Spirit of the Bluegrass

Marvin Bartlett has worked in television news since 1985 and is the current anchor and managing editor for WDKY (FOX 56) in Lexington, Kentucky. He has been the anchor on this station from its beginning as a news operation in 1995. The “Spirit of the Bluegrass” franchise is entirely produced by Bartlett. He is the videographer, reporter, writer, and editor of the segments, a true “one-man band.” Prior to that, Bartlett was a reporter/anchor for WLEX-TV in Lexington from 1987 to 1995. He was the eastern Kentucky bureau chief for WCHS-TV (Charleston, W.Va.) from 1985 to 1987. A native of Grafton, West Virginia, Bartlett graduated from Marshall University (1983) with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio University (1985). While at OU, he produced a nightly student-led newscast on WOUB-TV in Athens, Ohio. Bartlett has won more than a dozen Associated Press awards for reporting and four regional Emmys for reporting and writing. He is the author of The Boy Who Delivered Joy (Gatekeeper Press, 2019), a true story about an extraordinary young cancer patient he met while on the job. Bartlett has taught broadcast writing classes as an adjunct professor at University of Kentucky and Florida A&M University.