Knight, voice of KTLO, celebrates 76th birthday
Bob Knight, known around Baxter County and beyond as the voice of KTLO for more than 40 years, celebrated his 76th birthday July 15. The whole town of Mountain Home was invited to celebrate along with him.
Mountain Home Mayor Hillrey Adams proclaimed July 15 Bob Knight Day in recognition of Knight’s mentorship and community service and his dedication to the town where he grew up.
“It was Mayberry,” he says of the town of his childhood. “Everybody knew everybody — they still do.”
The demographics have changed a bit over the years, he says, with more retirees moving in and more tourists stopping by.
“We still have a great school system in Mountain Home and we have [Arkansas State University]-Mountain Home. It’s just different times,” he says.
In 1960, Knight was part of the Mountain Home High School Bomber football team, the first in its history to go undefeated. After graduation in 1963, he left for broadcasting school at Wichita Business College in Wichita, Kan.
“I went a year and a half and thought I knew it all,” he quips.
He joined the U.S. Navy after college.
“When we were at sea, I was a machinist’s mate,” he says. “We would convert salt water into drinkable water.”
On shore, he was the captain’s driver.
“We were home-based at Long Beach, Calif., and the ship was going to Seattle. We would take the car off the ship in Long Beach and I would drive up the coast,” he says. “That battleship New Jersey, everywhere we went there were big crowds. Everybody wanted to see a battleship. I usually just wanted to get off of it myself.”
He was stationed in Morocco, in northern Africa, where sailors wore civilian clothes to create a sense of normalcy among the residents.
“It’s a wonderful country and I made a lot of good friends over there,” he says.
After 18 months there the ship was bound for Vietnam.
“We were on board the ship and we were in combat, and compared to that Morocco was like a vacation,” he says. “Of the two, I would definitely have picked Morocco as the place to stay.”
Upon his discharge from the Navy, Knight returned to his family in Mountain Home.
“I was piddling around, kind of working with my dad in his tire shop and they had an opening here at KTLO radio, which at that time was just an AM station,” he says. “I applied for it and got it. I have been here ever since.”
He was 23 or 24 when he took the job. When the owner decided to sell the station in 1973, Knight formed a group with two local doctors, and they bought it. In 1994, after the doctors ended their involvement, Knight formed a new partnership, Mountain Lake Broadcasting, with different investors. His partners owned stations in Branson and Harrison, and to that they added a station in West Plains, Mo.
“I think we had about 11 stations in all then, but we’ve gotten rid of them since,” says Knight, who has one partner, Danny Ward. “We bought one in Gainesville, Mo. That was our last purchase, and we’re down to four now. Plus, we have a great website, KTLO. com.”
Knight is still on-air weekday mornings, from 6-9, providing news, weather, sports and entertainment on KTLO-FM, 97.9.
“It’s things for the older audience because Mountain Home is an older market,” he says. “We’ve got the young country and the rock ’n’ roll, we’ve got everything.”
Knight was married to his wife, Sue Hightower Knight, for 47 years when she died in February 2020.
“She was a big mainstay in the station, too,” he says.
They have one daughter, Heather Loftis, who is KTLO’s corporate sales manager.
“She’s doing the bulk of the work now, running the station,” he says.
Knight has two grandchildren, Zane, 7, and Mia, 19.
Knight served on the Arkansas Parks and Tourism Commission for 14 years, initially appointed by Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee and then reappointed by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe.
“It wasn’t an easy path, but they were both good guys,” Knight says.
He is president of the Mountain Home Education Foundation and ranks his involvement with that organization over the past five years at the top of his list of lifetime achievements thus far.
“What we do is, here in Mountain Home, if you can’t afford to go to college, we will pay your way,” Knight says. “It’s rewarding. I think the answer to 95% of our problems in this country is education.”
Knight has been an integral part of the Mountain Home community for 40 years, but he wasn’t expecting the declaration of a day in his honor.
He had been resistant when Loftis told him a city council meeting was coming up and encouraged him to go.
“She said, ‘They’re recognizing a number of businesses around the town, and we want you to represent KTLO,’” he recalls. “It was a total surprise.”
He remains modest, in spite of the recognition.
“You know how you get all this? Longevity,” he jokes.