For more than half a century, his warm voice greeted listeners with a call to “Rise and Shine.”
On Monday night in Hot Springs, the late Bob Knight, the iconic voice of KTLO, was posthumously inducted into the Arkansas Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame, with his grandson Zane Loftis accepting the honor on his behalf.
Knight, who passed away in 2021, spent more than 50 years on the air at KTLO, where he and his wife, Sue, built a local powerhouse for news, sports and entertainment. He served as ABA president, chaired the association’s political action committee for 23 years, and received the prestigious Silver Mic Award in 1999.
To the community, Knight was more than a broadcaster, he was a steady presence through storms, national crises and countless local sporting events. He championed civic causes, serving as president of the Mountain Home Education Foundation Board of Directors, the Mountain Home Lions Club, the Baxter County Razorback, the Mountain Home Industrial Park Board and the Mountain Home Planning Commission and served as a board member of the Mountain Home Area Chamber of Commerce, the Baxter Health Foundation (formerly the Baxter Regional Hospital Foundation) and the Arkansas State University-Mountain Home Advisory Board and served on the Arkansas Parks and Recreation and Travel Commission for 14 years. In 2021, the City of Mountain Home declared July 15 “Bob Knight Day.”
A Navy veteran who served aboard the USS New Jersey, Knight joined KTLO-AM at age 23. Over the decades, he became synonymous with community spirit a calm, trusted voice for generations of listeners.
Knight was inducted alongside fellow 2025 honorees Jay Bunyard, Ed Buckner, Sid King and Tim Nichols, a permanent reminder that Bob’s voice may be gone from the airwaves, but never from the hearts of the community he served.
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