The Oklahoma Today Podcast

New year! New look! New sound! And a whole new season of the Oklahoma Today Podcast. We changed a few things up but it's still the same ole Oklahoma Today editors bantering around the table. We're kicking things off with a discussion of our annual January-February Food Issue, which is in the mail to subscribers now. The topic of this year's Food Worth the Drive feature is breakfast and brunch. The editors discuss some of their favorite stops, from big Irish breakfasts in Tulsa to biscuits cooked in a waffle iron at Medicine Park. 

A very Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! Once you've opened all the presents and consumed a sufficient number of baked goodies, join us for our final episode of 2023. We saved the best for last by bringing on Sterling Zearley, the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department's Director of Parks, as our guest of the week. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone as friendly as the Poteau native, or anyone better suited to lead the state parks system. Editors Nathan Gunter and Ben Luschen talk with Zearley about the economic impact of Oklahoma State Parks, the First Day and First Week hikes scheduled to kick off 2024, and even proper fly-fishing technique. 

Oklahoma City hip-hop artist Jabee Williams is known to dabble in more than a few things at once: music, entrepreneurship, and advocacy to name the main ones. Recently he's added breakfast to his repertoire with the opening of Scrambl'd, an upscale brunch and lunch bar located right next to Jabee's other restaurant venture, Eastside Pizza House. Jabee and business partner Cordell Love joins the show this week to discuss why the duo went into the venture, what some of their favorites on the menu are, and those showstopping floating lamb chops that make diners' heads turn. 

There is something magical about downtown Oklahoma City during the holiday season. It's in the crisp winter air, the buzz of activity, and the twinkle of the decorative lights hung seemingly everywhere you look. For at least the last point in this list, Oklahomans can thank the work and planning of the Downtown OKC Partnership. The organization is responsible for pulling off the annual Downtown in December and Lights on Broadway festivities that help make the season so special for many. Jennifer Nakayama, CEO and president of Downtown OKC Partnership, is our guest of the week. She talks about the work it takes to pull off Downtown in December each year, the ideal Christmas music season, and the last Lights on Broadway event of the season, which occurs this Saturday.

Also, the editors discuss their favorite local holiday shopping options in Question of the Week, and podvents are a true blast with the Fort Reno Christmas Guns. We hope you enjoy! 

When it comes to celebrating the holidays, Ponca City doesn't fool around. Zach Trantham, tourism coordinator for the Putnam City Chamber of Commerce, joins the podcast to talk about the town's Festival of Angels holiday lights tour and the many other ways they make Christmas special. From the fabulous Marland Mansion to live penguins, Ponca City proves itself as a real Yuletide heavyweight.

Welcome back listeners! Internationally known, Seattle-based glass sculpture artist Preston Singletary is our guest this week. Oklahoma Today editors Ben Luschen and Nathan Gunter sat down with Singletary at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art while he was in town for the opening of his new immersive exhibit Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight. This one-of-a-kind audio and visual experience takes guests inside one of the most cherished stories in Tlingit culture. The exhibit will be open at OKCMOA now through April 28. 

Oklahoma Today's November/December issue is out to subscribers and on newsstands now. The editors hash out the new magazine, including our feature on the most classic holiday must-dos across the state. From the nation's tallest fresh-cut Christmas tree in Enid to dinosaur-guarded jollies in Idabel, we've got your holiday travel destinations covered.

Additionally, the editors discuss the most superior Thanksgiving side dishes, and BMX bikes and limousines guide us through podvents. Happy listening!

This week we are welcoming Eric Singleton onto the podcast. As the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s curator of ethnology, he curated the exhibition Nations at War! Field Sketches of a Pawnee Warrior, which you can go see at the museum in Oklahoma City through January 21. These sketches by Pawnee artist and soldier in the US 45th Infantry Division Brummett Echohawk depict prisoners of war and other soldiers from around the world during World War II.

In the spirit of museum exhibits, the editors name some of their all-time favorites and discuss listener input. Plus podvents take us from creepy acrobatics to old-fashioned hog's head feasts. We hope you enjoy!

Radio luminary Krista Tippett is this week's guest on the Oklahoma Today podcast. Known for enlightening conversations with the likes of Maya Angelou and Joy Harjo on the award-winning former National Public Radio program On Being, the Shawnee native recently spoke with Photo Editor Megan Rossman about taking the show to an independent digital format through the On Being Project, her past work, and the connection Tippett still feels with her home state. See Oklahoma Today's new November/December issue to read a Q&A version of this conversation. 

There might not be a bigger expert on ghosts and paranormal activity in the Sooner State than Jeff Provine, the writer behind the Haunted Oklahoma book series and ghost tours, and we're pleased to have him as a guest for this special Halloween Week episode. Editor-in-Chief Nathan Gunter interviews Provine about the metaphysical realm and the classic ghost legends of Oklahoma.