The 2024 Steak Soiree, dually sponsored by Arbor Oaks Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center and Encore Healthcare & Rehab in Malvern and held annually to benefit the Baptist Heath Foundation, took place Thursday evening at Family Farm. Keynote speaker Craig O’Neill kept attendees laughing throughout his favorite recollections and career highlights from his 55 unforgettable years in broadcasting, with 31 of those years spent in radio and 24 in television. O’Neill is the on-air name used by Randy Hankins, who was born in October 1950 in Little Rock to Earnest and Judy Merritt Hankins.
He graduated high school in 1968 and received a degree in Radio/TV Journalism from ASU at Jonesboro in 1972. Hankins married his wife of 53 years, talented artist Ruth Jane Fryer, in 1971 and began his journey into broadcasting while still in Jonesboro when he was hired on at the local KBTM radio station. “I was 18 years old, my first job in radio was in this little station in Jonesboro,” he said.
Hankins started his second on-air adventure in 1972 at KARN in Little Rock, where Hankins would adopt the on-air moniker of Craig O’Neill O’Neill would go on to work at KLAZ, KKYK and KURB, entertaining radio listeners for decades before transitioning to television. He was already known across the state for his radio antics and then became a nightly household favorite as part of the THV11 team until his retirement in December 2023. “Almost 55 years in broadcasting.
Can you believe I was a news.