GTR Enters 25th Year
By FORREST CAMERON, Ph.D.
Editor and Publisher
Thanks to our readers, advertisers, my family and all who have contributed in any way to the Greater Tulsa Reporter, we enter our 25th year of publication in 2017.
began as a thought in 1992. Growing up in Tulsa, I loved reading the Tulsa World and Tulsa Tribune (the evening paper).
I was raised from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s in midtown Tulsa near Edison High School. At that time, the area where the Union School District is today was almost completely rural. Our family moved from Tulsa to Kentucky in 1974 and returned in 1985. When we returned, we purchased a home in the Minshall Park edition in the Union School District. I was immediately amazed how much the Union District had grown in the south and southeast Tulsa and west Broken Arrow areas. It was almost completely full of residential houses and apartments.
Having always been interested in newspapers, I noticed that the Union area was not receiving much targeted news, as it was located in parts of the two cities. I began asking Union residents if they would like to have their own paper. One hundred percent of the people I talked to said yes. So, I decided to publish a paper targeted solely to Union residents. Our first edition, with the front cover above on this page, was published in January 1993. The timing was good as far as news, as a debate was raging over year-round schools. Also, as the headline above states, Highway 169 was opening through 71st Street, resulting in a prediction of a building boom in the 71st Street and Mingo Road area.
As the Union Boundary grew, we decided to expand further into Greater Tulsa. Instead of having one paper and change the Union Boundary name, we decided to continue our target to school district areas and have the papers under the Greater Tulsa Reporter Newspapers banner. The Jenks District Gazette and Midtown Monitor (formerly the Tulsa Free Press) were started in 1995, the Broken Arrow Express and Owasso Rambler began in 1998, and the Bixby Breeze was introduced in 2002.
Keeping up with the times, we went online in 1996, and as far as we know, we were among the first of publications to do so in Greater Tulsa.
Again, thank you Greater Tulsa for 25 years! We are here to serve!
Updated 12-28-2016
READER COMMENTS
