Ben Fry

Ben Fry served as General Manager of UALR Public Radio from 1995 to 2016. He oversaw all aspects of administration and operations at KLRE and KUAR, including financial management, engineering, programming and fundraising. Ben joined the UALR Public Radio staff in 1988 as News & Information Director and served as Program Director for one year prior to becoming GM.

His broadcasting career began in his hometown of Wynne, Ark., where he worked weekends at the local radio station while he was still in high school. In 1980, he came to Little Rock to attend UALR and got a part time job with commercial radio station KARN as an announcer. By 1983, he had been promoted to a full time position, as the station's Creative Director, writing and producing commercials. Ben estimates that he wrote more than 3,000 commercials during his time at KARN, which was one of the many reasons he was glad to begin working in public radio.

Ben received a bachelor's degree in communications from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 1987 and a master's degree in journalism in 1998. 

Ben was an adjunct professor in UALR's School of Mass Communication, teaching classes in motion picture history, criticism and screenwriting, and served as the School's coordinator of film studies. He made presentations about motion pictures at several local events and wrote articles about Arkansas film history for the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. He hosted a movie show on UALR's University Television, Home Fry-ed Movies, screening public domain movies and providing commentary. You can read Ben's thoughts on movies, good and bad, old and new, at his blog: http://homefry-edmovies.blogspot.com/

Ben was married with two children. He died unexpectedly on March 10, 2016, leaving the staff mourning his passing.