The Man Behind "The McCarville Report Online"

Mike McCarville is doing a series on his blog The McCarville Report Online entitled: “10 Political Figures I'd Want Watching My Back...And Why”.

If you've never visited Mike's blog before, now would be a good time to start. He's throwing away the political labels for this series and is giving you his politically unbiased opinion on the characters of the persons he'll be covering in his ten part series.

For those of you unfamiliar with Mike McCarville, I’ll try and give you a sense of who the man is.

Mike McCarville began writing at Del City High School as the Teen Correspondent for The Daily Oklahoman-Oklahoma City Times. After high school Mike spent part of his time in the U.S. Army’s PIO (Public Information Office) at Ft. Belvoir, Va., and also did a weekly radio show.

After being discharged from the Army, Mike enrolled at the University of Oklahoma and went to work in the Norman Bureau of The Daily Oklahoman-Oklahoma City Times, moving on to join the OKC staff in 1962.

From that time on, Mr. McCarville states that he bounced around from the Tulsa Tribune, Norman Transcript, and Oklahoma Courier, and then rejoined the Tribune in 1967 as State Capitol Correspondent.

In 1968 Mike became press secretary to Governor Dewey F. Bartlett. 1971 brought on a change to his becoming Assistant News Director at KWTV. In 1972 Mike co-managed Bartlett’s U.S. Senate campaign, ultimately becoming the Campaign Consultant.

1980 was a landmark year for Mike McCarville when he founded The McCarville Report, Byline Magazine for beginning writers, and Ford Owners Newsletter.

Mike went on to work part-time for KTOK News as Investigative Reporter. He became a full-time employee in 1993, began the talk show in 1996 and left the station December 31, 2005, having been on 10 years and 4 years as Program Director.

During all those years Mike explains that he did freelance writing for numerous publications which were national, regional, and local.

I asked Mike to recollect some of the most memorable moments of his career, and there were certainly some exciting, scary, and historic moments that he recounted: “The May 1999 F5 tornado...I was on the air. April 19, 1995, Murrah Building bombing...I was there within 10 minutes, spent almost three weeks on site nonstop. September 11, 2001...went on the air immediately. Lots of other moments as well: My interview with Jesse Jackson when, as my final question, I asked what he did for a living. "Well," he said, "I talk to people like you...have my CNN show...." He didn't know what to say. A moment I'll forever savor!”


When asked what prompted him to do his 10 part series entitled: "10 Political Figures I'd Want Watching My Back...And Why", Mike responded, “I was prompted to do this series because there are so many fine people in both parties out there that few know about; just my way of telling their stories based on my personal experiences with them.”

I asked Mr. McCarville, “With all the biased reporting floating around, how did you manage to keep your journalism so politically uncolored?” His reply was as refreshing as a spring breeze after the rain: “As for keeping bias out of my pieces...that's just the way I'm built, I guess. I strive to be fair and I've been around long enough, with enough experiences, that I recognize there are numerous sides to every story. I prefer to look at the positive sides.”

Mike has certainly led the way in well-balanced and unbiased journalism. His career has landed him a reputation for being one the few voices of truth in the chaotic and demanding world of journalistic media. No wonder the name Mike McCarville quickly became a well-revered household name throughout great state of Oklahoma.

Many thanks to Mr. McCarville for taking time out of his schedule to allow me to conduct this interview.