RSU Radio Program to Focus on Tulsa’s Pearl District

The second installment of “Making Oklahoma Work: Community Problems and Solutions,” will air at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 11, on RSU Radio 91.3 FM, the radio station operated by Rogers State University.

The program is titled “Reinventing an Older Neighborhood: Tulsa’s Pearl District” and will focus on plans to transform this aging neighborhood near downtown Tulsa into a vital part of the city. The program will repeat at 8 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 15.

“In the program, we trace the decline of the neighborhood, which began in the 1950s when many residents moved to the suburbs,” said Steve Housel, executive producer. “Today, a reversal of that trend is occurring in many cities across the U.S. The Pearl District is an example of urban rebirth.”

The series is broadcast quarterly, examining issues and policies of concern to citizens in communities across northeast Oklahoma, Housel said. Future programs will examine how city employees in Owasso are rewarded based on their work performance, and will investigate the quality of drinking water in several area communities.

RSU students Jessica Marchewka from Broken Arrow and Josh Kerr of Claremore co-produced the upcoming program and contributed most of the research, interviewing, writing and editing.

The series is sponsored by the RSU Public Administration Program, RSU Department of History and Political Science and RSU Radio. RSU offers a bachelor’s degree in public administration.

Housel is coordinator of the RSU Public Administration Program. He has 10 years of experience as a radio broadcaster, and earned master’s and doctoral degrees in public administration and political science.

For more information about the program or to suggest future topics, call (918) 343-7811.