Holiday Bonus

By

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November 26, 2012

Even for grownups, the holiday season brings a time of wonder. You might wonder, for instance, what fool would decide that it’d be a good idea for a radio station to switch to an all-Christmas music format at the end of October.

More than once, during a long career in radio, Tulsa’s Steve Clem has been responsible for exactly that. But he’s hardly a fool, although he’s been called that – and worse – for starting the Yuletide-tune blitz almost two months before the first gift under the tree gets unwrapped.

“In Salt Lake City, where Christmas music is huge, my station and a competing station went head-to-head, and our station started (all-holiday music) on Halloween,” he recalls with a smile. “We did that as a stunt; everybody notices when you start playing Christmas music on Halloween.”

Although, he adds, some of the notice was not particularly flattering.

“I got a lot of emails along the lines of, ‘Are you out of your mind?’ My favorite one said, ‘Congratulations. You’ve managed to ruin three holidays: Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.’

“People were incensed. They were saying they’d never listen to the station again. Then, the ratings came out, and we were on top. That’s because when they were ready for Christmas music, ours was the station they thought of.”

Currently the operations director for Tulsa’s National Public Radio affiliate KWGS (89.5 FM), Clem started his radio career as an announcer and deejay in 1973 at Duncan’s KRHD. He’s made his living on the airwaves ever since. Sometimes, his primary job has been that of a consultant, programming a variety of radio stations. Other times, he’s been a full-time member of a particular station’s staff, consulting others on the side. That’s his situation now, as he continues working with a couple of other stations in addition to his work for KWGS.

In 2000, Clem was program director of Oklahoma City’s KQSR, an adult-contemporary station. That year, he says, was really when intensive Christmas programming took off around the country – and he was right in the middle of it.

“Before then, the normal thing a station did when the holidays got close was start filtering in a Christmas song or two between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve,” he explains. “Typically, the continuous Christmas music would start about 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and run until about noon on Christmas day. But around 2000, the success of KESZ in Phoenix – which had been playing all-Christmas music between Thanksgiving and Christmas for a few years – really started circulating around Clear Channel, which owned the station.

“KQSR was a Clear Channel station, too, and all us (program directors) were talking about what we should do for the holiday season,” he adds. “One of the consultants said we ought to look at playing all-Christmas music between Thanksgiving and Christmas, because every year the Phoenix station had done it, their ratings had gone up during the month of December. So we started doing it at KQSR, and we became the No. 1 station in Oklahoma in December. We had never been No. 1 before.”

The next year, of course, saw the 9/11 terrorist attacks shake America’s foundations, and, says Clem, the executives at Clear Channel Communications mandated that several of their stations go to continual holiday music beginning the day after Thanksgiving, with the idea that the old familiar songs would work as a kind of soothing aural balm for the nation.

“A lot of people said then that the all-Christmas format was a 9/11 phenomenon,” Clem remembers, “that it was effective because the country was hurting, and people were nostalgic and pining for a different time. But I knew better. I’d done it in 2000.”

He was right. Eleven years later, the idea of continuous holiday programming in the weeks leading up to Christmas shows no signs of fading away.

“These days, every company, every station, knows about the effectiveness of all-Christmas music,” says Clem. “Sometimes there are three or four stations in one market that are doing it – and it’s done for one reason only. There are very few things that can be done on a radio station that will get immediate results in the ratings. Christmas music draws people to your station like a magnet. It’s only for that holiday period, but if you do it right, it’ll really increase your listenership.”

As one of the programmers known nationally for his work with the all-Christmas format, Clem has programmed as many as a dozen stations a year. And his experience has taught him some secrets about the efficacy of holiday-music bombardment.

“Christmas music doesn’t work in every format, but it’s a magic bullet for adult-contemporary, which is kind of another term for soft rock,” he says. “That’s music that appeals to the 35-plus demographic. It’s an easy fit, because soft rock and Christmas music sound a lot alike. But because it became so popular at adult-contemporary, other stations wanted to see how it would work for them. So you might hear it at country stations, pop stations, oldies stations.

“The thing is,” he adds, “the further away, format-wise, you are from adult-contemporary, from that 35-plus audience, the less chance it’ll work.”

But even if the station plays soft rock the rest of the year, holiday success isn’t guaranteed. Just as important, Clem believes, are the songs themselves.

“The format has its own rules,” he explains. “For one thing, it’s song-oriented rather than artist-oriented, so you can play multiple versions of songs that people really love. Sure, Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ and Burl Ives’ ‘Holly Jolly Christmas’ are the ones you’ll hear every three hours or so, but you can play other people’s versions as well. And songs like ‘Winter Wonderland’ and ‘Sleigh Ride’ aren’t really identified with a certain artist, so you can play several versions of those, too.

“The songs that really make it are what I call the home runs of Christmas music. Those are the hit Christmas songs from the past 50 years, songs that the baby-boomers grew up with, the songs that evoke the feeling of the holidays, as opposed to newer Christmas compositions, for example, that don’t have the same home-run appeal.”

Many of the former, not surprisingly, come from the ‘50s and ‘60s. Golden-era rock ‘n’ roll numbers like “Rockin’ around the Christmas Tree,” “The Chipmunk Song,” and “Jingle Bell Rock” remain staples of any holiday-music playlist. But, despite the fact that it’s a great 1958 rocker from a legendary performer, Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run” won’t be heard much on the stations Clem programs.

“It doesn’t do well, probably because it didn’t get the airplay those others did back then,” he says. “It just doesn’t quite touch that emotional button for people.”

The same goes, he adds, for one of the most infamous of them all, Elmo & Patsy’s “Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer,” which hit the upper reaches of the pop charts twice in the early ‘80s.
“A lot of Christmas stations won’t even touch it,” Clem says, smiling again. “They won’t. It’s a polarizing song, and they’d rather play something that isn’t.”

Hammering Away

By

Morgan Browne

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November 26, 2012

Shirley Hammer, president and owner of Norman-based Hammer Construction, is no stranger to boom and bust in the Oklahoma energy industry.

Hammer Construction started in 1958 when Shirley’s father Jack Hammer – a man with a name made for the construction industry – two of his uncles and several laborers began selling roustabout and construction services to Oklahoma oil companies. The company still primarily serves the energy industry to this day.

Shirley Hammer came into ownership of the business as the state was reeling from the 1982 Penn Square Bank crash, which precipitated Oklahoma’s most recent energy bust. She had come on board to help in some of her father’s oil drilling ventures when he told her he was unable to continue running the company he built due to his failing health.

“I remember clearly the day my father told me he could not continue,” Hammer says. “I told him I wanted to continue and him being the father he was, he thought I needed to pay for it so I would take care of it.”

In July 1988, Jack penned a sale, and he and his daughter shook hands on it.

Hammer was now in charge of the company during one of the worst times for the energy sector in Oklahoma history and beyond assisting her father, she had no experience in the construction and energy field.

“I was so naive and green and I bought this business on a heartstring,” Hammer says. “I didn’t realize what depths the industry was in at that time. Had I known I might not have bought the business.”
Working in a field that is seen by many, including Hammer’s father at times, as a man’s domain has never been a challenge for the founder’s daughter.

“I have never thought of it as a field dominated by men,” Hammer says. “I made a choice 25 years ago to continue the family business, and I have faced many challenges, but none that are gender related.”

In fact, the hardest challenge the company has overcome is a familiar one to Hammer – an ailing economy.

“I think (the Penn Square Bank crash) taught me a lot about survival,” Hammer says. “It taught me not to give up.”

At the height of the 2009 financial crisis, many companies were feeling the squeeze, and Hammer’s jobs in the state dried up.

Hammer Construction employed nearly 300 people at the time of the 2009 financial crisis. It now employs fewer than 200.

Hammer, however, managed to stay afloat by downsizing, selling off equipment and aggressively pursuing out-of-state work in West Virginia and Pennsylvania to keep equipment in use and the employees busy. Since 2010, the company has had more work in Oklahoma and today primarily operates in this state, Kansas and Texas.

Though Hammer Construction has been through ups and downs, Shirley Hammer plans to keep the future of the business in the family.

“I am proud to say the legacy and future for Hammer Construction continues with my son, Taylor Jennings, as manager of CNG fleet conversions, and son-in-law, Robby Moore as vice president of operations.”

Downtown's Up And Comers

By

Lindsey Johnson

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November 26, 2012

Building a career, finding a partner, starting a family and building a life keep the 25-to-40-year-old set fairly occupied. Time is tight, and getting involved or networking outside of activities that are generally related to these ends is often difficult, even for the most ambitious.

Ten years ago, though, a group of ambitious young professionals working in downtown Oklahoma City recruited their peers from different industries and companies and got together for lunch. The idea was to connect young professionals in Oklahoma City, find out what issues were affecting the community and, they hoped, to inform one another and impact the future of Oklahoma City. The group would become the Downtown Club of Oklahoma City.

“Our goal was to pull together the potential leaders of Oklahoma City,” says Brad Knowles, president of Downtown Club of Oklahoma City and owner of RBK Capitol.

Knowles has been a member of the group since it began and has seen it grow to the club’s capped membership of 75.

“We aren’t trying to be exclusive, but we don’t want to be so big that people can’t know each other,” says Knowles.

The group also tries to mirror in its membership the business landscape of Oklahoma City by limiting the number of members from each industry and company.

This casts a web of connections across the city that affords the club the opportunity to bring in an impressive lineup of guests to speak at their monthly meeting.

It didn’t hurt that among the founders of the organization were well-connected young professionals who were part of powerful political families in the city.

“They had better access to high-profile speakers than a guy like me,” says Ainslie Stanford, president-elect of Downtown Club of OKC.

“I saw it as a way to immediately connect with a lot of the visible young leaders in Oklahoma City and it has definitely served that purpose,” says Stanford, who is originally from Tulsa.

Jodana Borden, the vice president of resource development at the United Way, was accepted into one of the club’s few vacancies this spring through the requisite application process.

“I learn more about issues facing our community and get an awareness of things going on that I might not otherwise have known about,” she says.

To her, membership in the organization is not only to inform and better herself, but also to take back to work and the people she works with everyday the knowledge and connections that she has gained through her involvement.

The purpose she says is “to be a better leader with that knowledge.”

And for a demographic that is decidedly busy, one lunch a month is a comfortable commitment.

“We figured that even the busiest person could carve out one lunch a month to participate,” says Knowles.

Get Reel

By

Sharon McBride

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November 26, 2012

While no one will mistake Oklahoma for Hollywood, the state does figure into the movie industry. Most recently August: Osage County, starring Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, was largely filmed in Osage and Washington counties.

While August certainly accentuated Oklahoma’s potential as a location, there are several film production companies based locally that routinely use Oklahoma locations and Oklahoma talent.

One such company is Zenawood Entertainment, LLC, based out of Zena, Okla. Joshua and Matthew Miller, brothers, started the business in 2010.

“Oklahoma is a good location for independent filmmakers for a variety of reasons,” says Joshua Miller. “Depending on where you choose to shoot, this state can be very diverse.”

Support from the state is another key factor. One such encouragement comes in the form of a financial incentive for filmmakers, says Jill Simpson, the director of the Oklahoma Film & Music Office.

“The Oklahoma Film Enhancement Rebate Program offers filmmakers a 35 percent cash rebate on taxable transactions made in the state attributable to their production,” says Simpson.

Zenawood has benefitted from the rebate program in the past, for example on one of its recent films, called The Cook which is currently in post production.

The Cook, as described by Miller, is a “horror pop dressed as a psychedelic, slasher flick.” The story line follows a young TV actor who holds a memorial party for his deceased sister in a small town when, unbeknownst to the gathered friends, a cultist drug lord becomes bent on making the group pay for their “sins.” The film definitely delves into the dark side of human nature as the drug lord extracts his penance from the group.
This is the kind of film the filmmaker hopes to focus on.

“Zenawood is a Disney of darkness building a magic kingdom of demonic gods, psychopathic killers and paranormal oddities,” says Miller. “We are the carnival of fear spreading our special plague of psychedelic nightmares across the world. Our disease is spreading, slowly turning you and your loved ones into an entertained horde of Zenawood zombies.”

However, the kind of movies being made by independent filmmakers is as diverse as the Oklahoma landscape.

For example, another independent filmmaker, Tracy Trost of Tulsa’s Trost Moving Pictures, focuses his projects exclusively around faith and family.

Trost also praises the rebate program.

“Since we try to focus on using local talent, we get to take advantage of the rebate,” says Trost. “We have been able to recoup an average of 29 percent of our budget.

“Zenawood is a Disney of darkness building a magic kingdom of demonic gods, psychopathic killers and paranormal oddities. We are the carnival of fear spreading our special plague of psychedelic nightmares across the world. Our disease is spreading, slowly turning you and your loved ones into an entertained horde of Zenawood zombies.”

“Many think this is money that we get back and stick in our pockets,” adds Trost. “The opposite is true. It allows me to increase the quality of production and create a higher quality project for a smaller budget. Any money we receive back goes into the project and subsequently goes to hire more local crew and talent which helps the base of film business in the local area.”

Most recently, Trost completed A Christmas Snow starring Catherine Mary Stewart. In fall 2010, his company filmed The Lamp starring Jason London and Lou Gossett Jr. Supporting cast was filled by local actors.

Trost says Oklahoma is a great location to film because of the three hardest things to find in filmmaking – location, crew and equipment.

“In Oklahoma you can find desert, forest, modern city, old city, contemporary and traditional architecture,” says Trost. “Tulsa and Oklahoma City are filled with high-quality, experienced crew as well.

“As the industry is growing more and more, people are getting into the business and the base continues to grow,” adds Trost. “Tulsa and Oklahoma City have great supply houses that have everything from grip gear to electric and camera equipment. There are also several great postproduction houses and music writing and recording houses in Oklahoma. You can make a high-quality, complete feature film from start to finish here.”

However, the business landscape for movie making in Oklahoma might be in jeopardy, says Simpson. The rebate program is scheduled to sunset in 2014.

“Unless the State Legislature votes to extend that sunset date during upcoming sessions, the program will come to an end in about 18 months,” Simpson says. “If that happens, the film industry growth we have experienced in recent years will come to an abrupt halt.”

Simpson says Oklahoma gets a notable return on its rebate investment and, with an annual cap of $5 million, the rebate is a comparatively small incentive.

However, historically, for every dollar the State of Oklahoma is paying out in rebate money to the films that qualify, productions are spending close to $3, she says.

For example, Simpson says, August: Osage County is projecting Oklahoma expenditures at $14.96 million. They will be receiving a projected $5.5 million in rebate.

“When you then consider the economic multiplier of 2.53, which was the result of an economic impact study done in 2011 by Oklahoma City University’s Meinders School of Business, the impact of the original $14.96 million grows to just under $38 million,” says Simpson. “Jobs are being created and new dollars are being infused into our economy. The film industry diversifies Oklahoma’s economy.”

According to Simpson, without the rebate program, films will not come to Oklahoma. Currently, 46 states offer film incentives.

“Had it not been for our incentives program,” says Simpson, “August: Osage County would have undoubtedly been filmed elsewhere.”

Brent Ryan Green, with Toy Gun Films, an independent film production company based out of Oklahoma City, says the rebate program is essential.

“Without the incentive it is nearly impossible,” says Green. “The rebate is so important in productions not taking direct advantage of the rebate, too. For example I shot a short here last week that I would not have had we not been pre-approved for the rebate for next year’s feature.”

For now, movie-making in Oklahoma won’t be fading into the proverbial sunset.

“There is definitely a future for film in Oklahoma,” says Trost. “I consider myself a very fortunate man. To be able to do the projects and work with the people we have in such a short time is amazing.

2012 Great Companies To Work For

By

Michael W. Sasser

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November 26, 2012

2012 GREAT COMPANIES TO WORK FOR RING OF HONOR

Chesapeake Energy Corporation
Oklahoma City
Oil and Natural Gas Production
Employees: 7,932
www.chk.com

Devon Energy
Oklahoma City
Oil and Gas Exploration and Production
Employees: 1,800
www.devonenergy.com

Williams Companies
Tulsa
Natural Gas Exploration,
Production, Transportation
Employees: 950
www.williams.com

ONEOK Inc.
Tulsa
Diversified Energy
Employees: 2,495
www.oneok.com

American Fidelity
Assurance Company
Oklahoma City
Insurance
Employees: 1,017
www.afadvantage.com

QuikTrip
Tulsa
Gas Stations, Convenience Stores
Employees: 1,995
www.quiktrip.com

Bank of Oklahoma
Tulsa
Banking, Financial Services
Employees: 2,900
www.bankofoklahoma.com

NORDAM
Tulsa
Aerospace
Employees: 1,773
www.nordam.com

Oklahoma City Thunder
Oklahoma City
Professional Sports
Employees: 151 fulltime/218 part-time
www.nba.com/thunder/

TD Williamson
Tulsa
Pipeline and Piping Systems Maintenance and Repair Solutions
Employees: 526
www.tdwilliamson.com

If participation in Oklahoma Magazine’s 2012 Great Companies To Work For is any indication of economic vibrancy, then this year appears to have been a better one than 2011, when we debuted this annual special report.
Over the course of the year, we received far more applications, nominations and references about potential terrific employers than we did last year. That’s reflected in the content of the pages ahead, featuring more companies in more diverse fields than last year.

This year, we once again present a look at some of the best companies in the state for whom to work. Once again we found that one formula for evaluation simply would not work in a state where a couple of economic sectors dominate the roster of large, generous employers, and we’ve made some additions to our content to represent that. In addition to our Spotlights, which have a look at great employers within certain specific employment areas (healthcare, energy, law firms, etc.), this year we inaugurate our first entrants into the Great Companies Ring of Honor. Ring of Honor members are sizable companies with lengthy histories of being great companies to work for, and which seem unlikely to face any major changes affecting that status. It’s a Hall of Fame, as it were, of Oklahoma employers. We’ll revisit Ring members every other year to consider making any changes, and new members can be inaugurated in any subsequent edition of Great Companies To Work For. Determination of all participating companies was made via online application and panel review, in addition to consulting leading business interests and organizations in the state, and reviewing similar studies conducted that included Oklahoma employers. We make no claim of a comprehensive study with Great Companies To Work For. There are countless companies who could qualify. Ours is an attempt to honor just a few, and maybe help direct Oklahomans seeking employment to green pastures of the working world.

In addition to structural changes to the Great Companies components, this year we feature personal discussions with two very different and very engaging business leaders – BP Capital’s T. Boone Pickens and SandRidge Energy’s Tom Ward. We also take a look at the softer – and often forgotten – side of the business world in a story about those who have built successful commercial enterprises on providing real, community-driven needs.

Part information, part inspiration and all business, 2012 Great Companies To Work For is bolder and more diverse than the 2011 incarnation, which was one of Oklahoma Magazine’s best received special reports ever. We’d like to thank all of the companies that participated and who thought enough of employee relations to seek us out for inclusion. It’s because of this year’s healthier participation that there is reason to be optimistic about employment in Oklahoma in the years ahead.

We’re very proud of our featured employers, and we feel the entire state should be, too. Until next year…

The Plan Man

On His Own Terms

Mutually Beneficial

Great Companies Spotlight:

Energy

Sovereign Nations

Health Care

Construction

Colleges and Universities

Employment Firms

Law Firms

Great Companies Spotlight: Colleges and Universities

By

Regan Henson

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November 26, 2012

Marina Metevelis went to work in a factory in Kansas during World War II against her mother’s wishes.

“She didn’t want me working with a bunch of men,” Metevelis recalls. “But my dad told her I wouldn’t be, because all the men were off fighting the war.”

It was only one small step in Metevelis’s career, but one the real-life Rosie the Riveter has recounted to countless enthralled students during her career in education. After working in the Tulsa Public School system, she was hired by Tulsa Community College in 1970. At age 90, the feisty Metevelis is still there.

“I love the diversity of TCC,” she says. “I have contact with all kinds of different people.”

These days Metevelis is director of the TCC Heritage Center, and she shows no inclination to retire.

“I guess I’ll be here forever,” she laughs. “I have 42 years of history to inventory for the heritage center museum, and every time I think about staying home, they tell me, ‘We still need you!”

That sense of belonging is part of what makes a career at a major university so enriching.

“OSU is a great place to work due to the type of folks who are attracted to a land grant university. The environment is very friendly, engaging, and one which is full of energy due to the outstanding and varied students who choose to attend here. OSU President Burns Hargis has a vision for this institution and the focus on ethical leadership is just what is needed in training our future leaders,” says Kent Sampson, director of campus life and associate director of the student union.

And while Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma might get the majority of exposure when it comes to Oklahoma’s colleges, smaller schools offer an abundance of attractive alternatives for potential employees.

“The thing that sets us apart is our size,” says David Hamby, director of public relations at Rogers State University. “We offer a very personal environment for students to work closely with faculty and staff.”

Here are some of the state’s other colleges and universities, with employment figures provided by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce to reflect both full and part-time employees.

Tulsa Community College
2,000-2,500 employees
“It’s wonderful to get up in the morning and know you’re making a difference in peoples’ lives,” says Tulsa Community College Director of Marketing Communications Susie Brown. “TCC is a great place because it’s embedded in and responsive to its community. We make an investment in peoples’ lives and get to watch them go out and perform on a professional level. They share themselves with the surrounding communities.”

Oklahoma City University
1,000-1,250 employees
OCU offers its employees the opportunity to be a part of an institution with its pulse on a thriving city that shares its growth with the surrounding community.
“Oklahoma City is becoming a world-class city, and OCU, as well, is expanding outward,” says Kevin Windholz, vice president of enrollment management. “You honestly feel like you’re part of a renaissance here.”

Northeastern State University
1,000-1,250 employees
The small-town feel and scenic setting of Tahlequah’s campus is a major attraction to employees. With campuses in Broken Arrow and Muskogee, the opportunities at NSU continue to grow.
“This is where I got my undergraduate degree, and it’s just nice to be home,” says Dana Eversole, professor of mass communication. “But number one is my students. It’s wonderful to see them go out after they leave here and be successful.”

The University of Tulsa
1,000-1,200 employees
The sense of family at TU is a common thread among its employees. Located near downtown Tulsa, TU enjoys a special relationship with the city.
“Being at a smaller school, we get to know the students quite well,” says Earl Johnson, associate vice president for enrollment and student services. “You know their dreams and passions, and to see their opportunities come to fruition is extremely rewarding.”

Oral Roberts University
750-1,000 employees
Another Tulsa school, the Christian university offers employees a small school atmosphere and opportunity for spiritual and professional growth.
“On the heels of the largest freshman class in 10 years, ORU is an exciting place to work. Employees are deeply committed to building leaders who will impact their world,” says Senior Director for University Relations and Communications Jeremy Burton.

University of Science and Arts
192 employees
The Chickasha university is engrained in the city and the relationship between school and community provides a sense of purpose to employees.
“What people really want to know is that what they do is appreciated,” says Randy Talley, director of media relations. “We have an administration that encourages creativity and are complimentary of the faculty and staff.

All Aglow

By

Bailey Elise McBride

-

November 26, 2012

Although some people dread the first sight of Christmas decorations in local stores, many small towns across Oklahoma are thinking about Christmas year-round.

Towns such as Guthrie, Woodward and Chickasha spend months preparing, with thousands of dollars and volunteer hours going into transforming the towns into a full Christmas experience.

“The Territorial Christmas Celebration is the biggest event of the year for our town,” says Lucy Swanson of the Guthrie Chamber of Commerce. “Our downtown merchants, in particular, feel that it is the biggest money maker of the year.”

Guthrie, which was once the territorial capital of the state of Oklahoma, began its annual celebration in the late 1980s when locals began wearing Victorian-era clothing and strolling through the downtown area or working in local shops, many choosing to create “living Christmas cards” in their windows.

“Guthrie was in the midst of a renaissance of sorts at the time, as the beauty and history contained in the lovely Victorian buildings downtown had been rediscovered and restored,” Swanson says. “It was perfect timing and a perfect idea to promote our beautiful little town, ‘The Williamsburg of the West’.”

This year, Guthrie expects thousands of visitors not just from Oklahoma but from around the world to visit their town to enjoy the festivities and participate in the Victorian Walks, enjoying more decorations and living Christmas cards than ever before.

“This year we will have improved decorations, more windows, added venues, and the Sweet Adeline Choir will be performing, as well as school choirs from across the state,” Swanson says. “One of the cool things about the whole thing is that anyone can jump in and participate. All you need is an outfit and you are in.”

Woodward, which is celebrating its 17th year of decorating in 2012, each year creates Crystal Christmas in Crystal Beaches Park. Though the event had humble beginnings, taking more than a year to plan the first time, the event has grown consistently year to year says Steve Jones, the chairman for this year’s event.

“The amount of lights has easily tripled and we have changed from strands of clear bulbs to the LED lights and rope lighting,” he says. There are now also animated displays, colored lights, a community choir and a live nativity.”

This year’s display will include “trees in different colors, more snowflakes and a fireworks display,” says Jones. The walkways will be lined with candy canes and the animated tunnel will have another color added to it, as well.

“I have helped on a lot of projects in the Woodward community, but Crystal Christmas is my favorite,” Jones says. “It brings an entire community out to volunteer and provides entertainment for all ages. Between the Kiwanis Train, Santa, the live Nativity, the Community Choir in the park, the opening night fireworks and all the lights it is 6 weeks of fun filled events.”

Volunteers spend more than 3,000 hours on the event each year, Jones says, between decorating and maintaining the event nightly. It takes around 10 weeks to set up, runs for 6 weeks and takes 6 weeks to tear down.

“The drive through the park is approximately 1 mile long,” Jones says. “We decorate the drive from entrance to exit, the Elks Rodeo grandstand, the Woodward Travelers baseball grandstand, the Crystal Beach water park, the interior of the park, the Crystal Beach Lake and bridge.”

Overall the event will draw more than 35,000 visitors to Woodward during its 6-week run.

The Festival of Lights, which has inspired many other small towns including Woodward, began 20 years ago in Chickasha, says Mark Millsap, director of marketing for the event.

“This is the most positive thing that the City of Chickasha does for tourism and economic development,” Millsap says. “We want to be proud of our city.”

This year’s addition to the 2012 display will be an animated light show set to music, Millsap says. Nearly 1,200 volunteers dedicate their time to install the more than 3.5 million lights that adorn Shannon Springs Park from Nov. 22 to New Year’s Eve. Millsap says he expects more than 300,000 visitors will make their way through the park this season.

The event, which supports itself entirely through funds raised through tour fees and donations, uses the funds to improve displays and the park itself each year. Over the last 20 years, more than $280,000 in improvements have been made to the Shannon Springs Park through funds raised by the Festival of Lights.

Great Companies Spotlight: Construction

By

Lindsey Johnson

-

November 26, 2012

The construction industry has been changed over time by technology, the economy and environment, but one thing remains: It is practically outsource-proof.

“They are not going to take our buildings and build them out of country and bring them back,” says John Priest, president of Crossland Construction. “There’s large job security.”

You have to have boots on the ground. Presumably those are the boots of nearly 150 Oklahomans that would cycle through a typical construction project during the course of its build. Additionally, with aging buildings and growing industries, the opportunities for construction in Oklahoma seem to have no end in sight.

“Construction is a huge part of our economy,” says Mark O’Rear of Manhattan Construction. He adds that construction is forecast to be a $2.6 billion industry in Oklahoma for 2012.

“Hospitals are continuing to update and remodel, as well as schools and higher education campuses,” says Dave Kollmann, president of Flintco.

Steady growth of the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma has also kept construction companies busy. Perhaps most notably, downtown Oklahoma City’s new and tallest addition, Devon Tower.

A $1 billion project like Devon Tower is a once-in-a-lifetime project, says Kollmann. Construction companies tend to be very diversified across market sectors. This allows them to quickly react to ups and downs across the economy, which is imperative for an industry so reliant on the growth of other industries to fuel business.

“We have made some significant strategic shifts into several business sectors– health care, power, automotive and oil and gas in particular,” says Steve Olson, group president of Boldt Construction. “These sectors are strong and may even get stronger with the election behind us.”

Recession Impacts

Typical projects, like construction of a new school building, average $10 to 15 million. And spending on public buildings like schools through passage of bond issues has kept the construction industry building in Oklahoma through the economic downturn.

“I feel like we’ve reached bottom, and we are starting to see there is a light at the end of the tunnel. And that light is not a train coming at us, it is actually daylight,” says Kollmann.

He adds the success of the construction industry from 2005 to 2008 was like Mount Everest’s peak. There was more work than the construction market infrastructure could handle. While this seems like a good problem to have, if you need 20 painters and there are only 10, you also have a dilemma, he says.

He expects a slow recovery for the industry to pre-recession levels, which he says is healthy.

“Level is the new up. That is the new definition. We are up under our new definition,” says Kollmann.

If the construction industry can predict the fiscal future, it does seem to be looking up all around.

“The projected growth for next year in the sectors that we work in is eight percent,” says Olson.

“The retail piece has started to pick up and that seems promising,” says Leslie Goode, director of marketing and business development at Timberlake Construction.

O’Rear is seeing more private money coming to the table. Manhattan Construction will transform the Osler Building in Oklahoma City into a luxury hotel for Ambassador Hotels.

“Money is as cheap now to get as it has ever been. That is great for building and building projects when the cost of money is so low,” says Kollmann.

Ripple Effect

Not only does the general economy impact construction, renovation or construction of a new building sends a ripple through the larger construction industry.

“The architects seem to be a lot busier. Certainly if they are drawing, we are building,” says Goode.

Once architects and engineers design a project, construction management companies get shovels in the ground. They coordinate 25 to 30 sub-contracting firms that complete the skilled labor required to turn drawings into brick and mortar.

“Subcontractors are the life blood of our industry,” says Cassie Reese, director of corporate relations at Crossland Construction.

Manhattan Construction, for example, is set to begin work on a $28 million, three-year, multiphase systems training facility for the FAA. They will coordinate the work of hundreds of skilled tradesmen and laborers that will do the plumbing, carpentry, electricity and drywall.

Innovation Creates New Opportunities

While much of this work has remained unchanged for generations, technology has streamlined and sped up the process. It has also created positions in the industry that did not exist even a few years ago.

Building Image Modeling (BIM), through which an entire structure can be built on a computer screen to see how it looks, functions and fits in with its surroundings has created a new set of positions says O’Rear.

Sustainability has been another area of construction to see expansion.

“It’s not just a fad anymore. It’s the way we do business,” says Kollmann. “We have a sustainability director right now. We didn’t have that five years ago.”

Riot Girls

By

Meika Yates Hines

-

November 26, 2012

At 12 and 17 years old, it’s kind of impossible not to notice the ages of Skating Polly members Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse. With this duo, however, it is vital to note that it isn’t their ages that define what makes them one of the most unique bands on the local circuit.

What sets them apart is a wonderfully punk, riot-girl enthusiasm infused with a genuine appreciation and grasp of what makes the art of music so incredible at its core.

That, and they just flat-out rock.

“I remember being 6 and singing the White Stripes. I’d always try to talk to my friends at school about all of this music that I loved and they wouldn’t know what I was talking about,” Mayo says.

“We never thought we’d get to start playing shows. We were happy just playing for our parents in the backyard.”

With a mentor like Exene Cervenka, of the iconic punk band X, in their corner, Skating Polly is fast accumulating an impressive professional network and an artillery of shows opening for headlining bands such as indie favorite Band of Horses and noise enigma Deerhoof.

The duo recently signed with SQE records to release its first LP, Lost Wonderfuls, in March, and are anticipating adding South by Southwest (SXSW) to a repertoire that already includes two Norman Music Festival appearances.

Mayo and Bighorse admit that they get a lot of attention because of their young ages, but don’t mistake them for adorable.

Girls who reference Kurt Cobain, Bikini Kill and Sid Vicious are not to be confused with their Justin Bieber and Katy Perry-loving counterparts.

As thoughtful in lyrics as they are aggressive in performance and delivery, Skating Polly’s music continues to evolve through practice and experience – and that’s what is going to keep them on the map.

“Hopefully, people like our music and they don’t just think we’re cutesy, because we’re not trying to be cutesy. We try to be real and stay true to our hearts,” Mayo explains.

“Our biggest inspirations are musicians who have been around for forever. They got in the business when they were young, and they never stopped. It doesn’t matter if they’re making $5,000 a year or $5 million a year. They keep making art, they keep writing and they never give up. That’s what we’re going to do. We want to be like them.”

The Christmas Spirit

By

Jami Mattox

-

November 26, 2012

Gerald Wills is best known as Santa Claus. The 59-year-old has portrayed the jolly old elf for nearly three decades. In addition to serving as Santa Claus in various Christmas parades, he poses for Christmas ads and holiday cards and performs at parties and for many children each year. He’s had offers to perform in Los Angeles and even Japan during Christmastime, but he’s always stayed in Oklahoma. He says he would miss the children he gets to see each year.

I had a gentleman supervisor ask me in 1983 to play Santa. I had just got out of the service, and I said sure because we had a lot of young families at work. I painted my beard white, and I thought it turned out pretty good. Then all of a sudden my beard and hair started turning white. It was kind of like the (character of Tim Allen) in The Santa Clause.

It became a natural thing. I got to doing it for people I work for and work with. It just spread word-of-mouth. Eventually I picked up an agent. I don’t have a contract, they just take care of me and I take care of them. I’m my own manager. Every year seems to get more and more intense.
When Gov. Frank Keating was in office, I would light the tree at the State Capitol. Once the governor called my home. I answered the phone and he said, “This is Gov. Keating,” and I always had guys from work playing pranks on me, so I thought it was one of them. I said, “Yeah, and this is Santa Claus,” and he said, “Just the guy I’m looking for,” and I hung up on him. The phone rang again, and when I answered he said, “Don’t hang up, this is really the governor.”

I have a lady in Edmond that always plays up Christmas for her children, and she hires me to come to the house to deliver presents. One year, the family had went to Maui for vacation, and the then-5-year-old boy, Justin, had left his favorite Beanie Baby on the beach. His mother had easily found a replacement, so she gave it to me, sprinkled with sand, to give to him on Christmas. When I came by to deliver the Beanie Baby, that little boy had a runaway. He was bawling, and he said, “Thank you Santa, that is so cool.” Just little things like that that inspire me to do more. I go out of the way to make sure that kids stay kids as long as they can.

Every person I see when I’m dressed up has a smile on his or her face. They can’t keep from smiling when they see Santa. When Santa comes in the room, everyone smiles.

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