Tulsa Radio News

[Glenn Quagmire]

While some markets like Chicago are cutting their radio news staffs, Tulsa seems to keep going strong.  Compared to Oklahoma City I think Tulsa should be proud of the quality of its radio news product. 
However, a few things concern me.  Has anyone seen or heard Richard Dowdell on the old 740 lately?  I haven't heard him in weeks.   Also, is it just me or is KFAQ cutting back on its news updates?  I timed their 11am local update the other day at 1:50.  KFAQ seems to do a quick run-down of the headlines with maybe one local report.  On just one 4:30 newscast on KRMG you can hear 2 or 3 local stories by local reporters. 
Keep up the good work!

[John Durkee]

Richard Dowdell is still with us. He is on leave. Hopefully, he'll be back before the start of the spring book.

[Glenn Quagmire]

Hope all is well with Richard, I for one am ready for him to come back.  You folks do a great job over there at KRMG, truly an under-appreciated source of reliable news in Tulsa if you ask me.  Surely someone else has some thoughts on the Tulsa Radio News Market!!!

[JournalGuy]

Our best to Richard.  Hope he is doing better.

[Inventor989]

I have posted this sentiment before, but, as a guy who travels a bit, let me reiterate: the quality of Tulsa radio in general is way above average, across the board. Tulsa is fortunate to have radio this good.

[stan]

I have posted this sentiment before, but, as a guy who travels a bit, let me reiterate: the quality of Tulsa radio in general is way above average, across the board. Tulsa is fortunate to have radio this good.

Glad to hear the long standing tradition of good radio continues in Tulsa.

[John Durkee]

Thank you for your kind words.
I will be sure Richard is aware of them.

[jackd]

I agree with the good radio in Tulsa but most of the time it sounds like the Tulsa market is being dogged in here.  The positive nature of this is refreshing!!!  

[Glenn Quagmire]

I think Tulsa radio gets a bad rap on this board as well.  Is radio in this market perfect?  No.  Is it anywhere?  No.  But, compared to other nearby cities of similar size (Wichita, Oklahoma City) Tulsa does a great job overall.  Compared to the state of Tulsa television, Tulsa radio is doing no worse. 
On a side note, I'm curious about KFAQ's new morning show.  Is Chris Medlock the new host or is he just keeping the seat warm?  Personally I would like to see KFAQ run Glenn Beck live from 8a-11a followed by Bill O'Reilly live from 11a-1p.  I think keeping the morning show confinde to 5:30-8a is fine.  KRMG ends at 8:30a now so there's no need to be local all the way to 9am. 
I am a big advocate of running syndicated talk shows live.  I would like to see KRMG run its line-up live by airing Rush at 11am followed by Sean at 2p and Savage at 5p.  I'm not a fan of right-wing radio but recently I was listening to Rush when Mitt Romney dropped out of the race.  Even though Romney made his announcement around 11am CST, Rush talked about it just happening at 12pm CST, b/c of the 1 hour delay.
As for the topic of this thread, are there any big plans in the works for radio news in this market? 

[BehindTheLines]

Yeah, Tulsa radio has always had a rich tradition of being above average to great. It's better than OKC radio too. I think it probably goes back to the days of Bill Drake raising the bar with KAKC. I've heard that on a good day, the old 970 rivaled it's Drake sister, WRKO.

Drake raised the bar, and to compete, the rest of the market had to get better as well. The bar was raised and it has stayed there for the most part. A fresh infusion of great young talent over the years hasn't hurt either. Many stations (in Tulsa and otherwise) still use the promotional and programming tools Bill drake introduced all those years ago.