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PrintGoodbye Tulsa's weekly radio program broadcasts local memories
I’m conflicted.
It seems that the changes are coming fast and furious these days. New buildings, new businesses and new people are popping up at breakneck speed.
With Tulsa showing up on all kinds of “most livable” lists, these developments come as no surprise.
But here’s the rub: With each step we take into the future, we take a step away from our past.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of things on which I would be happy to close the door. Things that hold us back, reinforce assumptions and just don’t make any damn sense. (No alcohol in grocery stores? Seriously?)
But we have to make sure that while we amble toward our vision of a better future, we don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
A lot of this comes from creativity. We must know the difference between invention and innovation. Instead of tearing down existing structures and erecting new buildings all over town, let’s use the spaces we have. This is already happening at the Mayo Hotel, the Atlas Life Building and several locations around the city. Keep it up.
But no matter how much we try to preserve and reallocate, there will be pieces of the city lost to the annals of history. And more importantly, with each passing day, we lose more and more of the people who can tell the stories of Tulsa as it was.
It was this idea — the connection between time, the people and the city — that led me to a coffee shop conversation with my good friend Michael Mason.
We are both writers dedicated to the written word. He writes serious stuff about brains and injuries, while I write silly stuff such as fake memoirs. But one thing we share is a fascination with radio.
Although some may see it as a post-relevant format, shows such as “Radiolab,” “Studio 360,” “Hearing Voices” and, of course, “This American Life” prove otherwise.
At some point, one of us brought up the idea of radio obituaries. That was the birth of what came to be known as “Goodbye Tulsa.”
“‘Goodbye Tulsa’ is a weekly program that tells the story of Tulsa through the lives of our friends and neighbors.” That’s how it’s described on the Web site (www.goodbyetulsa.com). But it’s also more than that.
Past shows have included stories on everything from former amusement parks (Bell’s) to deceased zoo animals (Kavek, the polar bear). What began as an idea that revolved solely around saying goodbye to actual people has evolved into something with a larger scope and mission.
Someone once asked me what the point of “Goodbye Tulsa” actually is. The point is simple. We believe that every part of this city has a story. It doesn’t matter if the subject is a person, a building or a pet parrot.
If we can ask the right questions, find the right people to interview and tell the story the right way, we hope you will be interested regardless of the subject.
The latest numbers put our metro population at more than 900,000. The median age is 38 years old. That means we have more than 34 million years of life shared between us. For those of us in the business of telling stories, that is music to our ears.
