40 Year Anniversary

You . Practically from its first episode on OETA, outdoor Oklahoma, earthed a culture of loyal viewers that now spans 40 years. In the mid-50s, the wildlife department produced a few 15-minute episodes called outdoor Oklahoma on 16 millimeter black and white film. These were hand delivered to television stations in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, and broadcast live while being narrated by

someone from the department. Some of these short programs were re-recorded to broadcast multiple times, and several were even distributed to schools throughout the state. Then in 1976, the wildlife department entered into a historic cooperative agreement with Oklahoma Educational Television Authority to air a regularly scheduled half-hour show every week. And today, 40 years later, outdoor Oklahoma is one of the longest continuously run programs in our state's history. And from that very first episode on OETA, a precedence was set for quality outdoor programming on television. Although many things have changed since that first show in 76, our mission has been, and that's to showcase our state's limitless outdoor opportunities, and inspire you to experience it for yourself. Today, we celebrate this relationship with OETA, and catch

up with several of those that you've welcomed into your home over these last four decades. David Warren, Laura Pollard, Neil Kies, Paul Moore, Rich Fuller, and myself Todd Craighead have been proud to be a part of your living room since 1976. Well, hello, and welcome to Outdoor Oklahoma. I'm Todd Craig head, and it's hard to believe that sitting here at the table together, we've got 125 years of experience producing outdoor Oklahoma and bringing it to you every week. This is a landmark episode for us today. We're celebrating our 40th anniversary. Can you imagine 40 years? We are back in the OETA studio where it all began, and what kind of memories does this bring back for everybody? A lot of work. A lot of work. A lot of hours. Sure. It's fun to think that we had

her set right back there in that corner, and spent a lot of time here. That's right. We actually produced the show out here every Wednesday morning. And of course, those early years, we were producing what 52 shows a year, almost, or 50 or so. And so that gave us a pretty tight schedule. We had to have that show ready and edited Wednesday morning. And then we had to spend Thursday and Friday filming next week's show. And then Monday and Tuesday was editing like crazy, sometimes into the wee hours to get it done. It didn't make our spouses real happy. At times. Before we got to that point when we had a full-time working relationship with OETA, the Wildlife Department dabbled in, oh, 15-minute productions. And I think Neil, that you were involved in some of those sometimes. When I joined the department in 67, I did a TV show with Channel

9 before I got associated with OETA. And those were 30-minute shows. And we had our director, Wendell Beaver. He co-hosted with the director at Channel 9. But I think from, that was a 13-week series. But from that, I think OETA kind of saw the production, the work, and everything. The actual show started. I think, and what was it, Dave? Well, it did have kind of an evolving start, but it really got to go on that weekly schedule about probably 76. Oklahoma Outdoors. To help you enjoy and better understand our outdoor world, your host from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, David Warn, and Laura Smith. Hello.

It's nice to have you with us again here on Oklahoma Outdoors. Well, as you can see, we have Laura back with us this week after a trip out of state. Do you want to tell us about it? That's all right, David. I went to Pennsylvania and went to a conservation education. But I think a number of us learned on the job, because I was a wildlife biology major at OSU, but certainly not done any film making of any sort. The big challenge was, you know, the magazine out to Oklahoma's one thing we grew up with a lot of us, and we wanted to show that it'd be close to the quality of the magazine. And I think it drove all of us to be a lot more professional. And we did have to learn on the job, because a lot of us were wildlife people to begin with. Were there any lessons you learned the hard way? Most of them. Too many to count. I think the lesson I learned was, you know, in Will Rogers said it best, if you don't like the weather in Oklahoma way to a while, you cannot predict the Oklahoma weather.

There was many times where we would watch the weather, and now it looks like it's going to be perfect. And, you know, of course, get out there and it would fool all the meteorologists and people that studied weather a lot more than we did, but now we got stung by the weather. And then, conversely, we had some shoots that, you know, turned off to be pretty nice. So it all kind of even down, but I learned that you had to always have a backup, because you get out there, you're going to produce a fishing show, and like you say, if the weather turns bad or if the fish don't bite, what are you going to have for a show? So that was a lot of pressure from week to week to always come up with something. Now, you've mentioned some pretty good tips on fishing streams. He also brought some lures to show us and we have not very much time, but we might like to see if you have them. You bet. Well, of course, the best, probably the best fisherman, at least on this particular float, was Joe Hampeel.

He seemed to be catching the most. And he was really, really good at fishing streams. He also brought some lures to show us and we have not very much time, but we might like to see if you have them. You bet. You're going to be catching the most. And he was using this little crank bait. Crotted. Crotted color. Yeah. What was that learning curve like in those beginning years when he should be started? Todd, I can remember when I first started with the department, we actually did cut and paste with film. We used 16-millimeter film and we shoot it and get it processed and come back. And I can remember Neil, he talked about the wee hours of the night and didn't matter what time it was, Neil always stayed till the job got done. But he'd be sitting there with his reels going back and forth and cutting and pasting. And you know it progressed from there to beginning videotape. And finally he got to where we were sitting on our desk, editing on our computers. Did you ever think that you'd run out of material?

There's only so much to do in Oklahoma. Was that ever an issue? I don't really remember that. I remember the staff meetings where we'd sit around and brainstorm. And it's always fine. It was creative. But I don't remember ever. Maybe they were lengthy sometimes coming up with something that seems like that was never concerned. Probably one of the challenges was how many different ways can you film a Bob Whitehunt? Yeah. And I think part of that goes back to who you use as your talent, as we call it, or your guests. They really make the show. In many regards, no matter what you're doing, if you have the right people on with you, then it's going to be a success. And Todd, you talk about pressure. There was pressure on us. But we could always get by with some talking heads or something, you know, to get by. But the guests that we use, the guys and the gals went out to produce for us, catch fish. You talk about some people sweating. They really took it seriously. And, of course, that made us try to

do that much better job. So it was quite a bit of fun. You know, Dave, you mentioned the pressure a lot of times is on the

people that we were filming and shooting with. And there was how many times a deer you should have been here yesterday. You know, we caught 37. You know, we limited down on croppy in 45 minutes and you get there and it's all day and you're going, come on, come on, come on, come on. And you felt for the people. I mean, we'd seen it enough to where we knew that, you know, if it was that easy, it wouldn't be called hunting or fishing or whatever. It would be something else. When we talk about some of those guests that we've had on the show and the talent that we've used, are there some memorable ones that come to mind, some favorites that you worked with? Some we can't talk about. Those that you can talk about, though. In fact, a good source was our own staff. You know, the game rangers are wardens as they're called now. They were a prime source for different types of shows and they always knew where the good hunting fishing was in their country and the biologists

that managed our wildlife management areas. That was another great source. A really good plant. It's an emergent type plant that will grow out to about four feet deep in the water. You know, the southeast area of our state is home to some of the largest tracks of public land to be found in the southern United States. These are certified disease-free elk and they've been tested and certified as such by the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture Veterinary. Spear guns used by scuba divers are legal for taking non-game fish. That includes the flathead, which is a primary target and provides some great opportunities for divers. I can remember one show where when we first went to the videotape, we had a it wasn't just a camera with everything built into it. We had a recorder that you had to carry around and the recorder was was yay big and it probably weighed 20, 25 pounds and then you had an umbilical cord that went to the camera.

And so Neil was shooting the video, the camera and I was looking around being his back meal carrying the recorder and we were doing a gray squirrel hunt in eastern Oklahoma. And you think of the mountains of eastern Oklahoma and you think, oh, those are real pretty and lovely. Well, when you're trying to keep up with someone carrying this thing, you have to watch the person out of the corner of your eye with the camera, then you have to look at the ground to make sure you're knocking a trip. We tripped and fell and we broke that that cord. I remember Dave several times. All of the steps. Yeah. Yeah. Our equipment took a punishment, rain, snow and blood and gore and somehow we still managed to get the shows produced. I'm ready. I think we better get to the truck for this guy. Open up and get us all wet all over the house. We're going to roll over, we're going to roll over, we're going to roll over besides just from our knees down. There we go. Good thing the water is clear. You kind of see some of these rocks out here. It's not that good. It's not that good. Yeah, we better get off in a hurry. It's the advantage of being the

short guy right now. There's definitely a thing in the tree that's going to die. It's a lot of trouble. This is what it looks like. Yeah. Three days away from Christmas. Snowflowing. We could have a white Christmas. You know, you mentioned OETA and that's always been an integral part of who we are. Out of Oklahoma wouldn't be who we are today and certainly wouldn't have that 40-year history without that relationship. How important was that in those beginning years and what did those conversations sound like? Did you get in on those early talks with them? Sure. Early on. Our mission was the same as the departments. You know, try to inform and educate and help people understand what good wildlife conservation was. And I think we really all of us did feel committed to the cause. And everybody worked extra hard to make good things happen. And one of the big challenges back then was getting people convinced that it was time to we could start

shooting some does. And that's just one subject. But we had several that we'd hit on a lot. And we tried to coordinate it with obviously with the department's mission. How to do it, Oklahoma. To help you enjoy and better understand your outdoor world. I worked for the department during those 60s and 70s. And you travel out different parts of the state. The public, the only, when you mentioned the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Country, the public, the public, the public, the only, when you mentioned the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, they immediately would think of the local game ranger or wardens are now called. And that was sort of their source of information of what was going on and what the department represented. But once OETA gave us the opportunity to release this show statewide, we were able to give the whole public

information about what we represented and what we stood for. The first thing that usually happens every year in March is our walleye trapeinating operation out at Lake Canton. Walleye are the earliest spawners in the state. And in order to stock other lakes in the state, we rely on Canton walleye population to supply the fish that are needed. Here the boys are marking a few fish and returning the ones that we don't need. Of course we keep the female walleye using the eggs from the female. You do some similar things with other species later in the year. Later on we get into our striped bass and our striped bass hybrid production. It's a similar technique, however, we collect fish and other lakes for that purpose. But mostly early spring, this time of year is when fish are spawning and when we're providing fish

for other lakes in the state. In 1998, some of you were here, some of you weren't, but we transitioned away from being in the studio here and having a set to a full in the field production. And I know Rich, you and I worked through that transition. And that was some growing plants. That was a big deal. It was a big deal. Tell me about how that affected how we operate. You know, it was, we, there for a while, I thought the sky was falling, and of course it didn't. But it was, it was a, it was a change that was necessitated because of space concerns here at the OETA, OETA studios and so forth. And really it was something that we had somewhat given in the idea even previous to that because there were, we called them canned shows. A show that was completely produced by us out in the field and,

and from start to finish, 30 minutes and give them, give them the finished product, no studio set time. So we had done that on occasion. And so that, that, that precedent was somewhat set. But now it was, you guys need to do this full time. And it was, it was some growing pains. Hello everybody, I'm Paul Morgan. I've got bugs flying out my nose. Look at that thing on the lens. Well, that is, where that's bad. That's in it. That's right in the, the element itself. You know. You can see that thing right there. Outdoor report. Overall, you know, it was one of those things that probably, three or four, maybe five years after that, it was kind of like, she was, you know, it wouldn't, wouldn't as bad as what we thought. What do you got there, Paul?

Well, we're looking at some of the new products that you can find at the Oklahoma Bullhunting Council's annual coffers. This is a knife that has a little flashlight in it, so you can find your, your coffee cup, up in your tree steam, right? Or you could maybe even clean a turkey after dark. There you go. There you go. Thanks for joining us, everybody. As we said, Hello and welcome to Outdoor Oklahoma. I'm Todd Craighead. Boy, this brings back a lot of memories for me. You have any idea how long it's been since I've roamed the halls of a middle school? No smart enough comments, please. Oh, man. That was awesome. Oh, golly. What the, what that school of basketball? That was really amazing, really amazing. I couldn't believe we saw a whole bunch of school five-inch baths, five-inch bill of men, perch and stuff. That was great. That was awesome. Hello, everybody. We're down here, like Elmo Thomas in the report, so that's the exploding you hear every once in a long time. Where's my popcorn? Did you bring the popcorn with you? I really should. Are there not popcorn fish in this lake? Well, if it worked,

we'd try it. We'd try it. This is too early to watch a movie, so we're going to make a movie. There you go. That's right. We're going to make our own version of Old Man in the sea. I won't get into who's Old Man. Thank you. Hey, this is great. I'm looking forward to this great day. Well, of course, you're the host of the show. And I appreciate you coming on. We're going to be talking about that and a bunch of other great things about OETA today. But let's go fishing. You want to? I'd love to. We've got a great guide. We got him. When I look back on my career with the department, it's not any one particular show. It's the meeting all the sportsmen all around the state, finding out about the different ways that people enjoy the outdoors. We got to see some amazing sunrises and sunsets in our career. And a lot of people miss that. And, you know, some of the time you were bundled up so cold, you didn't think you had lived. You were standing in whaiters with water up to here, looking into a duck blind. But other times, it was pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. You know, I look at you all

sitting at this table. And like I said, we have 125 years that we added up of working on this show together. And you may not consider it. But I consider you all pioneers in the industry that really were setting a new precedence in outdoor programming. There really weren't too many other competitors in those early years. In Oklahoma, we had Dawn Wallace. Was there anybody else? I mean, we were breaking new ground, weren't we? Well, there was the real

professional shows like Nova and those other shows that we were competing with on Channel 13. But that helped us, I think, because we could see those shows where they had, you know, large production situations. And so that gave us a goal to try to achieve in our shows. Well, this might address that somewhat. But what would you attribute to the longevity of outdoor Oklahoma, 40 years on OETA? It's a long time. Todd, I think it's really attributed to, of course, OETA, which we've recognized many times and need to in the future as well. But we're the wildlife department. And we've got a whole agency that stands behind us. That's allowed us to do what we've done and been supportive with, you know, hiring good people, getting good equipment, having people available that we can bring on

the show, a lot of game wardens and biologists and other folks that work for our agency that have information that nobody else really has. And I think that, I think, as a sportsman out there, and I've been told this many times, probably, you have two, Laura, and all of us. And that is people tune in to our show because they want to hear how this year's quail crop is going to look from the biologist. You know, the person that really does know. I think that's the real unique part about it and what's been pretty much responsible for our longevity. Hopefully another way. And showcasing local talent, too. Oh, yeah. And the diverse state that we live in with all the different wildlife species and the different people of all of the houses. Absolutely. The whole show is produced, shot and produced, here in Oklahoma. And that's what people want to see. I thank you for being here today. We've had a great time, lots of stories.

You know, and the best part about my job, and I'm sure you would have said the same thing, is that I call each of you a friend. And I really mean that. And we really appreciate that efforts and the support that you've had throughout the years for us. Well, I appreciate you continuing the tradition and doing such an excellent job of hosting the show. Right. All right. Well, here's to another 40 years about the Oklahoma. One of the things about outdoor Oklahoma and OETA, it's Oklahoma. And I think that's really what's key when you start thinking about what it means to the people that watch OETA and watch outdoor Oklahoma on OETA, really when it comes to local programming, there's really no other program like outdoor Oklahoma that has that appeal, I think, to our audiences. And so congratulations to outdoor Oklahoma. And we just really cherish our partnership with you.

And we wish you all well and continue to hope that we'll continue in our partnership for many years yet to come. Be with us at this same time next week when your State Game and Fish Department again brings you outdoor Oklahoma. you