The Oklahoman’s print media empire is disintegrating nicely.
We have learned that “Look at OKC” – The Oklahoman’s 21st century foray into the alt-weekly scene – quietly published its last issue a few weeks ago. Here’s the final cover:
Ooops! Wrong one. That’s where they profiled Christina Fallin’s band Pink Pony unironically. Here’s the real one:
Look at OKC arrived on the scene in approximately 2006, and was intended to be The Oklahoman’s version of the venerable Gazette. For the most part, that’s where the similarities begin and end.
Where the Gazette was a real alternative weekly – Oklahoma City’s hip, liberal older brother who liked music, movies and local restaurants – Look at OKC jumped onto racks as the basic cousin who listened to mainstream country and Nickleback.
Where The Gazette was known for movie reviews, Chicken Fried News and printing the wrong crossword puzzle, Look at OKC’s most popular feature was an “Out and About” section that would share nightlife photos from douche factories like City Walk, Café Nova and Baker Street.
You know, photos like this:
And this:
Back in 2008 – the apex of TLO’s early barstool brah-years – we tried to identify some of the people in the photos above to no success. If you recognize them, let us know so we can see if they’ve aged like the rest of us.
As it turns out, the timing of Look at OKC’s arrival onto the local print media scene couldn’t have been any worse. Alt Weekly’s survived the first wave of the Internet okay. But like all other print media, they were decimated and destroyed by the arrival of smartphones, social media and mobile technology.
In 2005, while you waited for your California Club at City Bites, you could grab a Gazette or Look at OKC and maybe thumb through things to kill a little time. Now you can just scroll through Facebook or Snapchat, take a look at your checking account, play Fortnite, or read websites like this one.
The writing on Look at OKC’s wall seemed pretty clear when…
A) The Oklahoman launched The OK – a “say it like the tree!” lifestyle magazine over the spring.
B) The publication’s most recent editor – Dan Deacon glow stick collector Nathan Poppe – left the weekly a few months ago to edit The Curbside Chronicle.
Yeah, that’s right. The Oklahoman lost a young, talented entertainment journalist to a non-profit magazine that supports and empowers Oklahoma City’s homeless culture. Pretty cool, huh? Take that, E.K. Gaylord.
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“This week in the OKC: Places To Show Off That New Boob Job!”
“Page Three we ask: Is it weird to creep on sisters? An in depth look. “
Alas, T-town’s own Tulsa World has turned it’s entertainment rag into an advertising rag. Talent too, has long moved on. One of the TWorld’s former best humor columnist left a few years past to write for Oklahoma Natural Gas. Not sure how his wit fit into stories on “how to save gas”, but at least he had job security.
Most articles now are repetitions of “best burger in town”, “who’s playing at the BOK again” and “a pictorial look at Tulsa past”.
Creative writing is about dead in local papers.
Both are “Tango Uniform” AKA Tits up. The Gazette, no one cares about that old ass dinosaur print garbage.
So sad. Almost as sad when they repeatedly told me I’d get paid for podcasting and then I did podcasts and then after a hundred or so episodes myself and my co-host made a veiled reference as to how we weren’t getting paid then the editor took that recording right to Christy Gaylord Everest and then she fired us. From a job we didn’t get paid for. Oh, man. So sad. Just…so sad.
Won’t miss them. They stopped being real years ago. Who has time to sit around reading dead wood.
That second photo almost makes me wish I HAD looked at Look.
While I can’t identify the young woman in light green I can identify her breasts: Am and Pul.
Love those full page adds in The Oklahoman bragging about it’s importance as a news source for the people of our state. Especially those adds that refer to people checking social media first and then, finally…looking at The Oklahoman…like both are equally reliable sources of unbiased information.
Wait! The Daily Disappointment printed what? and for how long? Who knew?
The OKC Gazette not hip anymore, now a mouthpiece for the Swampy Elite, coverup instead of cleanup
It’s impossible to publish a “21st Century” paper with a NINETEENTH century mindset!