Urban Tulsa Weekly and the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies

Dusted off from the drafts pile: Occasionally I dump links and quotes in a blog draft on a particular topic just to have a record, with the possibility of expanding later into an actual published entry. Rarely does the published entry happen, but here's how "winning columnists" Barry Friedman and I and managing editor Holly Wall helped Urban Tulsa Weekly earn membership in the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies (AAN), as told through the membership committee reports to their 2006 and 2007 annual conventions. I wrote a weekly column on local issues for UTW from September 2005 through April 2009. (G. K. Hizer was the music editor in a tie.) AAN renamed itself the Association of Alternative Newsmedia in 2011. Links originally gathered on May 17, 2022.

June 17, 2006: CONVENTION: Membership Committee Recommendations

Urban Tulsa Weekly - Tulsa, OK
The Vote: 3 yea, 6 nay
The Committee declines to recommend for membership.

A music editor in a tie? Now that's a conservative market. We're rooting for Urban Tulsa Weekly -- and winning columnists Michael Bates and Barry Friedman -- but have concerns about the stories in the rest of the paper. Readers described the prose as "meandering," "convoluted," "repetitive" and "dull." "With a few exceptions every story was a slog." "This paper needs much more attention paid to its writing and editing." The publisher is also the editor. "It needs to interview people who don't have vested inter-ests in the story being written about them. It needs to develop a critical sense in all of its pages." Case in point: a theater story quotes the director of the piece saying, "It's a wonderful show." Conclusion: It could be a wonderful paper.

May 2, 2007: Nineteen Papers Apply for AAN Membership

As always, there are some familiar names and faces in the bunch. The High Plains Reader and Independent News are applying for the fourth time, Chattanooga Pulse, City Pulse and Urban Tulsa Weekly hope the third time is the charm, and it's the second stab at AAN membership for Yes! Weekly.

June 18, 2007: Five New Member Papers Admitted to AAN

Holly Wall, editorial manager of Urban Tulsa Weekly, took up the case for her paper, noting they had taken to heart the recommendations about improving the paper offered by the Membership Committee on the paper's two previous applications. The Santa Barbara Independent's Robby Robbins defended Urban Tulsa Weekly against the committee's less flattering comments, arguing that judgments about its editorial content should take into consideration the conservative nature of the Tulsa market. After Wall and Robbins spoke, the paper was admitted on the second ballot....

Urban Tulsa Weekly
6 yes; 4 no

This newspaper is obviously making great strides forward, and has come a long way since first applying for membership. "Smart commentary, good news section, good, engaging writing overall," one member said. However, there were elements of the paper that made some committee members uncomfortable. "Little or no reporting -- just rehashing other people's points of view." There was concern that one story in the news section was little more than a military recruitment ad disguised as news.

Six years later, AAN covered the demise of one of its members: November 5, 2013: Urban Tulsa Closes

Launched in July 1991 as a monthly, Urban Tulsa switched to a weekly publication cycle in 1997. The publication joined AAN in 2007.

In an email, an advertising department staff member said, "We are all devastated at the closing of our city's alt weekly."