KOKC’s Scott Mitchell Brings Barber Shop Conversation To Oklahoma City Radio

By Jason Doyle Oden
The McCarville Report

Scott Mitchell took to the microphone at News Radio 1520 KOKC-AM a little more than a year ago. The talk show host is now nominated as one of the Oklahoma Gazette’s Best of Radio Personalities for 2015 for his Mitchell in the Morning show. Mitchell also can be seen talking politics and putting guests on the “hot seat” weekends at KWTV News 9. He has become one of the most prolific voices talking about Oklahoma politics, business, arts, and entertainment.

Mitchell tells The McCarville Report the radio show is a happy accident.

“I’ve seen a succession of people I like to listen to be corporate downsized over the years. The last one was when Reid Mullins was on the air. I really don’t want to listen to somebody who knows less than me and that’s tended to be the norm in this town. We were doing a project for Griffin (Communications) at the Radio Oklahoma Network. It was just a chance conversation between Ty (Tyler) and myself. One thing led to the other,” says Mitchell.

Ty Tyler is the co-owner of Tyler Communications which operates several radio stations in Oklahoma City, including KOKC-AM with its widespread 50,000 watt signal. Mitchell says knowing that he has an audience makes the effort worth it.

“It is interesting to note the response. You gamble on this. When you look up and you’re basically the only game in town, how are we going to do something that is entertaining? We know people have to have something that is not only newsworthy but entertaining.”

Mitchell was raised in Lindsay, Oklahoma. He worked as a shoe shine boy in the local barber shop. That’s the model for his current show on the radio.

“The barber shop there was the central place, no matter what walk of life, no matter where you were in the social strata, the last one in was the last one to get service. You had to come in and wait your time through the line. As the shine boy there when I was a kid, I listened to all these folks, the farmers, the ranchers, the bankers, the retailers, the preachers, and the guys working in the oil field. They all worked together in a conversation. There was nobody that would try to dominate. They were skillful no matter their walk of life. Learning from these people was easy to do because all I had to do is shut my mouth and keep my ears open, and I would learn.”

Mike McCarville, whose talk show aired on KTOK for 10 years and who also was the station’s program director, says Mitchell has what it takes to succeed: “He just talks Oklahoma stuff in an Oklahoma way that people can understand. His knowledge of politics and government is vast, he stays informed, and it shows. Scott has the knack of connecting with people, guest or listener; that’s the ‘barber shop’ in him.”

Mitchell began his broadcasting career in the late 1970s in Oklahoma City working at WKY-AM. Since then, he’s worked in television and is currently a pre-trial consultant. His latest stint in television is acting as host of KWTV’s Hot Seat and Your Vote Counts which air during the station’s weekend morning newscasts. Mitchell says Your Vote Counts works because it fits current local political topics into a digestible format for television audiences.

“Part of it is, it is six and a half minutes. The old model of the long play interview shows; when you start looking at Sunday mornings, it is littered with all these folks who tape these long programs. All these programs are having great difficulties in the ratings. The American public has got a very short attention span. Your Vote Counts is made for social media. It is made to get to the point. We cover four points in six and a half minutes. It’s really sort of where the American public is right now. They have to consume their news fast, or you’re going to lose them.”

With all of his recent success, Mitchell is humble in the fact that he still learns from the work he does on the air.

“I walk away after my Friday show, every week I learn something new. And I’m thrilled to learn.”