KASU manager to retire at the end of June

KASU 91.9 FM manager and longtime Arkansas State University instructor Mike Doyle is retiring at the end of this academic year. Staff, family, and friends are planning to send him off with an informal retirement reception on May 24.

Doyle has served as KASU station manager since 2008. Listeners may recognize his voice in a variety of original KASU programming, especially on music shows such as Arkansas Roots and Music from the Isles. Doyle worked as an instructor of audio and creative media production for 34 years. He was awarded emeritus faculty status at the Faculty Honors Convocation.

“My radio-television degree prepared me to start a career in broadcasting that later pointed toward a teaching career at my alma mater,” Doyle said. “For the last 10 of those years, I have been very fortunate and blessed to direct the staff of the first radio station where I was ever employed — initially as a part-time student and then one year as a full-time staff member, between 1971 and 1975 — KASU.”

Under Doyle’s leadership at KASU, significant changes have taken place. The number of listeners and members has increased, which has led to record-breaking fundraising goals in the fall and the spring, according to the school.

“In the summer of 2009, we launched a new schedule of daytime news and conversation programs from National Public Radio (NPR) and American Public Media,” Doyle said. “Our audience numbers and financial contributions began to grow because these programs engaged our listeners by providing them valuable context on the day’s news along with diverse views and enriching arts features.”

Music programming is a key part of KASU’s lineup and was not forgotten while Doyle made the programming changes. Arkansas Roots, a popular program Doyle co-hosts with Marty Scarbrough, program director, was begun in 2014.

“We moved our classical and jazz programming to weeknights and early mornings, added programs to our blues, folk and Americana lineup on weekends, and carved a unique niche with Arkansas Roots,” Doyle noted. “That program aims to increase listener knowledge and pride about Arkansas’ amazing musical heritage while showcasing the vibrant music scene that’s flourishing today from the Ozarks to the Delta.”

Doyle will return to the airwaves during special KASU events.