Bob Beck, Longtime Voice Of Wyoming Public Radio, To Get Honorary Doctorate From UW

Bob Beck was as surprised as anyone when he received a call from the University of Wyoming telling him he had been selected to receive the school’s highest honor—a doctoral degree. “I am not speechless often,” the longtime Wyoming Public Radio news director told Cowboy State Daily. “And when the president called and told me that I was getting this, and he was kind enough to read some of the nomination letters, it was just a shock. I view it as a tremendous honor.”

Beck, who led Wyoming Public Radio’s media news team for 34 years, retired in 2022 and moved to Syracuse, New York. He returns Saturday to receive a Doctor of Letters “for the advancement of knowledge in the humanities, including history, philosophy, language, literature, religion, and critical and cultural studies,” according to the university.

Although a native of Illinois, Beck’s radio career in Wyoming began in Sheridan at KROE in 1983. He later worked at stations in Laramie before being approached to take the job of news director at Wyoming Public Radio. Concerned he lacked the required master’s degree, Beck recalled being told, “I don’t know if they’d hold you to it or not.” They didn’t. “They just figured I had enough experience,” he said.

When Beck started in 1988, he had no regular staff—just three graduate students and an undergrad hosting “Morning Edition.” The station’s coverage area was limited to southeast Wyoming with translators in Casper, Rawlins, and possibly Torrington. Adding Rock Springs and then Jackson was a game-changer. “We definitely doubled our money, if not tripled it, in the first year,” he said.

From 1988 to 2022, Wyoming Public Radio (later Wyoming Public Media) won more than 100 national, regional, and state news awards. Beck’s news magazine “Open Spaces” won 11 national Public Media Journalist Association awards, and Beck won four PMJA awards for reporting along with five regional Edward R. Murrow Awards.

Two major stories defined his tenure. The murder of Matthew Shepard in October 1998 made Wyoming Public Radio the go-to agency for NPR’s coverage. “NPR realized we were really pretty good, and they could take stories from us,” Beck said. On Sept. 16, 2001, eight members of the University of Wyoming cross-country team were killed in a collision on Highway 287. Beck knew the coach well. “The morning of the day they were killed, I actually followed their van to the mountains,” he said.

More than the stories, Beck said he is proud of mentoring students who have gone on to successful careers in Wyoming. “Very few of them went into reporting because they were too smart for that,” he joked. “But I was back a couple of years ago for a Governor’s Business Alliance meeting, and I just happened to notice that the last 25 years of my teaching was represented there.”

UW spokesperson Chad Baldwin said honorees embody the university’s high ideals of excellence, service, and integrity. “In Bob’s case, we’re talking about somebody who was 34 years in a role where he was a major media figure across Wyoming. His signal carries across 90% of Wyoming now, and his was just a well-known voice.”

Beck said he is humbled by the support of those who nominated him. “It’s something that I wasn’t really sure I deserved, but nobody has started a protest or planned marches, as far as I know,” he said, laughing. He will receive the honorary doctorate alongside Wyoming businessman and philanthropist Jay Kemmerer.