Hey Amarillo

A conversation with Abi Rivera, owner of The Society Barbershop . The first of her family to graduate from high school, Rivera has found success with her upscale shop, which specializes in men's cuts and beard services. She only opened a year ago but is already launching a second Amarillo location. In this conversation with host Jason Boyett, Rivera reveals why Amarillo was the perfect place to st...

RERELEASE: A conversation with R. Taylor Moore , a former CIA operative and the author of the thriller Down Range , set in the Panhandle. Taylor grew up in South Texas, traveled the world, and found his way into a decade-long career in intelligence. With host Jason Boyett, he shares how he arrived in Amarillo "kicking and screaming" but saw that decision launch his writing career—and change the di...

A conversation with Julian Reese, head coach of the Amarillo Venom and a co-owner of Golden Gate Mortuary . Reese arrived in Amarillo as a football prospect hoping the Arena League would offer a path to the pros. He ended up staying, getting married, and coaching the local indoor football team. In this conversation with host Jason Boyett, Reese details his unconventional career paths and why he's...

A conversation with Shawn Kennedy, executive director of Blank Spaces Murals & Gallery . Kennedy teaches art at Caprock High School and guides this local mural group—made up of high school students—which is responsible for 20-plus public murals in and around Amarillo. He tells host Jason Boyett about his temporarily itinerant life after high school, the deep educational value of Blank Spaces, and...

A conversation with Ryan Culwell , a Texas Panhandle native and former Amarillo resident now working in Nashville as a singer-songwriter. Culwell's acclaimed album Flatlands was inspired by this area, and his recent work has won further accolades. Returning to Amarillo for a show at the Golden Light, he shares with host Jason Boyett about his career, his influences, and why he kept returning to Ni...

A conversation with Viv Salomon, the Amarillo-based host of the national podcast How to Liv with Viv . Originally from Borger, Salomon ended up in Amarillo after college and works in the world of physical therapy. But she's passionate about mental health and helping others, like her, navigate successfully through their 20s. She tells host Jason Boyett about her upbringing, her career path, and the...

A conversation with Doug Lill, a local pharmacist, nutritionist and supplements expert at Drug Emporium . A local TV fixture as "Pharmacist Doug," Lill spent his career traveling the world as a relief pharmacist before returning to Amarillo a decade ago. After having grown up in this area, his travels helped him come to terms with who he is—and gave him a more positive perspective on the city as a...

In this special 200th episode of Hey Amarillo, host Jason Boyett takes a seat on the other side of the mic, interviewed by KAMR Local 4 News anchor Jackie Kingston . They discuss his early career, the books he's written, how he chooses guests for the podcast, his new print magazine Brick & Elm , and the overall media landscape in Amarillo. Plus, Jason offers his answers to the typical Eight Straig...

A conversation with Hayden Baca, an IT specialist and the owner of UnSavvy Strategy , a company that provides one-on-one technology assistance for senior adults. After 10-year career providing customer support for tech corporations, including Apple and AT&T, Baca returned to Amarillo to launch her small business. She tells host Jason Boyett why Amarillo was the perfect place to introduce this uniq...

A conversation with chef Ronnie Granger, the owner of Sunday's Kitchen , a downtown cajun and creole restaurant. Granger isn't from here and didn't always dream of opening a restaurant, but something special happened after he arrived in Amarillo. With vulnerability and gratitude, he tells host Jason Boyett how Sunday's Kitchen started, how he weathered the pandemic, and why a city far from the Gul...

A conversation with Vimal "Vic" Ragha, a local hotelier who owns and operates several hotels and motels along I-40. HIs family-owned Ragha Group currently oversees four properties in the city, with three more in the planning process. Ragha shares with host Jason Boyett about growing up in a motel, his return to the family business, and why Amarillo has such a robust hospitality industry (Hint: I-4...

A conversation with Karen Talley, who just retired after a long career with Christian Relief Fund , which was founded in Amarillo 50 years ago by her father, Baxter Loe. Talley was the last Loe family member still working for this humanitarian organization, helping oversee operations in more than 20 countries worldwide. She shares with host Jason Boyett the inspiring story of how CRF began and the...

A conversation with Chris Podzemny, a local cyclist and trail-builder working with the Fairly Foundation and Six Pack Outdoors . Podzemny and his volunteers have carved dozens of miles of mountain-biking, running and hiking trails in the area, from Palo Duro Canyon to Dalhart. He tells host Jason Boyett about the trail-building process, why cities like Amarillo and Borger value his skills, and why...

A conversation with Michele McAffrey , a local magazine publisher who has partnered with host Jason Boyett to launch Brick & Elm , a new print magazine celebrating Amarillo. With the first issue releasing in May, McAffrey tells Jason how she transitioned from a cosmetics industry career into a publishing career, how she built and guided a previous magazine, and how she and Jason ended up in a posi...

A conversation with Michael Haning, who runs DISCO, Inc . as his day job and, on the side, is one of the founders of Amarillo Acton Academy . His unique resume gives this episode a broad set of topics, as Haning tells host Jason Boyett about bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to the industrial trades and rethinking the ways we prepare kids for their career paths. Also: What was it like to launch...

A conversation with Melanie Eggleston, a massage therapist for 24 Hours in the Canyon Cancer Survivorship Center and a death doula. Melanie arrived in this area more than a decade ago from Chicago. She tells host Jason Boyett about the slow process of finding her place in the Panhandle and how her ongoing work with cancer patients evolved into a new career as an end-of-life doula—a profound and un...

A conversation with Aloni Ndihokubwayo, the young entrepreneur behind the Amarillo-based F8TH Industry clothing company. A recent high school graduate, his family is originally from Burundi and Aloni first arrived in the U.S. with refugee status from Tanzania. With host Jason Boyett, he shares about experiencing culture shock in Texas, why so many refugees are driven to succeed, and how the "melti...

A conversation with Jon Revett , a local artist, tenured professor and director of the art program at WTAMU. Besides being a talented artist whose art has been shown nationally, Revett is an expert on Robert Smithson's Amarillo Ramp, a world-famous work of land art that is practically unknown by locals. With host Jason Boyett, Revett shares about his career path, the unique Amarillo art scene, and...

A conversation with Deetress Peoples, the Canyon resident behind the " Black is Beautiful " book project and a member of WT's Faculty and Staff Diversity and Inclusion Council. With host Jason Boyett, Peoples shares how parenting propelled her into community activism. She shares about her upbringing, driving for Uber in Amarillo, and why uplifting the local community of Black residents in Amarillo...

A conversation with Jami Cowart, voter registration coordinator for the Amarillo League of Women Voters , a nonpartisan political organization. Cowart grew up in Amarillo before moving away as a college student. She spent the next two decades living in and around Nashville before returning to her hometown. With host Jason Boyett, Cowart discusses how Amarillo has changed, why she got into politics...

A conversation with Molly Dyer, an Amarillo resident and the host of the popular " Witchcraft Off the Beaten Path " podcast. Molly grew up in a very conservative faith tradition, but today describes herself as a witch and practitioner of paganism. With host Jason Boyett, she describes arriving in Amarillo a few years ago from the Texas Hill Country after a career in law enforcement. Despite an out...

A conversation with Lonnie Shaw, the owner of SkyWest Assisted Living in Amarillo and Canyon. A long-time entrepreneur, Lonnie has owned and operated multiple businesses, from janitorial services to remodeling and restoration. He bought SkyWest after his father became a resident there. Several years later, he'd be enduring the biggest challenge of his career. With host Jason Boyett, Shaw shares ab...

A conversation with Marcy McKay , a local, award-winning novelist and the author of the recent book, When Life Feels Like a House Fire: Transforming Your COVID-19 Stress . McKay and her family survived a house fire in their Wolflin home several years ago. She draws on that experience to share with host Jason Boyett how anxiety, insomnia, depression and other tensions all relate to trauma. She also...

A conversation with Brian Hudson, a project manager with Xcel Energy. Trained as an aerospace engineer—a literal rocket scientist—Hudson briefly pursued a defense industry career before returning to Amarillo. He recently oversaw the completion of the massive, $900 million Sagamore Wind Project , which provides clean energy to residents of the Texas Panhandle. With host Jason Boyett, Hudson shares...

A conversation with Ana Ramirez, a senior business consultant with the Small Business Development Center at WTAMU. The daughter of immigrants, Ramirez works almost exclusively with the local Hispanic community. She helps small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs navigate everything from idea generation to market research. She shares with host Jason Boyett how she found her niche in our comm...