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 PBS reporter and radio personality 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 at the University of Wyoming for 34 years, retired in 2022 to move to Syracuse, New York.
But he’ll be back on 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.
He Took the Job To Stay In Wyoming
Although a native of Illinois, Beck’s radio career in Wyoming began in Sheridan at KROE in 1983.
From there, he moved on to KOWB and KCGY in Laramie, but found himself looking for new opportunities — including some outside of the Cowboy State — after just a few years.
“I was married to a Wyomingite, and convincing them to leave sometimes is difficult, so it needed to be a job here,” said Beck.
So when Beck was approached to take the job of news director at Wyoming Public Radio, he was intrigued. Because the position was associated with the University of Wyoming, he was concerned that he didn’t have the qualifications.
“I said, ‘Don't you have to have a master's degree to work there?’ And he said, ‘That is a requirement, but I don't know if they'd hold you to it or not,’” Beck recalled. “Then actually, they didn't require it. They just figured I had enough experience and I could do that job.”
Growing An Award-Winning Program
When Beck started at Wyoming Public Radio in 1988, he had no regular staff, just three graduate students and an undergrad hosting the station’s “Morning Edition” program.
“I got there and they said, ‘Here's the job, you'd be the person in charge of the news, and you'll have these helpers,'” said Beck. “And they were all part time, of course, on different days because of their class schedules. Oh, ‘And then we’d love for you to also teach a class.’”
From those chaotic few months, Beck soon found his footing, and in the first year of his tenure at Wyoming Public Radio, the station’s coverage grew dramatically.
“We didn't have the whole state in those days,” said Beck. “We had southeast Wyoming, I think we had a translator in Casper, Rawlins, and there may have been one in Torrington.
“And that was pretty much the case until we added Rock Springs and then Jackson, and Jackson was the game-changer. We definitely doubled our money, if not tripled it, in the first year.”
A larger audience brought more exposure, and Beck and his staff began racking up awards.
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 (PMJA) awards, and Beck himself won four PMJA awards for reporting, along with five regional Edward R. Murrow Awards.
Now four years after leaving the University of Wyoming, Beck can add one more honor to his long list.
“It was just not something that I would have ever thought I would get,” said Beck. “And it means everything.”
Making A Difference
Ten years after Beck took over the news director position at Wyoming Public Radio, a tragedy put his department at the epicenter of a national news story.
The murder of Matthew Shepard in October 1998 made Wyoming Public Radio the go-to agency for the National Public Radio service’s coverage of the events.
“NPR realized we were really pretty good, and they could take stories from us,” said Beck. “And they started to take quite a few stories from us after that.”
Another major story less than three years later would take over the newsroom — and the community — as well as affect Beck personally.
On Sept. 16, 2001, eight members of the University’s cross-country team were killed in a collision on Highway 287 south of Laramie.
“I actually knew the coach very well, Jim Sanchez,” Beck said. “The morning of the day they were killed, I was at a bagel shop in Laramie going up to the mountains. I actually followed their van to the mountains that morning. They had done a workout up there.”
More than the stories, though, Beck said he’s proud of the students he was able to mentor who have gone on to successful careers in the Cowboy State.
“I just think about all the ways that the job changed for me over the years, and what turned out to be really outstanding students that went on to be (successful),” said Beck.
“Very few of them went into reporting because they were too smart for that, but I was back there a couple of years ago for the Governor's Business Alliance meeting to host a panel, and I just happened to notice that the last 25 years of my teaching was represented there, because they've all become players in the state,” he added.
Deserving Of the Honor
UW alumni, current and former UW trustees and faculty are eligible to nominate people for honorary degrees.
UW Spokesperson Chad Baldwin explained that honorees embody the university’s high ideals, exemplify the values of excellence, service and integrity, and possess distinguished accomplishments in their professions, public service or service to humanity.
“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,” said Baldwin. Wyoming Public Radio’s "signal carries across 90% of Wyoming now, and so his was just a well known voice, and someone who contributed to life in Wyoming for a long, long time.”
Baldwin said nominations for the honorary doctorate awards are considered by a joint committee of trustees and faculty members, which then forward the recommendations to the full board of trustees.
“So ultimately, this is an honor that's bestowed by the University of Wyoming Board of Trustees,” he said.
The Other Side Of the Spotlight
Beck’s career has repeatedly put him in the interviewer’s chair, shining the spotlight on others who have been honored in the same manner that he will be on Saturday.
“I interviewed (sportswriter) Tracy Ringolsby when he got it,” said Beck. “I remember when Al Simpson got it. I tried to interview Jerry Buss (former owner of the Los Angeles Lakers) when he got it — he's from Worland.
“I'm a big sports fan, so when that opportunity came up to try and interview him, I called his office, and they said, ‘I don't think Dr. Buss is going to be able to make it, but we'll ask him if he wants to do an interview with you, and then have him call you.’ I never heard back from him.”
This Saturday, though, it will be Beck in the spotlight as he, along with Wyoming businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist Jay Kemmerer, walk across the stage to receive their honorary doctorates from the University of Wyoming.
Beck said he is humbled by the support shown by those who nominated him for the honor.
“The people who nominated me were from different eras, and so it was just really a nice group,” he said. “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.”
Wendy Corr can be reached at wendy@cowboystatedaily.com.
