Marvin Bartlett has been a broadcast journalist in Kentucky for 40 years.

He was on the very first newscast for FOX 56 (WDKY-TV) in Lexington on Jan. 2, 1995 and stayed there until June 2026. In that time, he was nominated for nineteen regional Emmys for news writing and reporting, winning five of them. Throughout his career, he has won more than a dozen reporting awards from the Associated Press.

In addition to anchoring, Marvin was the managing editor for FOX 56 News, responsible for monitoring content and approving scripts. He was also the producer/reporter/videographer/editor of the weekly feature segment, “Spirit of the Bluegrass,” a true one-man band. Those features aired in several markets served by Nexstar Media Group.

Marvin is a native of Grafton, West Virginia. He’s a 1983 graduate of Marshall University, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism.

In 1985, he completed the requirements for a master’s degree in journalism at Ohio University. He produced a one-hour documentary for his thesis project on the effects of longwall coal mining in southeastern Ohio.

After working for his hometown newspaper and radio station and then at the public TV station at Ohio University, Marvin’s first job in commercial television was in Paintsville, Kentucky. There, he served as the Eastern Kentucky Bureau Chief for WCHS-TV in Charleston, West Virginia.

In late 1987, Marvin moved to Lexington to work for the NBC affiliate, where he worked his way up from videographer/reporter to weekend anchor and then morning anchor.

Marvin has also taught broadcast writing classes at the University of Kentucky School of Journalism (2003-2007) and has been an adjunct professor at Florida A&M University (2020-2021), teaching introduction to journalism classes remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In 2002, he wrote “The Joy Cart,” a book about an inspirational young cancer patient he met while on the job. An updated version, “The Boy Who Delivered Joy,” was published in 2019.

A third book, “Spirit of the Bluegrass,” was published in 2025. It features stories about some of the most interesting people and places documented in his weekly series.

In addition to daily anchoring and reporting, Marvin emceed numerous public events while at FOX 56, including telethons, debates, and festivals.

On a humorous note, Marvin was listed in People Magazine in 2000 as “One of America’s Top 100 Bachelors.” He said, “I don’t know how that happened. They must have drawn names out of a hat!”

Marvin married in 2004. His wife Elizabeth works for the Kentucky Horse Park Foundation. They have a son, Cooper, born in 2006, and a daughter, Eliza, born in 2008.