The Arkansas Times was first published in 1974 as the Union Station Times, a slim 8-by-10 1/2-inch newsprint bi-monthly whose founder, Alan Leveritt, wanted to see more investigative reporting in print. (Little Rock had two daily newspapers at the time, but both were newspapers of record, focusing on beat reporting.) Since then, it has gone from newsprint bimonthly to slick magazine to weekly tabloid and back to a magazine, with an online presence starting in the mid-1990s.
The newspaper became the Arkansas Times in 1975 and was able to pay its staff soon enough. Its switch to a weekly publication was an answer to the demise of Little Rock’s progressive newspaper, the Arkansas Gazette, once a family paper and then a Gannett publication purchased after a long newspaper war by its right-wing competitor, the Arkansas Democrat. The Times hired several people from the Gazette and filled the liberal editorial vacancy left by the Gazette’s death. Its advocating reporting and the Arkansas Blog, Arkansas’s first online political blog, has been the scourge of reactionary right-wingers and quick to take on misdeeds coming from the left, as well.
The Times changed formats in 2019, returning to its magazine style and publishing monthly. Only the format has changed; the Times online and in print continues to investigate, advocate, elucidate and entertain.
Publishers
Alan Leveritt, Publisher Arkansas Times
Brooke Wallace, Publisher of Special Publications
Lee Major, Publisher of Arkansas Cannabis Times
Special Publications
Caleb Patton, Managing Editor
Lesa Thomas, Senior Account Executive
Luis Garcia, Account Executive
Editorial
Austin Bailey, Editor
Stephanie Smittle, Editorial Director
Benji Hardy, Managing Editor
Daniel Greer, Culture Editor
Rhett Brinkley, Food Editor
Debra Hale-Shelton, Senior Reporter
Matt Campbell, Investigative Reporter
David Ramsey, Contributing Editor
Griffin Coop, Associate Editor
Phillip Powell, Agriculture and Environment Reporter
Milo Strain, Reporting Intern
Max Brantley, Editor Emeritus
Sales
Brooke Wallace, Director of Advertising Sales
Lee Major, Director of Cannabis Sales
Kaitlyn Looney, Account Executive
Terrell (T.J.) Jacob, Account Executive
Evan Ethridge, Account Executive
Office & Circulation
Weldon Wilson, Controller
Charlotte Key, Billing & Collections Manager
Jackson Gladden, Print Circulation Director
Design & Photography
Mandy Keener, Creative Director
Brian Chilson, Photographer
Mike Spain, Advertising Art Director
Sarah Holderfield, Graphic Designer
Digital
Madeline Chosich, Digital Marketing Director
Fundraising & Events
Donavan Suitt, Director of Events
Wythe Walker, Director of Development
Classifieds
Luis Garcia, Account Executive