Central to NWA: A UCA Podcast

Ep. 1 – Bentonville’s Heartbeat: From News to Community

• University of Central Arkansas • Season 1 • Episode 2

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What turns a busy downtown into a true community? We sit down with Aaron Nolan, UCA alum, veteran broadcaster, and now communications director at Downtown Bentonville Inc., to unpack the playbook behind block parties, farmers markets, and a holiday season that lights up the square for thousands. From the outside, it looks effortless. Behind the scenes, it’s a masterclass in planning, partnerships, and storytelling.

Aaron takes us from a UCA bulletin board that launched his anchor career to the grind of early jobs, the leap to a national network, and the long runway required to cover the Olympics in Rio and Korea. He shares how in-depth research transforms interviews into genuine relationships, why a gold medal moment still gives him chills, and what curling has taught him about humility and preparation. Those lessons now inform how DBI programs free, family-friendly experiences that feel organic rather than manufactured, and why their Emmy-nominated show, Downtown Now, keeps the spotlight on the people behind the scenes.

We also acknowledge the challenges of growth. Parking perceptions, real traffic challenges, and constant construction are part of a fast-growing region. Aaron explains how DBI coordinates with City Hall, Visit Bentonville, and the chamber, and why the new A Street Promenade could become a regional destination if it’s programmed thoughtfully from day one. Alongside that, we talk about UCA’s expanding footprint in Northwest Arkansas, alumni engagement, talent pipelines, and telling the stories that connect Conway to Bentonville’s square.

If you care about placemaking, local events, and the mechanics of civic storytelling, this conversation delivers practical insight and a few great laughs. Subscribe, share with a friend who loves downtowns, and leave a review to tell us what you want to hear next.

Welcome And Guest Setup

SPEAKER_00

This is Central to NWA, a UCA podcast. I'm your host, Paul Gatling, and we are bringing the University of Central Arkansas to Northwest Arkansas. Each episode, we will talk with leaders, alumni, and innovators driving this region forward. People who are shaping industries and defining what is next for our state. Let's get started. Welcome to Central to NWA a UCA podcast, where we will highlight the stories, the voices, and the impact of UCA alumni and others who are shaping one of the fastest growing regions in the country. I'm Paul Gatling, and I'm the University of Central Arkansas's first senior director of Northwest Arkansas Engagement. And for this debut episode, we're going into the heart of Bentonville with someone who has been telling Arkansas stories for two decades, from the anchor desk to the downtown square. He's the University of Central Arkansas graduate who has made a name for himself in broadcasting, from covering national news to working on Olympic assignments seen around the world. And these days, he's the communications director for downtown Bentonville, Inc., where he helps publicize all things related to the downtown area. He's also the co-host of the weekly television program Downtown

Holidays, Events, And Crowd Energy

SPEAKER_00

Now, Aaron Nolan, UCA class of 2004. How are you? Paul, good to be here.

SPEAKER_02

Excited to be a part of this, really proud of the time I spent at UCA and the impact that it made. Man, you read 20 years. I'm like, really? 20 years? Doesn't get any better.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. It only gets longer better. It's only going to get longer.

SPEAKER_02

Wow. But, anyways, really happy to be here, Paul.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and I really appreciate your time as we discuss coming in. I know you have nothing else going on that you're planning for in downtown Bentonville over the holiday season coming up.

SPEAKER_02

Nothing going on. There's there's there's not a lighting of the square with 30 miles of lights and two 20,000 people. There's not a Christmas parade coming. Nothing at all, Paul. Nothing that I would not put on the shelf for you.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Lighting of the square, does that does that give you anxiety just by saying that? Or it how does that compare with like breaking news on live television, Brent? Completely different, right?

SPEAKER_02

So uh breaking news, I I felt like I was able to compartmentalize quite a bit. Um, whether it's it's a fire or or you know, unfortunately, some some other nefarious things that go on, you kind of go into a different mode. I'm still teaching myself how to be involved in these massive community events.

SPEAKER_00

And yeah, I was gonna say the mode you're in is crowd control. That's the mode, that's it. That's it, biting of the square and the parade and all of those fun things you get to do.

SPEAKER_02

So yeah, so from a community engagement standpoint for what we do at downtown Bentonville, it the holidays are intense. We'll use intense. We won't use stressful, they're intense. Yeah, they're fun. They are a blast. I wouldn't want to be anywhere else. Uh you know, Mayberry ain't got nothing on Bentonville, Arkansas.

SPEAKER_00

That's right. Where else would you rather be? All right, so you've worn a lot of hats we've discussed. Journalist, broadcaster, now uh storyteller, communications

What DBI Does And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_00

director. How do you describe the through line um for all of those things? And maybe just start by what do you do these days at we'll call it DBI, which I know is what you guys refer to it as downtown Bentonville. Tell us about your job with DBI.

SPEAKER_02

So, right now, uh made the shift, uh, I guess about three years ago from journalism on the national scale with News Nation. Uh, my wife and I were fortunate enough to help start that network. Um, and we came back home to Arkansas. We landed in Bentonville and was on the board of downtown Bentonville, Inc. And through a transition, was asked to join the team there. Couldn't be more happy to be a part of that. My kids wanted to be in downtown Bentonville, and I saw this is exactly what the next phase of my career needed to be. Uh, and so at DBI, we put on huge block parties for people. We our mission statement is to convert uh to cultivate community in downtown Bentonville. Uh we do it through farmers markets that is about to set a record for all-time sales, meaning we are not only bringing people produce and farm fresh goods, those farmers are also able to make a living. Uh, we're very proud of that signature event that we do. First Fridays, you mentioned seven events, 12 to 15,000 people are down on the Byttonville Square each month from April through October. And then we've got those holiday events as well. So we're really focusing on finding ways to create this organic lifestyle of community block parties, of being together as a people. Um, we really do have a lot of different uh uh ways of life in Bittenville, and we want to bring all those people together. So at the root of it all, that's what we do. Now we also have a storytelling element through now a two-time Emmy nominated program downtown now. Uh, we're excited to be able to tell those stories because behind every good event, there are there are stories to be told. There are people who are excelling and finding new ways to do different things that impact us on a daily level that maybe we never knew about.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Daily level. What is a day in the life? What is a typical morning at downtown Bentonville? With all that you just said, that's 12 months a year planning of for of some kind of what's a typical day like that. That's it.

SPEAKER_02

It's planning. It's it's it's the emails that are unexpected, having to pivot on a dime to make sure and to protect the masses that come to downtown Bentonville that they don't see that, right? We want to make sure they're they're having a

Inside City Partnerships And Roles

SPEAKER_02

joyous, uh, happy, free family entertainment at all times. So daily, we're going through those processes to make sure they don't see that, that they're only experiencing the highs. We're communicating with city leaders uh today uh in our office. We had a city leader talking about this brand new A Street promenade that's gonna open up on November the 15th. These are big moves in downtown Bentonville. And so we are intrical, the team there at downtown Bentonville, they are integral in making sure all of those things happen. I'm just there kind of steering the communication. How are we saying things and where we're saying them with our executive director? And um it's it's it's always something new. Uh I would say in journalism, you kind of get into the same old, same old. Every story may be told differently, every story may be different, but in event management, in in being a part of building something from the ground up, and in and whether it's an event or whether it's a story, uh, this is very mentally stimulating day-to-day at DBI.

SPEAKER_00

You mentioned visiting with a city leader. Yeah. How would you describe the partnership between um you know event planning, city hall, visit Bentonville, the Chamber of Commerce? Where is D DBI's place in that? And just kind of what is the structure of who does what, I guess?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I think that's a very valid question, Paul, and something that took a lot of time for me to figure out. I I would say right now, DBI compared to journalism first. Journalism was kind of on the outside looking in when it came to the city of things, right? What the news of the day is. We had mayors and city council members who may not be as open. And you understand this, Paul, from your days in journalism. But when you switch sides and you go to something that is that is really ground floor building community in our town, you're on the inside track. You're on the inside. So you get to go, you get called to the mayor's office, and you know, all those TV shows, well, I've I've been called to the oval. I've got to go to the oval. That happens now at DBI, and it's a fun thing, it's a good thing. Um, but as far as separation of DBI, the city, um, Visit Bittenville and the Chamber, they all have their different ways. Um, the easy way to say it is city is the government. It is the part that is running the city on a day-to-day basis. Visit Bentonville is an outward focusing group that's really focused on tourism bringing them here. The chamber is focused on business. DBI is really focused on inward growth and really accelerating the community in downtown to bring people from all walks of life, from everywhere around Northwest Arkansas to Bentonville. We really want to focus inwardly. And then we go to that storytelling element, and that's where we want to accentuate what's happening here. Not what's happening on the outside that's broad here, but what's happening, what's the true heartbeat of what Bentonville is? And for us at DBI, I think DBI really is that heartbeat of Bentonville, of downtown, really downtown Bentonville, and the heartbeat of keeping things going and making sure that we're finding those ways of life that we can accentuate and continuing to throw parties. Can't can't not say that about DBI.

SPEAKER_00

We love to throw parties.

Stage Presence vs Breaking News Pressure

SPEAKER_00

Right. What's what's more nerve-wracking for you, uh, going back to that question we asked a minute ago, is it is it broadcasting live on air, or is you mentioned that first Friday on the stage in front of 12 to 15,000 people? I mean, that's um that's a pretty big deal in in a city the size of Bentonville.

SPEAKER_02

For me personally, I it's it's one of my favorite things in the world to be on stage in front of people. Yep. Not a lot of people know that. I think uh you're you're not as much of an old journalist as I am. The real old journalists are introverts. They really are absolutely extroverted introvert. That's right. Right. Yeah. Uh and so I can play that role on stage really nicely. Uh I came up with this a long time ago, Paul. I guess probably right after I left UCA. I'm not an idiot, but I'll play one on TV. And I enjoy that part of it, and I get to do that. Um, the stress of going back to breaking news, the stress, the stress of trying to get every fact correct for me. Uh, this is more fun on this side. And so I would say being on on stage at First Friday or lighting in the square that's coming up here in a couple of weeks is so gratifying for me. It's a blast.

SPEAKER_00

Also, let's talk about UCA.

Choosing UCA And Finding TV

SPEAKER_00

All right, let's face it a couple of times. And um, you know, you're from you're from Arkansas, Central Arkansas. Take take me through the uh the the circumstances that led you to choosing UCA as as your college and just and what did you study? What did you go there intending to do? What was that like?

SPEAKER_02

So I've thought a lot about my story when it came to to college because I knew we were going to talk about this. Um I grew up in a conservative household, and so all the college visits that I took were Christian schools. Um I realized early on that in my situation, I needed to stay closer to home because I needed to work. I needed to continue to pay for the car that I got a graduation. And so real world stuff. That was it, thrown in, 18, 19 years old. Uh and so I chose to live at home in Maumel, Arkansas, just outside of Faulkner County in Conway. And I would commute about a hundred miles round trip every single day from what I took 15 hours the first semester, 15 hours of school, drive somewhere to go work, and then drive back home. And that triangle happened all the time. So I would say I needed UCA. It was a necessity for me. I needed that opportunity to be able to travel and do those things. And it ended up being such a blessing. I do remember, Paul, I think I've told you the story. I remember the first day of school vividly. The first day I had ever walked on the campus, um, I was trying to figure out where biology was. And you watch those Netflix shows, and the first time students walk on, and and the guy with glasses, I'm old now, so I'm wearing glasses. The guy with glasses is looking and he can't find it, so he brings out this map. Right. I was the kid at 18 years old, I think I was 17 at the time, with the map open trying to find the biology lab. I walked in so late on the first day. I still remember walking into that lab going, what have I gotten myself into? Right. Only up from there, though, right? Only up from there. Uh, right before we met today, I went and had Chick-fil-A. I think the first time I ever ate Chick-fil-A was in the UCA um student center. I I I do think that may be the case. I remember having pizzas at the Pizza Hut there and Chick-fil-A all the time. So you lived at home for all four years, or did you ever transition to EFS? I I uh, boys and girls watching at home, I would not recommend this. I followed a girl to another school, uh, lost two years for one semester that I transitioned. So I did leave for uh a semester. Um that relationship didn't work out. Lesson learned. It was a lesson learned, and came back. Um, but I was there for I graduated there. That's what we'll say. I graduated. Uh it was not four years, but I did graduate. Um, and I remember, Paul, the moment when journalism became a thing for me.

Anchoring At Channel 6 And Early Hustle

SPEAKER_02

And uh it was at the University of Central Arkansas. Okay. I was a theater major. I thought I had acting in my blood. I thought that I was gonna go and George Clooney had nothing on me. And there was, I don't know if it's still there, um, but there was a a board and whether it was sororities, fraternities, clubs, they would just hang things up, and it just said channel six, be a news anchor. And I think they were still, you know, remember this where they were split off and you'd have to tear the little thing off because that was your own appointment. Yeah. I think I had to tear it off, and I said, huh. Let's go try it. Sounds neat. News anchor. So channel six, the new building, had not been built. Uh it was built, I think, I think it was opened later that semester. I remember going to a basement there and reading off a teleprompter for the very first time. I'd never done it before. And I landed the news anchor job at Channel Six. That changed the course of my life based on what I was walking around with at your campus.

SPEAKER_00

Goodbye, George Clooney. Hello.

SPEAKER_02

That was it. Walter Clooney. Exactly. Yeah, Dan Reddit. Never never got there. But you know, you mentioned the Olympics. Um those things would have never happened. Um got a couple Emmy Awards, those things would have never happened. Going to Korea, going to Brazil, going to Chicago to start a news network to try to rival CNN and Fox, those things would have never happened outside of that moment where I said, I'll try something different. So got the news anchor job, uh, changed my major to communications, still have a minor in theater. We're in a couple plays. If you go to the theater there, you'll see my name on a couple of things there. Um and and really kind of dug in to that journalism world. And it was because of of that moment that was on campus.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Was it all just the the on-camera TV desk experience, or was the classroom experience? Was there a teacher that was particularly um impactful to you during that stage? Or just tell me how you progressed onto graduation and what your your education track was like.

SPEAKER_02

So it was a there was a lot of different things covered under the communications platform. Uh I wrote a, I think I wrote a movie script or something for uh we all they were all first names, so I don't remember last names. Jack was his name. Um these were moments where you realized that writing in journalism, in communications, carries weight. Um Mark, I can't remember his last name, great professor. Uh we've we haven't touched base in a while, but but I still we would reach out every once in a while. Um he saw something in me that I probably didn't see in myself. Um we would rent equipment and we would go tell stories. We were talking about the story I did on the late Lou Harden. Right. Um I remember being in his in his uh the president's house there. Um and those all came from those moments with Mark, who didn't see or who saw something in me that I didn't see myself. So absolutely, there were those moments. Then it was just the community around, right? It was it was the people, it was the other students that were constantly pushing you. And some relationships I still have today, some couldn't tell you who they were. But they were all grounded in those moments of being in that new facility because it was brand new. That year that I was named the anchor, it was that was the first year. We were the first News Six channel station newscast in the new facility there that now I think shares with AETN.

SPEAKER_01

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Is that right? Um and and I remember sitting in there, the first newscast, you'll love this. We didn't, we weren't live yet. We would sit there and we recorded for a 30-minute newscast. It probably took eight hours. We would sit there and whether it was me saying the wrong word or my co-inker saying something wrong, or the sports guy saying, or it was behind the camera, the teleprompter, all of these different things. It took forever to get a 30-minute newscast down.

SPEAKER_00

Did your sports caster say boom goes to dynamite?

SPEAKER_02

He did not. I I remember seeing that. So I saw that for the first time in my first job in journalism. Right at scared you to death. Right out of college. I may have worked that into a few sports casts because I I went into sports first. Yeah. Um, but I saw it for the first time like months after I graduated from UCA.

SPEAKER_00

So months after you graduated, what what was your first big break? What was the first door that opened? How did you pursue your first job in uh broadcasting?

SPEAKER_02

So I had um, I would not

First Jobs, $17K Fax, And Breakthroughs

SPEAKER_02

recommend this. Well, actually, we're at a different point in life now with Chat GPT and all. I went to Chicago and had a resume tape made. Um basically I became just a performer on I would just read what's there. So I sent those off. I sent it to Bangor, Maine. I'll never forget. I was like, where the heck is Bangor Maine? So sent it, never heard anything. Sent one to Grand Junction, Colorado. Uh they said, Hey, we want you. I said, Cool. All right, what does this look like? 20 some odd hours away. Uh, it's not a lot of snow. I don't know if you know this. There's not a lot of snow on the western plains of Colorado. I did not know that. It's more of a desert over there. Okay. But I took the job, they sent me a piece of paper, they faxed it over to me, Paul. Uh it said $17,000 with car. And I went, okay, I can make I can make that work. 2004. The problem was it was $17,000 a year. The fax machine kind of left some ink out. I went ahead and took it. Uh my family drove me out there. It ended up being a great experience. But that whole walking to school uphill both ways, you realize that when you're 20 hours away from home. And I spent about 10 months there and I packed up my old Ultima and everything that I possibly could. Um gave or sold everything else that I had, drove myself back across Colorado through Oklahoma and Kansas and back down to Little Rock, Arkansas.

SPEAKER_00

Without a job.

SPEAKER_02

Without a job. Quit the job. Uh went and worked for my parents, small business. Okay. And uh oddly enough, my parents built swimming pools in Little Rock. I get a call from a news station, and I'm like, I'm I'm but there by myself. And I answer it, and he goes, Yeah, I want a pool. Okay, cool. I can hook you up with my dad, all this stuff. I said, What do you do at K ARK? I'm the new general manager. So, about that, I just quit a job a couple months ago. Do you have anything? And that's how I got involved into this company that I was with for 17 years that also owns News Nation, where I finished my journalism career. So all this big cycle, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

What did he have for you?

SPEAKER_02

What was his answer? What did he uh it took a little while, um, but I ended up getting a a sports role. And um weekend sports anchor was loosely what it was, and just kind of worked my way through there. Ended up meeting my wife in that newsroom, came up here to northwest Arkansas, spent some time at the news station up here.

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_02

Then we moved to Springfield, Missouri, then we moved back to Little Rock, and then Chicago called, and that was uh a whirlwind year.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so and for most people who don't know or may not who know who your wife is, she has a name up here. Who is your wife?

SPEAKER_02

Ashley Katz, uh her married name at Five News, she was an anchor for a while. She's uh now back here working in northwest Arkansas. Um, but yeah, it was great. Uh my my kids experience. So not only was I hired in Little Rock based on that conversation, I met my wife in that newsroom. She was trying to get the job, Paul. She didn't get the job, she got the boy. My kids have been to that newsroom. My wife, um my daughter just celebrated her tenth birthday,

Career Moves, Family, And Newsroom Life

SPEAKER_02

my youngest. The night that she was born, Ashley was at the news station and had a piece of paper and goes, Okay, I I can I I gotta go voice this. I gotta go and you would read in a microphone like this. I gotta go voice this because this story needs to air. Yep. She was going through pregnancy in childbirth and read the story and like all of that in that same newsroom.

SPEAKER_00

Well, along those same lines, I guess what was maybe what was some of your your toughest assignment, so toughest breaking news day, something happening um behind the scenes that nobody realized was happening. What was one of your your most memorable days in the news?

SPEAKER_02

There are for me the it's the stories that are longer than just one day or one night. Um this was in Saline County. A a kid was and his family had fallen on hard times. They were at a roadside motel, and a part of the wall fell on the kid and hurt him. Um we went, we interviewed the famil the family at the hospital, Arkansas Children's Hospital. We went to the hotel, the hotel manager talks. Hotel managers never talk in those situations. They're always buttoned up. He happened to talk to us. A couple years later, the mom I think was arrested for some nefarious stuff, some bad stuff. Uh I don't want to say what that was because I don't remember what it was. But I think the kid has died since, and that mom is maybe

Tough Stories And Lasting Impact

SPEAKER_02

behind bars. Um, those are the stories because I remember the kid. I remember I went to his house when he was in a wheelchair and his dad was playing with like I remember those things. So the the emotional entanglement sometimes I can compartmentalize in journalism, but there are others that man, do they hit home? And that one for me was you saw so much and you were invested in that family, and they trusted you, and the audience trusted me to tell those stories and then to know how it ended. Those are tough.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, when you're telling stories of people and places and things in the news business, and uh even in print journalism for me, it every day is different. There's no day the same, there's tough days, and then there's there's great days, there's memorable days that you'll carry with you forever along those. You covered two Olympics. I mean, you covered the Olympics in Reno or at Rio. You covered Olympics uh, you know, halfway across the globe. I mean, what was what were some of the memorable, you know, cool moments, the weird moments, just the things you'll you'll never forget from from those assignments.

SPEAKER_02

So outside of the call, I was in Little Rock at my kids' school, and the like corporate news director calls me. Aaron, what are you doing? I'm picking up my kids, man. What's up? Uh we want you gonna Rio. What are you talking about?

SPEAKER_00

Rio what? Did you know the Olympics? That's what he meant when he said Rio? Yeah, okay. That was just on your radar. Right.

SPEAKER_02

And I'm like, I yeah. Go to Ashley, we go through that process. But I I think what you don't understand when it comes to whether you watch the NBA kicked off last night, and I thought it was fascinating to me that Mike Tarico had just called Sunday night football, and then two days later

Olympic Assignments And Deep Prep

SPEAKER_02

he's calling NBA basketball. The research that goes into those things is wild. Right. And so when I said yes to Rio, I thought I was saying yes, I'll go to Brazil for four weeks. This was yes, I'll go to Brazil for four weeks, but I'll also plan for a year ahead. When was that phone call? I mean, how many months in advance of the Olympics did you? I think that one was about nine months. Okay. For Korea, we started a year ahead. And I was on the Tokyo team as well. I ended up having to pull my name out of that hat. But for Tokyo, we started a year ahead. Um, so the process that goes into this is extremely intense. And and that's because, Paul, you know this. You're forming relationships with athletes. Sandy Morris, who won a silver medal uh in Rio. I could still text her. You know, these are relationships. These are these are things where I need to know more than than possible. Uh going back to your previous question about stories, uh Jeff Henderson won a gold medal in the long jump. I had been in his house with Jeff, his dad, and his mom who was going through Alzheimer's months before. And I'll get chill bumps and I'll fight back a tear. I I remember him telling his mom, saying, Do you want me to win the goal? Because I'm gonna do it. And I got the chance in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to say, Jeff, do you remember that? What do you want to say to your mom now? So all of that prep work is months, six months, eight months in that case. For Korea, it was completely different. Arkansas has great athletes when it comes to Summer Olympics, winter Olympics, it's different. Found a guy who lives in northwest Arkansas who was on the Swedish, the Swiss curling team.

SPEAKER_00

I've curled with that guy.

SPEAKER_02

Yes, Dominic is Dom is a one-of-a-kind dude.

SPEAKER_00

Um Mark is a rotary club member with me and Rogers, and he's, you know, um from Wisconsin and has and has competed, and he's he's grown up with curling. So we're at the my first meeting, and I've met him and he was talking about curling and said, uh, we do it at the Jones Center. Are you any good at curling? Oh my gosh. It was one of the hardest things ever. Right. And I I grossly um miss, I just I didn't just the movement, you know, it's kind of like, you know, I could swing a golf club, but I couldn't, I can just tell somebody how to do it. I can't show them, and that's kind of how I I felt for Mark, you know, trying to tell me how to do it. It was just very awkward, but I enjoyed it.

SPEAKER_02

It I remember Dominic, uh Dominic Markey, uh he works at a jewelry store in Rogers. Um I remember him trying to teach me at the Jones Center. And like, guys, you like you look at these guys, it's effortless. They slide across the ice. It was not a good one. I made it this far, and I'm trying to push this stone down the ice. But those are, you know, going back to the preparations, I don't remember how I found out that Dominic Markey was a Swiss curler. Right. But then I'm there, and I rem I have a picture on my phone where he's like this, and he had just won a bronze medal.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That's crazy. Yeah, that's pretty neat. We went to, I'll take that story a little bit further. We went to the gold medal match. That's the only gold medal event that I have ever been to. So at the Olympics, you're not, you don't get to go to all these things. You're constantly working, you're constantly have a camera, you're constantly talking to people, or on live TV across the country. Um but I got to go to the gold medal when the USA won the gold in Pyongyang. Um it was it was so surreal, two things. One, it was the first time I saw the red, white, and blue raised in a foreign country at the Olympics. I'm a diehard Olympic fan. Love it. It's it's amazing. And so that was

Korea, Curling, And Surreal Moments

SPEAKER_02

a really unique chill bump moment. Then Ivanka Trump and Sarah Huckabee Sanders walked in. I go over to the national correspondent, it was Peter Alexander, who's on the Today Show still. Said, Peter, I know you don't know me. I know Sarah Sanders. I our kids went to the same school. I kind of I did a bit where I was an MC, she was there, this whole thing. He goes, Yeah, come on. We walked, didn't stop at Secret Service at all, walked up to her, and Peter goes, Sarah, this guy says he knows you and he made fun of you at an event. She got up and gave me a big hug. Yep. Days later, there's a picture of me behind Ivanka who's holding a curling player's son and Sarah Sanders, and I have the reverse image of it because I just get a picture of the two of them. Uh, those are things that just don't happen. Um, there's so much preparation that goes into that.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Well, you carry that forward to your job with DBI. And you talked to you mentioned it, preparation, right? Planning, preparation, planning. So what is the biggest transformation you've seen just in downtown Bentonville, the organization? Okay. Um, from when you before you started to to now into your job. What's the what's the biggest change?

SPEAKER_02

It's constantly pushing the envelope to not only include um Walmart, to not only include the world's biggest company, to not only include their vendors, whether it's the Ink Pen or the cell phone vendor, they want to play. They want to be. Do they want to be included? They want to be a part of it. I mean, we're in a building right now that houses two of our vendors. Like they want to be here. Because if they're able to supply to the crowds that we bring, there's a pretty good chance that their customer is there. Um but the biggest transformation is the fact that. That we continue to push the envelope. That we're not stagnant at anything that we're trying to do, that we're constantly saying, okay, cool, we did this. Cool, there's going to be 20,000 people for lighting of the square. That's great. But how do we give them the best experience possible? Mention customers. They're our customers. They're the people that we really are trying to serve. What is the best return on investment if they spend the time to navigate downtown Bentville to be at this? Is it a Broadway-style Christmas parade show, which we will have this year? Is it a uh, you know, partnering with the city to have an ice skating event, which we will have this year? Is it utilizing the vendors and and the community that has, you know, candy and toys for a Santa's workshop at Lightning Square, which we will have this year. But that's the biggest change is that we are constantly asking those questions of how are we not only pushing the organization, but we're also reaching out to the community to make sure that they understand that this free family entertainment

Bentonville’s Evolution And Big Ideas

SPEAKER_02

is from the heart and it's organic and we're thoughtful and we're pushing it.

SPEAKER_00

What are some things that maybe, I mean, you have these events, you have enough on your plate, but is there something in your mind? What is your big hairy idea for downtown Bentonville that you would love to see happen in three years or five years? Is there something that you and talk about? Absolutely. We'd love to do this. This is it. Are you ready?

SPEAKER_02

Bentonville Country Club. That's what I want.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

We need a golf course down here like crazy. That's the one big hairy idea. Right. Uh, I'm only half serious. No, but can that happen?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I've learned, and you know you've learned too. I've I've been here long enough to never discount anything that you hear when it comes to Northwest Arkansas as a whole in general. I mean, we all hear um, we're gonna have a WNBA team, we're gonna have a velodrome, we're gonna have a, you know, whatever it is, you know, there's a certain degree of skepticism, but there's also should be a healthy degree of that might that could happen. Because if it's if it could happen any place, it's going to be here, right? Right.

SPEAKER_02

So for what we're what we're doing right now, it's it really goes to that new walkable A Street Promenade. If you haven't been to downtown Bentonville, I encourage it. There's a great new area that used to be a street that you can drive through. Yeah. Right now, it's on bricks and it's just a leisurely stroll. The vision for what that thing is going to be is five years down the road. So the big thing for us needs to be how can we continue to make or to really start? How can we start to make this a destination not only for downtown Bentonville, not only for Bentonville, not only for Benton County, but really all of Northwest Arkansas and state of Arkansas? And so we are really right now thoughtfully looking at, yeah, it's gonna the grand opening, the ribbon cutting, which will happen on November 15th, is gonna be special, but how can we continue to showcase what this is, the amenity that it is for our city? So that's the big thing right now, is is how can we continue to push the envelope to show that this is cool now for when all the future development happens and local businesses are around it for what it's gonna become?

SPEAKER_00

When you showcase downtown Bentonville, you know what what are and when you say for what it is, what is it? I mean when you when you run into somebody from high school that you haven't seen in 20 years and you try to explain to them, you know, downtown Bittonville at large and the square and the things that happen, what are the themes that come across in your explanation to what is happening here?

SPEAKER_02

So the the easiest way for me to describe it is going back to the Andy Griffith show, which I think is possibly the epitome.

SPEAKER_00

Favorite show, watch it every day. I watch Andy Griffith every day.

SPEAKER_02

It's the epitome of of of what America used to be. And so I say it's Mayberry. Um it's it's I don't want to use Pleasantville, but it's the concept of Pleasantville. Um it's a Hallmark movie. It is a place where families

A Street Promenade And Destination Vision

SPEAKER_02

can come together, that every door is open, but it's just it's a different heartbeat. And I know that you've been there, I know you've been there for events. I'm not talking about events. True story. Um, my wife and I were watching uh The Diplomat. It's a great show on Netflix right now. Fantastic. Um the new I don't want to go too far. An actor on the show. I don't want to give anything away if you haven't seen it yet. An actor on the show makes his first appearance. I look at my wife and I go, that guy was sitting on the downtown Bentonville Square by himself, reading a book or listening to a book. That to me is the epitome of what our little corner, our square, should be. It's it's the freedom for anybody at any time, any walk of life, it doesn't matter, to come and experience this the beautiful fountain, the iconic courthouse, the Walmart Museum at Five and Dime, and just sit there.

SPEAKER_00

So now I'll give you a chance to brush off your talking police. Oh, here we go. Ask you about uh the prevalent topics of the of the downtown, the parking and the construction and the change, because those are all very polarizing topics. How do you navigate that as you continue to move your organization forward and do all these great and neat things downtown?

SPEAKER_02

There are great new things that are coming to that are gonna ease some of those concerns. Uh there's a new parking garage that will certainly help. Um I I'm gonna be a little too honest with you, Paul, right now. I don't think parking's the issue that a lot of people think it is. And that that's me in Chicago. Chicago, you drive around forever, or you pay to park. We don't have paid parking in bed, though. We may have to park a little bit and walk a couple blocks, but that's normal. And I think some of us, me included, when I gripe about getting there early in the morning just to get a parking spot, that's okay. So I'm not now the traffic, we can talk about the traffic all day long. I I do think we got some some infrastructure changes that that certainly could help that. Parking, I I'm not so sure is a huge issue. And city council members, please please don't come to me on that. Um traffic, I d I don't know. Right. Well, I mean I I've got ideas, and we you've seen Dana

What Makes Downtown Feel Like Mayberry

SPEAKER_02

and I, our executive director, we were able to to host a a mayoral debate where that issue was was big. Um and I think it will continue to be big and as the growth happens, 30 some odd people moving to northwest Arkansas each and every day. That's not gonna change. Right. Um, but I think we gotta we gotta think ahead. I think that's the key in all of this is we gotta think five, ten years down the road and really start making those changes tomorrow for what's five years in one day already.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, again, and really all of those things that we just that you discussed that are all relative, like you pointed out, Chicago or you know, Dallas or whatever town you want to use, everything is relative. And um, those are the changes that are happening that are all going to be polarizing. You know, they're nobody's ever gonna agree on those things. But those are the changes, and that is the growth that is happening that kind of underscores um why UCA is here, why UCA wants to grow its presence and grow its brand in Northwest Arkansas for all the obvious reasons, right? I mean, um I haven't I haven't run into anybody uh who has a heart for UCA or has a a degree from UCA who thinks it's a bad idea that we're up here and that they've created this position for me to um connect with alums and connect with business partners and and civic leaders. So uh if you know, as we're planting a bigger flag here, um, you know, whether that's events or or or a uh talent pipeline or or just more storytelling up here, you know, where where do you think it could make the biggest impact? Where would you like to see UCA um plant a bigger flag and become more visible in Northwest Arkansas? What does that look like to you?

SPEAKER_02

Oh man, that's a loaded question. You could have given me some time to actually think about that, Paul. Um I I I think that's that's valid. Um I would always go to Bentonville. Um, but I also see, again, forward thinking, right?

Parking, Traffic, And Growth Reality

SPEAKER_02

So I was eating my Chick-fil-A in the car, looking at the building that we're in right now, and I had a thought of why didn't Paul and I go in together 10 years ago to build a building like this, but build it in downtown Bentonville across from the home office where where vendors could then rent space from us at an exuberant price so that Paul and I are actually making a lot of money. That was a real thought that happened. So I think I would challenge you, CA, to look at something like that, right? What is something that we can do now that we can see the trajectory of the city going towards the area? And what is that? I can't give you an answer. I'm just gonna be honest with you. I don't know what that is right now. I I think some of that is is like-minded individuals, right? Finding a place where whether they're alums, whether they're, you know, I remember Nathan Brown as a player, not just a coach. Well, you know, I covered him at before there were stripes on the field. Um but it is it mingling those people together with Coach Brown, with the president, you know, bringing people together and having those. And I know that that's on your agenda, and I know you and I have talked off camera about how that's doing, but I I I think the start would be creating a network of people in the area who have whether it's a passion or whether it's a background, those two things can become the same to get together and just really network.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, I'm glad to hear you say both of those things because we have done those things. I knew you had, I set you up, Paul. Started those things. We've had our Northwest Arkansas blitz this past spring, which was uh extremely successful. We did bring um everyone up to from campus, our president, our deans, and Coach Brown was here, our athletic director, and um uh and then we've formed a Northwest Arkansas Advisory Council. So the thing I joke with, you know, you mentioned could thinking about 10 years ago. Why didn't I think of that? The thing I joke with with uh President Davis now, now that I've gotten to know him uh enough where I can joke with him, um, you know, talking about my job and this job, it's like, why didn't we should have done this 10 years ago? Right. I mean, have somebody up here. So to me, that is the first step is to just say, okay, we're going to be here. We're not just coming to visit. We're not just coming up here to, you know, revive an alumni group or do an alumni event. We want to be part of the community up here. So uh I'm hoping that that resonates with UCA alums, and I hope it resonates um with the people in my network who I've known for almost 25 years of living up here, that um, you know, I didn't go to school at UCA, but I believe enough in UCA, and I think of UCA as a brand name in Arkansas, the same way that Baptist Health or Nabholtz or our best bank. Uh UCA is a brand

Why UCA Is Planting Roots In NWA

SPEAKER_00

name in Arkansas, and so I'm I'm proud to work for the school up here and proud to grow our presence up here. But uh enough of enough of that soapbox up there.

SPEAKER_02

You know, I I think that that's important, Paul, because you look at sitting here listening to that, like when's the best day to get started? It's always today. Yeah. And I can sit here and and I I again I I speak in stories like an old man. They they they make fun of me that I'm the old man of the the office, but there was a lot available for sale next door to me here in Bentonville. I didn't buy it because I thought it was ridiculous the price they were quoting me for a quarter acre of land. I wish I would have now. But it was that day, that was the best day to do that. Sure. And so when it comes to UCA and its presence here in Northwest Arkansas, it's today that the best time to do it is now, and and to keep moving and and to keep connecting people together so that when the question arises of how is UCA impacting Northwest Arkansas, well, it started here. It started the relationships.

SPEAKER_00

Right. That's how that's actually kind of how I'm I'm positioning that is this this is going to be something in three to five years. Right. You'll you'll be proud that you're involved in the three to five years from now.

SPEAKER_02

So and you gotta and sometimes you gotta struggle through those things. Sometimes you've got to jump over hurdles and whether it's a brand new story series that I started, you know, it's not easy. Right. But in three to five years.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Well, I mean, and I think everybody knows, I mean, the the hurdle for one of the hurdles for us, you know, there's a there's a large four-year institution up here in this part of the state, but no, we're not competing. This is not a competing um idea or competing enterprise that we're doing. This is a complimentary thing that we're doing for higher education uh in Arkansas. So, yeah, not competing um with the University of Arkansas on on any level. But um anyway, so let's kind of wrap up uh a couple of things here. Uh again, appreciate your time. I know that you're busy. Um if if you were speaking to a UCA student in their fourth year, senior, who says, Man, I've just listened to your podcast. I'd like to do what you do. I think I'd like to be in a broadcast journalism position. What advice would you give them?

SPEAKER_02

It goes back to the same thing we were just talking about, and it's networking. Um I don't do you know you remember the name TJ Holmes? I do, yes. Yeah. So uh I did a documentary at UCA on TJ. Um I remember setting in uh the newsroom there, I didn't work at that newsroom, but in the newsroom there, I remember it, and his feet were up on the desk, and he looked at me, and I think I may have had a camera on him on the time. He goes, Aaron, you know the most important thing about a good newsman? I'm on baited breath, right? All right, TJ, what do you give me? He said, It's the tie knot. What are you talking about? Years later, I'm covering a fight, a Jermaine Taylor fight, in I think it was Vegas, could have been a number of different places I covered the fight. Uh, and I saw TJ and I walked up to him and talked to him. So networking, networking, networking. So if that if that senior wants to do this, reach out to me. Go to LinkedIn. Never was a LinkedIn guy until about two years ago. It

Networking, LinkedIn, And Student Advice

SPEAKER_02

is, it is what Twitter and Facebook really started. LinkedIn is finally doing for professionals. Absolutely. So lean into that. Don't be afraid to reach out to people, um, whether who I'm now on the dark side of media, or you know, I can connect you with people who are currently in the middle of what media is. I that's that's the thing about this, about communications. If you're not grounded, and the biggest pride point that I have, and I think Paul, you probably will say, is who's in my phone, who I can text on any given moment and say X, Y, or Z. So start that process now. Start that process intern. Find someone that you like in local TV and and meet them, talk to them, find out how to tie and tie knot, apparently. Um, and then reach out to people you don't know on LinkedIn, but you appreciate them. Going back to the story in Korea about Peter Alexander, I didn't know him from anybody, but I knew that if I needed to get the big interview with at that point the White House press secretary who's from Arkansas, I had to go to somebody. And I said, Peter, you don't know me. I'm a local affiliate guy, you're a national guy. Help me out.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Don't be afraid to ask for help. Right. You mentioned networking and LinkedIn, two big things that I'm big fans of, by the way. Well, what is what is your sense of the alumni network uh as it exists for UCA in Northwest Arkansas? Do you run into UCA alums up here? Do you make those connections uh in your day-to-day and been? I'm gonna be honest with you. I know one. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

So, and I think that's where I got really excited, Paul, when you took over this position because I knew that that was gonna change.

SPEAKER_00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And I hope it has changed. And I think I think that that's important. And I think that like-minded individuals coming from a like-minded background is vital. Okay, it's vital to the success of me who's jumped into a brand new career and I don't know what the heck I'm doing still. Right. Uh, those things are important. Yeah. And the connection points of going back to Lou Harden, that I knew Lou very well. Um, I knew his daughter. We were co-anchors together in Little Rock. Um, those connection points go deeper than my time in Conway. Than my time at Ferris. That my time, you know, you know, Steve Estes. We've talked about Steve a lot. That my relationship with Steve at the athletic department. All of those things, the deeper you can can go when it comes to networking LinkedIn alumni, the better it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00

Well, we're gonna get you back on campus and you're gonna speak to some classes for us.

SPEAKER_02

That's what I've heard. That's what I've

Building An Alumni Network Up Here

SPEAKER_02

heard. But you I will do it under one circumstance, Paul. You cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, find any old tapes from Channel 6. I will give you the picture. I still have it, it's printed. I don't know why we printed pictures, uh, but I still have it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Um we've got to have a then and now. That was one of my favorite features at the Business Journal. We did a then and now for R40, and and some of those, some of those back-to-back pictures were um hilarious. I mean, it were they were just hilarious.

SPEAKER_02

I don't know if I could find that picture now, but I think my hair was straight up and it may have blonde tips. Yeah. Oh man. So we've got to find that. And that is your news anchor on Channel 6 News.

SPEAKER_00

That's awesome. Well, Baron, real quick, where can people keep up with your work and and see what DBI?

SPEAKER_02

LinkedIn, LinkedIn, LinkedIn. Okay. Um that's the place to do it. It's still Aaron Nolan News on all my social media platforms. Decided to keep that because it's synonymous with everything that's going on. Uh, and then downtownbentonville.org. Um I again, I cannot say enough outside of what UCA and Conway did for me. People experience Bentonville in any way you can right now. Um, just be there. Right. It's uh there's a Seinfeld joke. Are you a Seinfeld guy? Big Seinfeld joke. Okay. There's a Seinfeld joke where Newman says, in Hawaii, the the air is so dewy sweet, you don't have to lick the stamps. Lick the stamps. That's what Bentonville is right now. So uh experience Bentonville. That is that is my last thing. Gosh, well now we could just talk about Seinfeld for another 45 minutes. So Dana, you know Dana well. Dana and her husband, uh, we have a text thread that goes back and forth about questions about Seinfeld. So yeah. I'm I'm glad I got Paul on the dewy sweet Hawaiian stamps moment.

SPEAKER_00

You did. You got me. And I I like that you said uh just be there. We're here. We are here. UCA is here, and we've got a lot of uh exciting things coming up and big plans for being here more, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02

All right, let's flip this. I know where are we at on time? We're good. I'm gonna ask you one question. I'm gonna give you a chance here. I was in two productions at UCA on stage. You have two guesses. Can you

Theater Memories And Full Circle Close

SPEAKER_02

guess which two? One was a holiday production, and one was an Oscar award-winning film. Wizard of Oz. No. I don't think we ever did Wizard of Oz. That's a good guess. Why Christmas? It's pretty close. Christmas story. Okay.

SPEAKER_00

And well, it's the holiday film and the Oscar winner.

SPEAKER_02

The Oscar winner was Jack Nicholas was McMurray. I think McMurray is the right name. Um you got it. Nurse Ratchet? Yes. Um I actually just forgot it. One floor over the cuckoo. One flew over the cookies. I was called back for McMurray, and I ended up being Aid Warren. If you can find they used to put poster boards with the in the in the theater there. I was Aid Warren, the first spoken production, and we did it in the round. Okay. And so everyone was on the stage there, which was wild. Final fact for you, because it's hilarious. They're on campus at UCA. I was in Nurse Ratchet's little nursing stage in the round, and the medicine that they would give the actors was Skittles. So I would sit there in the as the play was going on, just eating skittles. Yes. Acting like I was getting high on the medicine the patients were getting. See, you would have been a fantastic actor. Random story. Fantastic. End up story.

SPEAKER_00

All right. Well, listen, Aaron, great catching up with you. Absolutely. You've been covering Arkansas. Now you're covering Bentonville. And uh, again, I know you're busy planning for the holiday festivities down there, but um uh these are the kind of stories that this podcast hopefully will be built to tell.

SPEAKER_02

So thanks for your hey, going back to that thing right there storytelling and UCA, they run deep. Sure. So keep it up, man.

SPEAKER_00

All right, I appreciate you. And this was a great, very first episode. So thank you for our debut episode. I'm looking at you, Houston. Great fused guest. All right. And that's our time today for our very first edition of Central to NWA, a UCA podcast. I'm Paul Gatling. Until next time, go bears. That's it for this episode of Central to NWA, a UCA podcast. I'm Paul Gatling, Senior Director of Northwest Arkansas Engagement for the

Where To Follow And Sign Off

SPEAKER_00

University of Central Arkansas. Be sure to subscribe to the show and follow UCA on all the appropriate social media. I'll see you next time on Central to MWA.