THE AIRWAVES WE SHARE: A CALL TO SUSTAIN PUBLIC RADIO ACCESS IN OKLAHOMA
FROM DUST BOWL TO DIGITAL: THE LEGACY OF PUBLIC RADIO IN OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma’s relationship with radio is older than most of our concrete highways. In the 1930s, as dust storms swept across the plains, it was the crackling voice on the AM dial that kept families informed, hopeful, and connected. Over the decades, radio stations like KOSU, KGOU, and KCCU became pillars of public service, delivering everything from jazz and morning news to live storm tracking and civic education.
Public radio became more than entertainment — it was infrastructure. It carried tornado warnings before TV could, elevated tribal voices when few others did, and held space for community conversations on everything from racial justice to rural healthcare. It has quietly, consistently, kept Oklahomans connected — across languages, counties, and class divides.
A FAMILY LEGACY OF LISTENING, WITNESSING, AND SURVIVING
My grandmother, Bobbie Mae, was a poor white girl growing up in Marianna, Arkansas during the Dust Bowl. She told me stories that still sit heavy in my bones — not just of dust storms and cracked soil, but of survival and silence.
She remembered sitting at the lunch counter of a small-town diner when the Ku Klux Klan came chasing Black men down the street. As a child, she didn’t fully understand the danger or cruelty, but she never forgot the fear. That fear lived beside stories of her family’s strength — the way neighbors helped one another, how word-of-mouth and radio were sometimes the only warnings you got.
My grandfather, Gale Thor, grew up just across the state line in Durant, Oklahoma, another working-class kid shaped by rural hardship and quiet grit. These are the people public radio has always served — the under-resourced, the working-class, the ones who needed to hear the truth but couldn’t always find it printed in the papers.
BUT ACCESS HAS NEVER BEEN EQUITABLE
From the start, barriers existed. Many tribal and immigrant communities lacked equipment, reception, or programming that reflected their realities. Budget cuts and media consolidation slashed local newsrooms. State funding for public broadcasting has dwindled — and in 2024, the loss of NPR’s national newsroom shocked the system.
Now, stations like KOSU Radio are among the last standing pillars of independent journalism in the state.
Without dedicated funding, these stations risk going silent — taking with them:
Real-time emergency alerts
Trusted civic truth-telling
Voices from every corner of our communities — from women and workers to artists and elders
“This is not just a media issue. It’s a public access crisis.”
A NEW APPROACH: FUNDING PUBLIC RADIO THROUGH EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM + COLLECTIVE IMPACT
Our campaign, Keep Our Signal Unbroken, isn’t just a fundraiser — it’s a systemic intervention.
EFFECTIVE ALTRUISM: GIVE WHERE IT HITS MOST
We apply the core principle of effective altruism: directing our resources toward the greatest collective need with the greatest collective payoff. Public radio, especially in states like Oklahoma, is a high-leverage investment. One dollar here funds:
Tornado preparedness for rural counties
Educational tools for underserved classrooms
Mental health segments for crisis prevention
Indigenous storytelling archived for future generations
COLLECTIVE IMPACT: A CROSS-SECTOR STRATEGY
This isn’t one organization’s problem or one funder’s responsibility. We are building a collective impact model with:
Local donors and family foundations
School districts and youth media programs
Artists, mutual aid groups, and emergency managers
Tech companies and labor unions
Together, we’ll:
Establish a sustainable public radio fund
Digitally expand signal and podcast access
Co-create programming with impacted communities
OUR CAMPAIGN: KEEP OUR SIGNAL UNBROKEN
This effort includes:
Public awareness campaign + art installation series
Donation match up to $100,000 by local philanthropists
Live mapping of coverage gaps and access deserts
Youth-powered content via STEAM education partners
Partner call for Oklahoma businesses, orgs, and listeners
WHY NOW? WHY OKLAHOMA?
Because public radio here isn’t background noise. It’s the frontline — for tornado alerts, civic truth, indigenous voices, and shared culture. And because for families like mine — shaped by fear and resilience, by silence and witness — access to truth isn’t just informational. It’s generational. If we let these signals die, we don’t just lose radio. We lose connection. We lose the truth. We lose each other.
