Don Elkins, Jr.
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Don Elkins is a journalist, blogger and broadcaster in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He works as the host of Cumulus Radio's Newstalk 1030 KFAY-AM, hosting "The Morning Report," "Arkansas Tonight," and "Northwest Perspectives." He also works as a media consultant to the Fayetteville School District, hosting the district's monthly "In Focus" program on cable television. Until June 2006, he was the Main Anchor and Managing Editor at NBC-TV affiliate KNWA-TV, where he was the first anchor on the newsdesk when the station resumed news operations in the year 2000. For four years, ending in the spring of 2006, he also wrote a weekly newspaper column entitled "In Focus" for the Northwest Arkansas Times, a paper now owned by the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, the state's largest daily paper. He continues to write about politics and media for Citiscapes Metro Monthly Magazine, and has done so nearly since the magazine's inception at the start of the decade. His work in the media brought him to the attention of the Arkansas Democratic Party, which sought him as a candidate in the 2006 3rd District congressional race, however, he declined to run at the time.
Elkins came to Arkansas from Chicago, Illinois, where he also worked as a broadcaster. He worked as the host of the "Noon Business Hour" on WMAQ-AM in 1999-2000 before the station changed formats and became a sports-talk frequency. Before that, he worked as a television anchor and reporter at the Chicago Tribune's CLTV News and for WGN-AM. He also did a short stint as the Art Director for Chicago's "Screen Magazine" after arriving in the city in the mid-1990s. Elkins also worked in media in Salt Lake City, Utah, and while serving in the United States Navy during the 1980s.
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[edit] Other Activities
A long-time fan of film, Elkins has done small parts in several films, including a speaking part in an independent film entitled "Mr. Christmas" by an Arkansas filmaker in 2005. He has also done several productions which remain unreleased, and has appeared in a short list of larger films.
[edit] Political Commentary
Elkins started his blog "Arkansas Tonight" in 2003 as part of his radio talk program of the same name. The show, which continues to air on the web and on terrestrial radio, focuses on both national and local politics with a decidedly centrist-liberal bent, something unusual for the overwhelmingly conservative Northwest Arkansas region. The program regularly features his political commentary, along with guests including state and national lawmakers and other political bloggers from the region. In connection with the program, he has also appeared as a political analyst on local television stations during election cycles, and has appeared on Arkansas Educational Television's "Arkansas Week." Elkins has written about, and maintained his lack of affiliation with any political party. The blog itself, and his newspaper commentary, gained him notoriety during his time in local television. He also maintains a blog, entitled "Up North" on the Arkansas Times website. Because of his reputation for political commentary, he is frequently a moderator of political debates at both the local and state levels during campaign season, in 2006 moderating the first Lt. Governor's debate between State Senator Jim Holt and North Little Rock Businessman Bill Halter.
[edit] Early Years
Elkins grew up in a military household, with his father serving in the United State Marine Corps during the Vietnam conflict. The family moved around the country until 1976, when his father enrolled at Brigham Young University eventually earning a law degree. Elkins briefly attended Brigham Young, but dropped out and enlisted in the United States Navy in the mid-1980s. During his tour of service, he graduated from the Defense Language Institute on California's Monterey Peninsula. He later transferred to Texas for further training as a Russian linguist and military analyst, but eventually ended up with orders to the USS Forrestal, CV-59 where he served until his honorable discharge in early 1989. While aboard Forrestal, Elkins began work as a broadcaster for Armed Forces Radio and Television, working at the command's closed-circuit television network. After leaving the service, Elkins returned to his home in Utah to get his education and also married his wife, Maci. Both worked at a college newspaper (Elkins worked at several independent newspapers as both a writer and graphic designer) before he returned to broadcasting. The couple had three children. Although he spent most of his formative years in Utah, he is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but belongs to the Unitarian Universalist creed.
