1 State of Arkansas
2 94th General Assembly
3 Fiscal Session, 2024 SR 26
4
5 By: Senator M. Johnson
6
7 SENATE RESOLUTION
8 TO RECOGNIZE RANDY HANKINS, WHOSE RADIO AND
9 TELEVISION NAME IS CRAIG O'NEILL, FOR HIS MANY YEARS
10 IN RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING.
11
12
13 Subtitle
14 TO RECOGNIZE RANDY HANKINS, WHOSE RADIO
15 AND TELEVISION NAME IS CRAIG O'NEILL, FOR
16 HIS MANY YEARS IN RADIO AND TELEVISION
17 BROADCASTING.
18
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22 WHEREAS, Randy Hankins, whose radio and television name is Craig
23 O’Neill, was born to Earnest Hankins and Judy Merritt Hankins in the Old
24 Saint Vincent Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, on October 19, 1950, and is
25 the oldest of four (4) children; and
26
27 WHEREAS, after graduating from Little Rock Central High School in 1968,
28 Craig enrolled at Arkansas State University at Jonesboro; and
29
30 WHEREAS, while Craig was attending Arkansas State University, he
31 enrolled in the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) for two (2) years; and
32
33 WHEREAS, in 1972, he received a Bachelor of Science degree from
34 Arkansas State University in Radio/Television Journalism; and
35
36 WHEREAS, prior to graduating from Arkansas State University, Craig
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 SR26
1 married Ruth Jane Fryer, an artist, in 1971, and the couple has two children,
2 Abby Hankins Kirby and Thomas Hankins; and
3
4 WHEREAS, his radio career began in Jonesboro when he accepted a job at
5 a Jonesboro radio station, KBTM; and
6
7 WHEREAS, in 1972, Craig began working in broadcasting and advertising
8 sales at KARN in Little Rock; and
9
10 WHEREAS, the program director at KARN felt that the name Craig O’Neill
11 had a better ring to it than Randy Hankins did, so Randy became known as
12 Craig O’Neill; and
13
14 WHEREAS, Craig joined the staff of KLAZ in the winter of 1978 and began
15 making his famous prank telephone calls; and
16
17 WHEREAS, his first prank telephone call was to Governor David Pryor and
18 his opponent in the United States Senatorial race, Jim Guy Tucker. Craig
19 posed as President Jimmy Carter in wishing both Governor Pryor and Mr. Tucker
20 luck in their upcoming election; and
21
22 WHEREAS, in 1981, Craig left the staff of KLAZ and began working at
23 KKYK, becoming the number one disc jockey in Little Rock. During his career
24 at KKYK, he continued to make prank telephone calls and perfected his
25 impersonation of President Ronald Reagan; and
26
27 WHEREAS, Craig traveled to Hollywood, California, on several occasions
28 and appeared in a 1987 movie that was made in Arkansas, titled "Pass the
29 Ammo"; and
30
31 WHEREAS, after ten (10) years at KKYK, Craig moved to neighboring radio
32 station KURB in 1991; and
33
34 WHEREAS, in 1991, two (2) days before the Arkansas Razorbacks played
35 the Texas Longhorns in Little Rock, as the morning DJ at KURB, Craig called
36 the University of Texas athletic department to explain to them how a
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1 groundskeeper at War Memorial Stadium added an extra “S” to Texas; and
2
3 WHEREAS, Craig became the stadium announcer for all home football games
4 for the Arkansas Razorbacks in 1997 and started the famous “That’s another
5 Arkansas Razorback – First Down!”; and
6
7 WHEREAS, Craig worked at KURB, which was known as B98.5, until December
8 1999. While at KURB, he helped charities raise money and estimates he has
9 worked at more than two thousand (2,000) fundraisers for charity. He is well
10 known for freely giving of himself, his talent, and his time to charitable
11 causes; and
12
13 WHEREAS, on January 1, 2000, Craig made the move from radio to
14 television, going from KURB to KTHV Channel-11 as the Sports Director for
15 KTHV. He jokes that to get the job at KTHV he parked at the front door of
16 their station for months asking to be put on television; and
17
18 WHEREAS, Craig transferred from sports director to evening news anchor
19 in 2008; and
20
21 WHEREAS, Craig was famous for his line “Can I get a Hogalleulah?”
22 during his TV interviews; and
23
24 WHEREAS, after fifty (50) years of being in radio and television, his
25 last broadcast on KTHV was the 10:00 p.m. newscast on December 29, 2023; and
26
27 WHEREAS, Craig is an enthusiastic supporter of early childhood reading
28 and regularly reads to school-age children. When coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)
29 closed down daycare centers and schools, he switched his Reading Road Trip to
30 a Virtual Road Trip; and
31
32 WHEREAS, after retiring from television, Craig returned to radio in
33 February 2024 as a weekly contributor to the 103.7 "The Buzz" radio
34 broadcast; and
35
36 WHEREAS, in an Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper article, Craig said,
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1 “I’ve learned the true power of stories. We tend to think it’s about me, me,
2 me, but in the last 24 years, I’ve learned that it’s about you, you, you,
3 you. I’ve been lucky to collaborate and share stories about you”; and
4
5 WHEREAS, the archival collection of Randy Hankins is officially known
6 as the Craig O’Neill Collection at the University of Central Arkansas
7 Archives. He is much better known as Craig O’Neill than Randy Hankins, so it
8 is in everyone’s best interest for the collection's name to carry his radio
9 and television moniker,
10
11 NOW THEREFORE,
12 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE
13 STATE OF ARKANSAS:
14
15 THAT the Senate recognize and congratulate Randy Hankins, also known as
16 Craig O'Neill, on his many years in both radio and television broadcasting.
17
18 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT upon adoption of this resolution, a copy be
19 transmitted to Randy Hankins by the Secretary of the Senate.
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