Bob Beck
Retired News DirectorBob Beck retired from Wyoming Public Media after serving as News Director of Wyoming Public Radio for 34 years. During his time as News Director WPR has won over 100 national, regional and state news awards.
In addition to duties as News Director, Bob was the co-creator, host and producer of the news magazine Open Spaces, which has won 11 national Public Media Journalist Association awards. Bob has personally won four PMJA awards for reporting and five regional Edward R. Murrow Awards. He has also won numerous Associated Press and Wyoming Association of Broadcasters awards in his career.
Bob was given the WEA School Bell Award for education reporting and was honored by the Governor’s Council on Impaired Driving for his reporting. On the television side, Bob has been part of two Emmy Award-winning PBS telecasts.
In his career, Bob covered the legislature longer than any Wyoming broadcaster. Additional coverage as a reporter includes events such as the Mark Hopkinson execution, the Jessica Dubroff plane crash, the Matthew Shepard murder and a drunk driving crash that killed eight University of Wyoming Athletes.
Professionally, he served on the PMJA Board and has been state coordinator for the Radio Television Digital News Association and Project Vote Smart.
Bob taught broadcast news at the University of Wyoming for 20 years and twice was honored with a Top Prof award by the UW Mortar Board.
Around Laramie, Bob was active in community events. He co-chaired the 2009 Albany County United Way Campaign, served as President of the United Way Board, and has been involved with other non-profit organizations as a board member and volunteer.
Prior to coming to WPR, Bob worked as a News and Sportscaster at stations in Wyoming and Illinois. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Radio-Television from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and is a native of Wheaton, Illinois in suburban Chicago.
Email: btwo@uwyo.edu
Phone: 307-766-6626
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Recently the governor's K-12 education advisory group called Reimaging and Innovating the Delivery of Education (RIDE), provided some responses that some 7-thousand Wyomingites provided about the strengths of Wyoming's education system. John Masters is the chairman of the group and he joined Wyoming Public Radio's Bob Beck to discuss what they heard. -
Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney made it official Thursday, she is seeking reelection. -
A high speed internet provider is setting up shop in a handful of communities across the state. Bluepeak is investing $70 million to provide high speed internet to places like Laramie, Casper, Sheridan, Cheyenne and Rock Springs. -
Wyoming’s economic health continues to slowly improve after the height of the pandemic. -
Wyoming’s economic health continues to slowly improve after the height of the pandemic. -
A Wyoming legislative committee voted to continue working on legislation that would address trespass issues related to the use of drones. -
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Unless you are heavily involved in Wyoming Party Politics, you’ve probably never heard of Republican Party Chairman Frank Eathorne. But within the party system, Eathorne is a polarizing figure. Under Eathorne the party has become more conservative and more combative and those fights involve members of their own party. While there were a minority of Republicans who always behaved that way, they have thrived and have gained power under Eathorne. WyoFile’s Rone Tempest and Tennessee Watson joined the Casper Star Tribune's Victoria Eavis to develop a profile of Eathorne. Eavis speaks with Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck. -
U.S .Senator Cynthia Lummis got an earful from a University of Wyoming commencement audience after making a statement about gender during her speech to graduates. -
Wyoming Public Radio has won three regional Edward R. Murrow awards in the categories of Hard News, Excellence in Sound, and News Documentary.
