Since 1987, fans of Nine PBS staple program Donnybrook have enjoyed the antics of journalist Ray Hartmann. Thursday, March 14, he said goodbye to the show he helped create.
Hartmann has been a familiar face at the Donnybrook round table, rarely missing an appearance in his 37 years on the program. Along with a panel of four other St. Louis journalists, Hartman took to the air each week to debate and discuss local issues, delighting viewers with quick-witted and highly opinionated conversations on important and often controversial subjects. A Nine PBS favorite, Donnybrook has become one of the country's most-watched local public affairs programs.
In addition to Donnybrook, St. Louisans know the journalist and entrepreneur as the founder of the Riverfront Times, where he was also a contributor until he sold the paper in 1998, as well as a contributor to St. Louis Magazine, Substack, and a voice on KTRS. His journalism career has seen him inducted into the St. Louis Print Media Hall of Fame. He was also named Media Person of the Year by the Press Club of Metropolitan St. Louis, and he twice won the Missouri NEA’s statewide Horace Mann Award for contributions to public education in journalism. He is a graduate of Parkway Central High School and the University of Missouri–Columbia, where he received a Bachelor of Journalism degree.
Hartmann announced his departure on air Thursday, March 14.
Watch Donnybrook on Nine PBS, ninepbs.org, or the PBS App.
Enjoy this look back at Ray’s time at the table in this video retrospective.