The Oklahoman

This article is about the Oklahoma City newspaper. For the 1957 western film, see The Oklahoman (film).
The Oklahoman
Type Daily newspaper
Format Broadsheet
Owner(s) The Oklahoman Media Company
Publisher Chris Reen
Editor Kelly Dyer-Fry
Founded 1889 (1889)
Headquarters Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Circulation 124,667 (daily)
171,446 (Sunday)[1]
Website oklahoman.com newsok.com

The Oklahoman is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) lists it as the 59th largest U.S. newspaper in circulation. The Oklahoman, published by the Oklahoma Publishing Company (OPUBCO), circulation declined in the 5 years from 2007 to 2012.

Ownership

The newspaper was founded in 1889 by Sam Small and taken over in 1903 by Edward K. Gaylord. Gaylord would run the paper for 71 years. Upon his death, the paper was turned over to his son and later to his granddaughter. It was announced on September 15, 2011 that all Oklahoma Publishing Company (OPUBCO) assets, including The Oklahoman, would be sold to Denver based businessman Philip Anschutz and his Anschutz Corporation.[2] The sale of OPUBCO to Philip Anschutz closed in October 2011, and the Oklahoma Publishing Company remained independent in operation. Other Anschutz owned newspapers include The Gazette (Colorado Springs) and The Washington Examiner.

Headquarters

The Oklahoma Publishing Company (OPUBCO) was headquartered at NW 4 and Broadway in downtown Oklahoma City until 1991, when it moved to a 12 story tower at Broadway Extension and Britton Road in the northern part of the city.[3] That building was sold to American Fidelity in 2012. Office space was then leased back to OPUBCO until plans were finalized for the company to move its headquarters. After a 23-year absence, The Oklahoman staff (and most OPUBCO employees) moved back to downtown Oklahoma City in early 2015. The new OPUBCO offices are located at 100 W. Main in the existing Century Center office building (connected to the Sheraton Hotel) in downtown Oklahoma City. The existing production facility on Broadway Extension and Britton Road did not move at the beginning of the new ownership, all production staff was scheduled for layoff and plant closing plans were announced in spring 2016 [16].[4]

Rendering of the renovated Century Center – the future home of the Oklahoma Publishing Co. This view is from Sheridan Avenue and Robinson Avenue.
(photo courtesy Butzer Gardner)
Rendering of the renovated Century Center – the future home of the Oklahoma Publishing Co. This view is from Robinson Avenue and Main.
(photo courtesy Butzer Gardner)

History

Founded in 1889 in Oklahoma City by Sam Small, The Daily Oklahoman was taken over in 1903 by The Oklahoma Publishing Company (OPUBCO), controlled by Edward K. Gaylord, also known as E. K. Gaylord. In 1916, OPUBCO purchased the failing Oklahoma Times and operated it as an evening newspaper for the next 68 years.[5] E. K. Gaylord died at the age of 101, having controlled the newspaper for the previous 71 years. Management of the newspaper passed to his son, Edward L. Gaylord, who managed the newspaper from 1974 to 2003. Christy Gaylord Everest, daughter of Edward L. Gaylord and granddaughter of E. K. Gaylord, was the company's chairwoman and CEO until 2011. Christy Everest was assisted by her sister Louise Gaylord Bennett until the sale of the company in 2011 to Philip Anschutz. The current CEO of OPUBCO is Gary Pierson. Gary served as COO for OPUBCO under Christy Everest.

In 1928, E. K. Gaylord bought Oklahoma's first radio station, WKY. More than 20 years later, he signed on Oklahoma's first television station, WKY-TV (now KFOR-TV). The two stations would be the anchors of a broadcasting empire that, at its height, included six television stations and five radio stations. Nearly all of the Gaylord broadcasting interests would be sold off by 1996, though The Oklahoman held onto WKY radio until 2002.

In 1939, Charles George Werner, a rookie political cartoonist at the newspaper, won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial art. The winning cartoon, Nomination for 1938, depicted the Nobel Peace Prize resting on a grave marked Grave of Czecho-Slovakia, 1919-1938. Published on October 6, 1938, the cartoon bit at the recently concluded Munich Agreement, which transferred the Sudetenland (a strategically important part of Czechoslovakia) to Nazi Germany.[6] Another notable cartoonist for the paper was Jim Lange, who worked for the paper for 58 years and produced over 19,000 cartoons.[7]

The last edition of the evening Oklahoma Times was published on Feb. 29, 1984. It was folded into The Daily Oklahoman beginning with the March 1, 1984, issue. A 1998 American Journalism Review survey acknowledged The Oklahoman's positive contributions as a corporate citizen of Oklahoma, but characterized the paper as suffering from understaffing, uninspired content, and political bias.[8] In 1999, the Columbia Journalism Review published an article calling The Oklahoman the "Worst Newspaper in America"; the CJR cited the paper's conformance to the right-wing political views of the Gaylord family, alleged racist hiring practices, and high costs of ads.[9] In more recent years OPUBCO Communications Group has won a number of awards for innovations, newspaper redesign, First Amendment coverage, sports coverage, breaking news and in-depth multimedia projects.[10]

The Oklahoman was formerly available for delivery statewide, but in November 2008 it announced that it was reducing its circulation area to cover approximately two-thirds of the state (Oklahoma City and points west), and that it would no longer be available for delivery in Tulsa, Oklahoma's second-largest city. The change reduced the paper's circulation by about 7,000 homes.[11][12] In January 2009, The Oklahoman and the Tulsa World announced a content-sharing agreement in which each paper would carry some content created by the other; the papers also said they would "focus on reducing some areas of duplication, such as sending reporters from both The Oklahoman and the World to cover routine news events."[13] In 2010 The Oklahoman introduced the first iPad app for a newspaper/multimedia company of its size in the United States.[14][15]

2016 announcement of outsourcing, printing plant closing

In 2016 the paper announced that it would lay off 130 employees and shut down its Oklahoma City printing plant. The newspaper will be outsourcing its printing and packaging work to the more modern facility of the Tulsa World.[16]

Drop in circulation

Like most U.S. newspapers, The Oklahoman has seen a decline of 42.3% in daily circulation and 34.8% drop in Sunday circulation from 2007 to the end of 2012. Figures from the Alliance for Audited Media (formerly Audit Bureau Circulation) show that daily subscriptions dropped from 195,399 to 112,733 and Sunday subscriptions dropped from 264,524 to 172,415.

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Audit Bureau of Circulations (accessed February 15, 2010).
  2. ↑ Krehbiel, Randy (September 16, 2011). "Colorado billionaire Philip Anschutz buys The Oklahoman, OPUBCO". Tulsaworld.com.
  3. ↑ Steve Lackmayer, "101-year-old panoramic photo shows different downtown Oklahoma City", The Oklahoman, July 27, 2014.
  4. ↑ "OPUBCO eyes downtown move". NewsOK.com. January 14, 2013.
  5. ↑ Dary, David (16 February 2003). "Oklahoma Publishing Company (OPUBCO)". Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  6. ↑ Heinz Dietrich Fischer & Erika Fischer, The Pulitzer Prize Archive, vol 13: Editorial Cartoon Awards, 1922-1997 (Walter de Gruyter, 1999), ISBN 978-3-598-30183-4, p. 70. Excerpt available at Google Books.
  7. ↑ After 58 years, Lange Takes 'Early' Retirement", AAEC Editorial Cartoon News, December 5, 2008.
  8. ↑ James V. Risser, "State of the American Newspaper: Endangered Species", American Journalism Review, June 1998.
  9. ↑ Selcraig, Bruce (January–February 1999). "The Worst Newspaper in America". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on 2007-12-17. Retrieved 2008-07-21.
  10. ↑ OPUBCO Awards at The Oklahoman website (accessed December 1, 2010).
  11. ↑ "The Oklahoman newspaper ends Tulsa delivery," Tulsa World, November 6, 2008.
  12. ↑ Oklahoman redraws boundaries,The Oklahoman, November 6, 2008.
  13. ↑ Joe Strupp, "Tulsa World, Oklahoman to Share Content," Editor & Publisher, January 23, 2009.
  14. ↑ Damon Kiesow, "The Oklahoman offers subscription-based iPad app", Poynter.org, October 24, 2010.
  15. ↑ Damon Kiesow, "Oklahoman circumvents iTunes store, keeps revenues", Poynter.org, November 16, 2010.
  16. ↑ "The Oklahoman to outsource production of its print edition", The Oklahoman, June 8, 2016.
  17. ↑ "List of Heartland Emmy Awards - Detail" (PDF). http://emmyawards.tv/index.php. 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-24. External link in |publisher= (help)
  18. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "List of 2013 Addy Award Winners - Detail" (PDF). http://okcadclub.com. 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-24. External link in |publisher= (help)
  19. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 OPUBCO Awards at The Oklahoman website (accessed November 24, 2013).
  20. ↑ "Society of News Design - Detail". Office.snd.org. 2005-04-29. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  21. ↑ "Salute to Excellence - National Association of Black Journalists". Nabj.org. 2013-02-05. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  22. ↑ Online News Association (2012-11-20). "2010 Awards - Online News Association". Journalists.org. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  23. ↑ Online News Association. "Online News Association". Journalists.org. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  24. ↑ Online News Association. "Online News Association". Journalists.org. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  25. ↑ "SNPA". Snpainfo.org. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  26. ↑ "News - APME - Associated Press Media Editors". APME. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  27. ↑ "NewsOK ranks among best sites". News OK. 2009-04-16. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  28. ↑ "Society of Professional Journalists News: Announcing winners of the 2008 Sigma Delta Chi Awards for journalism". Spj.org. 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  29. ↑ "Society of Professional Journalists: First Amendment Awards". Spj.org. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
  30. ↑ Indiana University School of Journalism. "APSE". Apsportseditors.org. Retrieved 2013-02-16.
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