Every week, Talon News interviews a member of the Oklahoma Christian University community, a “Newsmaker,” to answer questions about their role on campus.
On February 11, Talon News interviewed hall of fame award winner, Dawn Shelton.
What brought you to Oklahoma Christian University?
“I was in Michigan, and I was a member of the church, and my parents said I had to go to a Church of Christ college. On the list of them, Oklahoma Christian had a journalism program, and it was in a city, a big city. So, that attracted me here, as opposed to Abilene or Harding and here you study journalism.”
What did you study while at Oklahoma Christian University?
“Here, I did broadcast, so I actually was not a member of the Talon staff, except for as a photographer and a features writer. But at the time, we had the radio station, KOCC, and we did news there. I ended up as a news director there.”
Where did you go, post-grad?
Post Graduation I started at KTOK am radio and the Oklahoma news network it’s still on, actually. It was 24-hour news and radio talk, and this was the 90’s so that’s what we did then. Then I ended up working here (Oklahoma City) with Judson. I worked in PR and news, PR and news, and then I did PR here. Then I had a bunch of babies and worked part time for a long time, and then we moved to Luther in 2010.”
Why did you move to Luther?
“We live near downtown Oklahoma City, urban people. We have boys, and we wanted land, so we moved there. We wanted to be hobby farmers. My boys wanted to hunt. And we went out there because it was the cheapest land, and most available land we could get for our budget.”
How did you start Luther Register News?
“We were in Luther for five years, just kind of doing our thing and still living life in Oklahoma City with church at the time and work and school and stuff. But things were happening in Luther. There was a contentious school bond election. There was some embezzlement in town that was rumored and on Facebook, no one knew what was going on. I thought, I can help them know what’s going on. So, I dragged him, Steve Lackmeyer, out to Luther to have breakfast with me. I had my business plan in a black binder, and he tried to talk me out of it, but he ended up giving me permission. I started an online paper that was 10 years ago.
What has been your biggest struggle?
“Well, the obvious is the state of news and for reporters to make a living doing news and sharing information and seeing it as a consumer. Something that you should consume and pay for. But really, what community news is that I may not have known was that I’m doing news on my neighbors, about my neighbors, for my neighbors. That means I’m going to be on scene of a terrible accident or a crime, or my neighbor’s house is going to burn down, and I’m going to be there. So, it is really kind of thrown into how you cover things, and sometimes I might not even write a story about something. I will just call someone, or they will call me and I’ll find out.”
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