Laura Knoll

On Wednesday, the Society of Professional Journalists honored KGOU, KOSU, and StateImpact Oklahoma with a national Sigma Delta Chi award for collaborative coverage during the immediate aftermath of the May 20, 2013 tornado that devastated Moore.

If you documented any part of the tornadoes that devastated parts of Oklahoma in May of 2013 through still photography, KGOU is asking you to share your photos for possible inclusion in an exhibit marking the one-year anniversary.

Like most non-profits, KGOU relies on volunteers during the busiest times of the year -- specifically, during our membership drives. We have great volunteers, and we'd like to add to their numbers -- the more, the merrier! We have a good time, even though it does get really busy sometimes.

Here's your chance to help out KGOU and the greater listening community. And so, without further ado and with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, here are our top ten reasons to sign up now:

Yes, I'm really going to compare public radio to a suspension bridge. They're very similar, don't you think?

And not just in the obvious ways.

It's easy to see that like a suspension bridge, public radio is a connector between communities, a way to get from Here to There, a conduit for the free exchange between points -- geographic or intellectual -- that seemed forever destined to be separated.

Now that the busy-ness has abated somewhat from April's membership drive, May's disastrous storms, and June's end of the fiscal year (where did June go?), I've had some time to look over the correspondence we've received from listeners and members.

It's no surprise that the bulk of it was regarding the programming changes brought on by NPR's decision to discontinue Talk of the Nation. Many listeners were saddened, and possibly even angry, just like Kathy:

Resources for parents, teachers, mental health professionals, and first responders, compiled by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network:

After the Tornado: Helping Young Children Heal (PDF)

If you're familiar with KGOU's student-produced public affairs program Assignment: Radio, then you already know we have some talented student broadcasters taking the university course known internally as Radio News.

But to banish any doubts, here's proof: In the National Broadcasting Society (Alpha Epsilon Rho) annual student competition, Assignment: Radio reporters won national awards for their work in 2012.

A One-Word Prompt

On Jan. 1, 1983, KGOU became a non-commercial public radio station. I barely noticed.

I should have noticed. After all, I was working at KGOU as a volunteer student broadcaster, and for the past year and a half I’d been dragging my sleep-deprived self out of bed at 6 a.m. (an hour most college students deemed unthinkable)  to write and deliver two five-minute newscasts each morning. Still, I didn’t pay much attention.