Bob Beck
News DirectorBob Beck has been News Director of Wyoming Public Radio since 1988. 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 is the co-creator, co-host and producer of the news magazine Open Spaces, which has won nine national Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI) awards. Bob has personally won four PRNDI awards for reporting and four 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 has 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 has served on the PRNDI 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 is 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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A new University of Wyoming poll shows that Republican U.S. House candidate Harriet Hageman leads Congresswoman Liz Cheney by nearly 30 points as primary election day looms. -
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You've probably heard a number of political candidates complain about the Federal COVID-19 spending. But it turns out that many of those candidates and party officials accepted over $3.5 million in federal relief subsidies. WyoFile reporter Maggie Mullen authored a story looking into the matter.
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State Senator Tara Nethercott is one of the candidates trying to succeed Ed Buchanan as Wyoming’s Secretary of State. Nethercott is an attorney from Cheyenne and is the Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Wyoming Public Radio’s Bob Beck begins the conversation by discussing Limited Liability companies in the state that some say are a tax haven for bad actors. Nethercott has looked into the issue and isn’t concerned.
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Liz Cheney won her House seat big in 2020. But splitting with Trump over election legitimacy and chairing the Jan. 6 hearings has her trailing a pro-Trump challenger by 20 points in a recent poll.
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Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney has an uphill climb in her attempt to get re-elected. Her vote to impeach Donald Trump turned many Wyoming Republicans against her. The most recent polling has her 20 points behind top challenger Harriet Hageman who has Trump's endorsement. Cheney has received a lot of national attention recently with her work on the commission investigating what happened on January 6th, 2021, and Trump's role in trying to overturn the election. For several weeks the hearings were largely ignored in Wyoming. Wyoming Public Radio's Bob Beck asked her if that's changed.
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A former chief policy officer for former State Superintendent Jillian Balow is hoping to win the Republican nomination for the job. Casper native Megan Degenfelder has also worked in the energy sector. She says her goal is to connect the education community with all stakeholders, from parents to business leaders. She talked to Wyoming Public Radio's Bob Beck.
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A longtime Wyoming political observer says making up 20 points with less than a month before the state’s primary election is a very high bar for Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
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Six plaintiffs are suing to try to keep Wyoming’s trigger abortion law from being enforced.
