Bob Ketchum: Visionary, artist and friend
What can you say about Bob Ketchum that already hasn’t been said?
Well, I suppose you could say he’s sort of a renaissance man. From cleaning docks and helping tourists at his parents’ resort to working in radio to being a musician, and from there becoming a producer, a videographer, a historian and even writing, Bob’s done a lot. He’s helped a lot of people around Baxter County, often without fanfare, and the many people who know him are proud to call Bob friend.
Not long ago, the Ramada Inn’s conference room was filled to overflowing with friends, acquaintances, family, well-wishers and more to honor him, roast him ... and help him. You see, Bob’s battling the health scourge of our time — cancer. It hasn’t been an easy battle; it never is.
Yet through it all, he’s maintained a spirit few of us could. Bob has faced it head on, made tough choices and, as he’s done so much in his life, he’s dealing with it his way.
I’ve known Bob for many years, mostly through the newspaper and some social circles. He was essential in my getting our first VCR, and I’ll always be grateful for him encouraging me to go with Beta. (Some of you may have to ask your parents about Beta.) In fact, I think he recorded The Gambler TV movie with Kenny Rogers for me so I could use that as a selling point with Kim for getting a VCR. She was a big Kenny Rogers fan. It worked. (You know, come to think of it, some of you may need to ask your parents about VCR, too.)
Sometimes Bob was my go-to man for stories. He worked at Hubert’s Home Entertainment (with his Cedar Crest Recording studio in the basement) selling VCRs, TVs, stereos, any type of electronic home entertainment equipment. He helped me with a feature about those VCRs and this brand new type of business that was just getting started — video rentals. You could go to a store and rent movies, even buy them, and you could get them in Beta (for a while) and VHS (ask your folks). This was before Blockbuster, and way before Redbox and Netflix with their DVDs. It was when DVD sounded like something you didn’t want to contract.
Bob also was a source for another feature on a consumer high-tech product, the satellite dish. He sold those, too. These weren’t the pizza-sized digital dishes folks have now. No, sir, these were the analog 23-foot diameter, flying saucer-sized, Arkansas mushroom satellite dishes that sprang up in throughout the hills. They could be turned from satellite to satellite, and you even could see live news feeds and show feeds days before they were to air. Bob knew those were going to be a big consumer item, too.
Actually, Bob embraced technology before a lot of folks around here. In his recording studio where he cut albums, and later CDs, with all kinds of musicians and singers he kept up or ahead of the cutting edge with computers. For a while, Bob was the computer guru at The Bulletin, the first one, in fact. He’s the one to thank, or blame, for us getting computerized, which laid the groundwork for digital. And that opened the door for the Internet, which Bob’s embraced, too. He was blogging when blogging wasn’t cool, used digital media to produce an autobiography that you can read and listen to simultaneously and even has his own Internet radio show, The HiTek Redneck.
Bob jumped on the video bandwagon early, and became an in-demand videographer. While at the paper, he made The Bulletin Story video for a Christmas party. It was a comedy, of sorts. He’s made music videos, videotaped parades, school programs, graduations, depositions, the numerous Last Prom events — everything.
As a native son, Bob knows Baxter County history is important for future generations, and for many years he’s worked to preserve it on video. Go to the Donald W. Reynolds Library and check out the Ketchum collection. You’ll find hundreds of hours of video footage documenting life in Baxter County dating back to the 1950s. (I don’t think The Bulletin Story is in the collection.)
Looking back, I think what you can say about Bob Ketchum that may not have been said before is that he’s a visionary. Somehow, he grasped what was coming before anyone else did, and made it practical. Sure, he embraced all these changes to help make a living, but I think Bob gets pleasure and satisfaction more from just using them, creating with them, whether it’s music or movie or book. He gets pleasure from helping others follow their dreams and their own creations. And there probably is a lot more folks can say about him.
I think a good way to sum up Bob Ketchum is to say he’s an artist, a visionary, a wizard, and, it’s been said before, a great human being.
Well, I suppose you could say he’s sort of a renaissance man. From cleaning docks and helping tourists at his parents’ resort to working in radio to being a musician, and from there becoming a producer, a videographer, a historian and even writing, Bob’s done a lot. He’s helped a lot of people around Baxter County, often without fanfare, and the many people who know him are proud to call Bob friend.
Not long ago, the Ramada Inn’s conference room was filled to overflowing with friends, acquaintances, family, well-wishers and more to honor him, roast him ... and help him. You see, Bob’s battling the health scourge of our time — cancer. It hasn’t been an easy battle; it never is.
Yet through it all, he’s maintained a spirit few of us could. Bob has faced it head on, made tough choices and, as he’s done so much in his life, he’s dealing with it his way.
I’ve known Bob for many years, mostly through the newspaper and some social circles. He was essential in my getting our first VCR, and I’ll always be grateful for him encouraging me to go with Beta. (Some of you may have to ask your parents about Beta.) In fact, I think he recorded The Gambler TV movie with Kenny Rogers for me so I could use that as a selling point with Kim for getting a VCR. She was a big Kenny Rogers fan. It worked. (You know, come to think of it, some of you may need to ask your parents about VCR, too.)
Sometimes Bob was my go-to man for stories. He worked at Hubert’s Home Entertainment (with his Cedar Crest Recording studio in the basement) selling VCRs, TVs, stereos, any type of electronic home entertainment equipment. He helped me with a feature about those VCRs and this brand new type of business that was just getting started — video rentals. You could go to a store and rent movies, even buy them, and you could get them in Beta (for a while) and VHS (ask your folks). This was before Blockbuster, and way before Redbox and Netflix with their DVDs. It was when DVD sounded like something you didn’t want to contract.
Bob also was a source for another feature on a consumer high-tech product, the satellite dish. He sold those, too. These weren’t the pizza-sized digital dishes folks have now. No, sir, these were the analog 23-foot diameter, flying saucer-sized, Arkansas mushroom satellite dishes that sprang up in throughout the hills. They could be turned from satellite to satellite, and you even could see live news feeds and show feeds days before they were to air. Bob knew those were going to be a big consumer item, too.
Actually, Bob embraced technology before a lot of folks around here. In his recording studio where he cut albums, and later CDs, with all kinds of musicians and singers he kept up or ahead of the cutting edge with computers. For a while, Bob was the computer guru at The Bulletin, the first one, in fact. He’s the one to thank, or blame, for us getting computerized, which laid the groundwork for digital. And that opened the door for the Internet, which Bob’s embraced, too. He was blogging when blogging wasn’t cool, used digital media to produce an autobiography that you can read and listen to simultaneously and even has his own Internet radio show, The HiTek Redneck.
Bob jumped on the video bandwagon early, and became an in-demand videographer. While at the paper, he made The Bulletin Story video for a Christmas party. It was a comedy, of sorts. He’s made music videos, videotaped parades, school programs, graduations, depositions, the numerous Last Prom events — everything.
As a native son, Bob knows Baxter County history is important for future generations, and for many years he’s worked to preserve it on video. Go to the Donald W. Reynolds Library and check out the Ketchum collection. You’ll find hundreds of hours of video footage documenting life in Baxter County dating back to the 1950s. (I don’t think The Bulletin Story is in the collection.)
Looking back, I think what you can say about Bob Ketchum that may not have been said before is that he’s a visionary. Somehow, he grasped what was coming before anyone else did, and made it practical. Sure, he embraced all these changes to help make a living, but I think Bob gets pleasure and satisfaction more from just using them, creating with them, whether it’s music or movie or book. He gets pleasure from helping others follow their dreams and their own creations. And there probably is a lot more folks can say about him.
I think a good way to sum up Bob Ketchum is to say he’s an artist, a visionary, a wizard, and, it’s been said before, a great human being.
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