Product Code Database
Central Oklahoma is the geographical name for the central region of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is also known by the Oklahoma Department of Tourism designation, Frontier Country, defined as the 12-county region including Canadian, Grady, Logan, Oklahoma, Cleveland, McClain, Payne, Lincoln, Pottawatomie, Seminole, Okfuskee, and Hughes counties.
Central Oklahoma is dominated by the largest urban area in the state, the Greater Oklahoma City area. Oklahoma City is the political, economic, tourism, commercial, industrial, financial, and geographical hub of the state, as well as being its primary cultural center. The only Central Oklahoma city which is not officially considered a suburb of Oklahoma City is Stillwater, Oklahoma.
Because of these convergences of dry and wet weather patterns, Central Oklahoma is at the heart of what is known as Tornado Alley, and is one of the most tornado-prone areas in the United States.
WKY Radio in Oklahoma City was the first radio station transmitting west of the Mississippi River and the third radio station in the United States. Oklahoma Fast Facts and Trivia . (accessed September 30, 2013) WKY received its federal license in 1921 and has broadcast under the same call letters since 1922. In 1928, the station was purchased by the Oklahoma Publishing Company and affiliated with the NBC Red Network. In 1949, WKY-TV (Channel 4) went on the air and later became the first independently owned television station in the U.S. to broadcast in color. In mid-2002, WKY radio was purchased outright by Citadel Broadcasting; in 2011, Citadel merged with Cumulus Media, who owns and operates WKY to this day. WKY-TV, which is now KFOR-TV, is currently owned by Tribune Broadcasting as of December 2013.
The major U.S. broadcast television networks have affiliates in Central Oklahoma including NBC affiliate KFOR-TV, ABC affiliate KOCO-TV, CBS affiliate KWTV-DT (owned by locally based Griffin Communications), PBS station KETA-TV (owned by the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority member network), Fox affiliate KOKH-TV, The CW affiliate KOCB, independent station KAUT-TV, MyNetworkTV affiliate KSBI, and Ion Television owned-and-operated station KOPX-TV. The region is also home to the Trinity Broadcasting Network owned-and-operated station KTBO-TV and Norman-based Daystar owned-and-operated station KOCM.
There are no sea ports in Central Oklahoma, as water exports must go through Northeastern Oklahoma via Tulsa, which has one of two large-scale seaport in the state.
There are four primary highways in Central Oklahoma. Interstate 35 connects the region with Texas and Kansas to the south and north, Interstate 40 connects with West Texas and Arkansas, and Interstate 44 is a turnpike its entire duration through the region (except within Oklahoma City), and traverses from Southwest Oklahoma to Missouri.
The region is served by BNSF, Union Pacific and several short-line railroads. Daily passenger service from Oklahoma City to Fort Worth, Texas, is provided by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation through a fee-for-service contract with Amtrak.
Union Bus Station in Oklahoma City is the principal bus terminal in the region and the state.
Other hospitals include the Midwest Regional Medical Center in Midwest City, the Oklahoma Heart Hospital and the Mercy Health Center, Deaconess Hospital, the Edmond Medical Center, Griffin Memorial Hospital in Norman, the Grady Memorial Hospital in Chickasha, Lakeside Women's Hospital.
|
|
