Community: St. Louis, MO
Profession:  Rabo AgriFinance

Community: Amarillo, TX
Profession: Executive Vice President, Panhandle Producers & Royalty Owners Association

Wayne Hughes has been executive vice president of the Panhandle Producers & Royalty Owners Association since 1991.  He is the fourth executive vice president in the Association’s 82 year history and the longest-serving.  Prior to joining the Association he worked for the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce and the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission.Wayne is a 1967 graduate of West Texas A&M University with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and radio-tv production.  He served in Viet Nam as commander of a combat motion picture team.During his tenure at the Association, Wayne has represented oil and gas producers, support companies and mineral royalty owners before the Texas and Oklahoma legislatures and in Washington DC.  

Community: Goodwell, OK
Profession: Library Director, Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Tony Hardman is the Library Director at Oklahoma Panhandle State University.  Previously he was the LRC Administrator for Western Oklahoma State College in Altus, Oklahoma where he also taught classes in public speaking.  As a librarian, Tony has presented at over ten professional conferences in Oklahoma, Utah, Arizona, Kansas, Oregon, and New Hampshire.

Tony’s love for the radio developed when he was a student at Southern Utah University.  As a Communications major, he spent one year as a disc jockey on the college radio station and also served as their Program Director.  After college, he appeared on various radio programs to promote both college and community events and even told a ghost story on one of those programs.

In addition to his career as a librarian/educator, Tony is very active in theater.  He has been a professional storyteller since 1992 and has told stories at various festivals in Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Arizona.  He is currently the Vice President for Territory Tellers, the state-wide storytelling organization for Oklahoma and is a member of the Tejas Storytelling Association.  He has been active in community theater where he has performed in plays such as Harvey and The Christmas Cactus.  At OPSU he was the Assistant Director for CLUE: The Musical and directed Dracula for the Guymon Community Theater.

Community: Garden City, KS
Profession: K-State Extension Services

Community:  Hays, KS
Profession:  Professor, Geoscience/Geography, Fort Hays State University

Paul Phillips lives in Hays, Kansas and is a Professor of Geography at Fort Hays State University. Paul has had a love for radio since his childhood days, when he would listen to far away and exotic places on a 1940’s ZENITH floor model Short Wave Tube Radio.  Today he and his wife Pat keeps “in touch with the world” by listening to HPPR and actually traveling to those far away and exotic places.

Paul’s professional interests include all aspects of cultural geography, but he is especially fond of finding, documenting, and eating in those small cafes that provide a sense of place for the small communities that dot the High Plains.  If you know of one of these hidden jewels in our service area, drop him an e-mail.

Paul is active in many civic activities, including the Hays Lions Club, the Hays City Planning Commission, the Humane Society of the High Plains, and High Plains Public Radio.  For Paul HPPR represents more than a radio station.  It truly is a significant voice for the High Plains community, and he is proud to represent and serve the interest of this community.

Community: Hays, KS
Profession: Vice President Customer Service, Midwest Energy, Inc

Pat Parke is a past Board President and multi-term board member of HPPR.  He has worked for Midwest Energy in Hays, KS, a customer-owned electric and natural gas cooperative since 1984.  Pat began his professional career at Western Cooperative Electric Association in WaKeeney, KS.

Pat is a graduate of Kansas State University with Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Agricultural Engineering.  He is on the Board of Directors of the Hays Medical Center Foundation and has served Ellis County United Way, Trego County Hospital Board and Big Brothers Big Sisters.  Pat was born and raised on a Trego County, KS farm.

Community: Pampa and Canadian, TX
Profession: professional storyteller, musician

Loralee Cooley is in her second term as an HPPR board member.  Though she currently resides outside the listening area, she continues to listen via HPPR’s internet stream.  (She's in the service area for KCCU, Lawton OK).  Having lived in Pampa TX from 1994 to 2007 and Canadian TX from 2007 to 2009, she was heavily involved in the promotion and fundraising for construction of KTOT, HPPR’s station serving the northeast Texas Panhandle.  Her affection for public radio goes back to her younger days when she lived in Charleston IL and listened to WILL at the University of Illinois campus in Urbana.  Her attachment to public radio followed her when she and her husband lived in Louisville KY, Chattanooga TN, the Washington DC area and Atlanta GA. 

Public radio has been a part of her life for so long she wouldn't want to have to do without it.  Imagine the surprise when she and her husband arrived in the Texas panhandle in 1994 and tried to find All Things Considered en route from Amarillo to Pampa.  When it wasn't there, she vowed to try to help get it there!  It was a proud day for her when HPPR came to the Texas Panhandle, especially when KTOT went on the air. 

Community: Colby, KS
Profession: farmer

Community: Garden City, KS
Profession: retired; community volunteer

Don Harness, 58, is a lifelong resident of Garden City, KS and a first term board member dedicated to making HPPR a sustainable fixture of the High Plains.  Most of his career was spent as a goldsmith for Regan Jewelers in Garden City, KS.  

A multiple sclerosis imposed retirement led him to his presidency of the 501c3 Finney County Preservation Alliance dedicated to preservation in general and the Windsor Hotel of Garden City in particular.  He is married to Nancy Harness (Keller) and the father of three.

Don knows from personal experience the role that HPPR plays in providing a world view tempered by a local perspective that affords us the common understanding necessary to find solutions to regional challenges.   The quality of life enhanced by a community resource like HPPR is essential in drawing sparse regional capital together and making the area worthy of investment.