After working with our schools as a businessman consultant in the decade of the 1970s, I made the decision in 1980 to begin my own daily radio program. I was inspired by the late Earl Nightingale’s program titled “Our Changing World” that ran on 1,000 stations across the nation. Well, I got my five-day-a-week program titled, “How to Plan Your Life,” up and going, and my first commercially sponsored station was KARN in Little Rock.
At this time there was a young DJ on this station who was making waves by the name of Craig O’Neill. The late Jim Elder told me that Craig was very creative and had a lot of great ideas. I did not know Craig personally at this time, I just knew about him. The story goes that after several years as a highly successful DJ, Craig went down to CBS affiliate, KTHV television in Little Rock, and demanded they put him on the air, and they did. Most of us know a good thing when we see it, right? Over time Craig became a household staple and has developed a great following.
Soon after we started our Conway Bookcase Project and began to have annual banquets, I made the decision to invite Craig to be our featured program. I had the pleasure of being the one to introduce him, and he “hit it out of the park” as probably the best speaker who has come our way. In all my years of speaking and traveling, I have never known anyone who has as much fun doing their job as Craig O’Neill. The thing that inspired me to do this column about him is the many faces he uses on the air and off while having fun. To be sure, Craig speaks with his face.
When he first started out, he was doing sports, but gradually moved to the news desk, largely due to his personal magnetism and charm. While I have no way of knowing this for sure, I think our bookcase project may have inspired him to start a “reading tour,” where he goes to many schools across the state to read to our children. You can just imagine him acting out books like “The Little Engine That Could” and countless others. What made him so good is that he used his facial expressions and the kids loved him.
Over time, Craig and I have become friends, and when we needed a program for our local Kiwanis Club, I invited Craig to come speak to us. He is up in years now, and a couple of years ago it became time for him to retire. He was having so much fun and was so valuable to the station that he put off retirement for a couple of years, and even launched an on-air campaign to say “I’m Staying.” When I thought about his role at the station and all the good he has done and is doing, I came up with an idea to use in his introduction.
Of all the media personalities I have known, and there are several, if you ran a contest to determine who would be the most liked and favorite of all time in regard to all the media personalities in the Little Rock market, who would be the winner? It would be none other than Craig O’Neill.
He has just announced that he will retire on January 1, 2024. We will miss him. Thanks, friend.
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(Jim Davidson is an author, public speaker, syndicated columnist, and Founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. Since its inception in the Log Cabin Democrat in 1995, Jim’s column has been self-syndicated in over 375 newspapers in 35 states. For a personalized copy of “Your Future Begins Today” send $20, which includes postage and handling, to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)