Brett Fieldcamp: This is On the Scene, giving you a look behind the curtains of Oklahoma's arts, culture, and entertainment worlds. I'm Brett Fieldcamp, today talking with KGOU General Manager Dick Pryor.
Dick Pryor: Thanks, Brett. This is the two-year anniversary of On the Scene on KGOU, so, let's turn the tables today.
You talk about creative people every week. This week, I want to talk to you.
Let's discuss On the Scene and how Brett Fieldcamp makes it all work.
Brett Fieldcamp: Okay. Let's!
Dick Pryor: Early in 2024, I was talking to our great friend and KGOU supporter, Jay Shanker, and I wanted us to have, on KGOU, a segment on art, culture, music, film, the creative energy that we find in Oklahoma City and the state of Oklahoma.
And we talked about the concept, and it took a while. We worked through some iterations of all of that “what does this need to be?” and went down two or three paths, and finally kind of settled on “let's go with Brett and see what he comes up with.”
And you've introduced us to ideas, and most specifically people that most of us would never have known about fascinating people, talented people, people that are doing things that we need to know about. You've been able to find them and introduce us to them.
How do you do that?
Brett Fieldcamp: Really just by keeping my ear to the ground.
I've obviously been an arts and entertainment journalist for nearly 20 years now, with a lot of different local publications, including Oklahoma City Free Press, of which I'm now the owner. I took over the company in February of this year.
But for even longer than I've been a writer, I've also been a musician. And so, of course, I've made loads of connections and loads of great close friends. So, obviously, it's a lot of the world and a lot of the circles that I've run in for so many years.
But also it's anything I come across on social media. I see somebody new doing anything, and I say “I'm gonna follow them, I'm gonna keep up with that.”
I mean, 75% maybe, of the episodes that I've done for On the Scene have been people that I didn't know before interviewing them for On The Scene. So many of them are people that I've reached out to blind and said “I really love what you're doing, I see what you've got coming up, I'd love to be able to sit down and chat about that on mic.” Everybody, you know, it's one thing to say, “hey, I see what you're doing,” but it's really, it's another big thing to say, “hey, I'm excited about what you're going to do.”
Dick Pryor: There's frequently a sentiment that the most creative people in art, in music, in film are located in bigger cities, mostly on the coasts.
What would you say to anyone that has a belief that there's nothing much here about Oklahoma, and specifically Oklahoma City? What do we have to offer?
Brett Fieldcamp: We have everything, but I think that what makes it really special is that there's not a lot of people doing anything in Oklahoma City because they think that it's going to make them some big giant success.
The people that I interview are almost all all the time doing it because it's something that they have a drive to do, and you can, you can hear that level of genuine enthusiasm, I think, in the voice of every single person that I speak to.
And I think that there's a very similar element to the people that have committed to being creative in Oklahoma, right? There are a lot of people that happen to be creative in Oklahoma, but there's a lot of people that have committed to being creative in Oklahoma, and I think there's something really special about that.
Dick Pryor: What do you want listeners to take away about creativity, the value of creativity, the value of being involved in the arts in a community?
Brett Fieldcamp: That's something that I've actually had a very clear answer to since the day that I started this, which was - my hope and my goal - is that anyone can listen to On the Scene and feel like they can start being creative right then too.
I've always had this very “big picture” concept that if there was someone that felt like maybe they had something creative or personal to say, and had no idea how to do it, and no idea how to break through, or how to approach it, that they could open up On the Scene and have, essentially, a blueprint for how to approach their ideas, how to present their ideas, and, most importantly from my perspective, for how to believe that people care about their ideas.
So that's really kind of always been my dream for the show, and so I really hope I've been able to accomplish that to some extent.
You know, for the last two years, I've really just been figuring this out as I've gone along.
Dick Pryor: Well, that's what we get from experience.
The mark of a professional is to be ready, and when that opportunity knocks. You can answer the door and step through it.
Brett Fieldcamp: Well, thank you to you and to KGOU for giving me the opportunity of these last two years. And here's to a lot more!
Dick Pryor: Our pleasure. Thanks, Brett.
-=-=-Special Note-=-=-
We'd like to invite you to help Brett celebrate the 2nd anniversary of On the Scene in a special gathering at The Soundbar OKC this Friday, July 10th at 6:30pm.
Brett will chat with past guests who represent Oklahoma's music, arts and overall creative scene, while also sharing what's in store for future episodes.
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