About Us

For nearly four decades, The Oklahoma Observer has served as the state’s only journal of free voices, providing news, analysis and commentary that can’t be found in Oklahoma’s uniformly conservative mainstream media.
Our motto: To comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

We primarily focus on government, politics and social issues, with special emphases on public education, health and welfare, civil liberties and separation of church and state.

We shine the spotlight on rank hypocrisy and public corruption, leading some to call us “the conscience of Oklahoma.”

We speak truth to power, no matter who’s in charge: During Gov. Henry Bellmon’s reign, we were considered too Republican. During Gov. Frank Keating’s era, we were attacked as too Democratic.

At times, they’ve thrown darts at us at both political headquarters.
When Father John Joyce launched The Oklahoma Observer 38 years ago, it was financed primarily through a subsidy from the Catholic Archdiocesan Council. But church leaders yanked their support because of Father Joyce’s vigorous opposition to the Vietnam War.

Rather than accept The Observer’s demise, Father Joyce offered to sell it to Frosty Troy, the Tulsa Tribune’s state Capitol correspondent. Frosty and his wife, Helen, agreed to the acquisition, beginning the paper’s transformation into Oklahoma’s premier independent journal of commentary.

For 36 years, Helen served as publisher and Frosty as editor, an unbeatable combination that produced an impressive list of state and national awards.
In September 2006, Frosty and Helen partnered with Arnold and Beverly Hamilton to help transition The Observer into the state’s second century. Helen retired in January 2007, but Frosty remains on-board as Founding Editor.
The Hamiltons have deep Oklahoma roots: Both are third-generation Okies, raised in Midwest City. They returned to the state for good 18 years ago, after living in California and Texas.

Before becoming Observer publisher, Beverly spent nearly six years as a financial secretary at Edmond Santa Fe High School. Arnold, the new Observer editor, was the Dallas Morning News’ longtime Oklahoma Bureau chief. He also covered government and politics for the San Jose Mercury News, the Dallas Times Herald, the Tulsa Tribune and the Oklahoma Journal.

The Observer is published on the 10th and 25th of each month, except for July 25th and December 25th. A one-year subscription [22 issues] is $30.

FROSTY TROY, FOUNDING EDITOR

Forrest J. "Frosty" Troy is founding editor of The Oklahoma Observer.
A member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, Frosty has
covered state and national politics, government and social issues
for a half century. He is a nationally acclaimed speaker on his three
favorite topics: The free enterprise system, education and politics.
Before launching the Observer as an independent journal of commentary
36 years ago, he headed both state capitol and Washington newspaper
bureaus. Under his leadership, the Observer won more than four
dozen journalism awards.

For his vigorous defense of public education across America, Frosty
received the Walter Cronkite Faith and Freedom Award, an award he
shared with the late Peter Jennings of ABC News.

Among his other honors: The National Champion of Children Award, the
National and Oklahoma Friend of Education awards, Scouting's God &
Country Award, the First Amendment Award, the PTA's Distinguished
Service to Children Award and the American Legion's Patriotism Award.

Arnold Hamilton, Editor

Arnold Hamilton became editor of The Oklahoma Observer in September 2006.
A 32-year veteran of daily newspapers, Hamilton is a former staff writer for the Dallas Morning News, the San Jose Mercury News, the Dallas Times Herald, the Tulsa Tribune and the Oklahoma Journal.

Much of his career has focused on American politics and government: He covered full-time the state Capitols of Oklahoma, Texas and California, as well as presidential campaigns and national political conventions.

Hamilton spent the last 18 years as Dallas Morning News Oklahoma Bureau Chief, a regional correspondent and a member of the politics/elections team. Among his notable stories: He covered the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and twice interviewed convicted bomber Timothy McVeigh. He helped chronicle Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign. And he reported on two major hurricanes in 2005, riding out Katrina in a French Quarter hotel and Rita in a Jasper, Texas radio station.

Born in St. Louis, Mo., Hamilton was raised in Midwest City, Okla. He earned a B.S. in organizational behavior from the University of San Francisco and an M.A. in political science from Oklahoma State University.

He is a two-time winner of a Dallas Press Club Katie Award for reporting excellence. His coverage of the Oklahoma City bombing was featured in the 1996 edition of America’s Best Newspaper Writing. And his reporting on Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh's conviction was honored – along with the New York Times – by the American Society of Newspaper Editors.
In 1997, Hamilton received the Fran Morris Civil Liberties in Media Award from the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Oklahoma. He also was a member of the Dallas Morning News team honored by the Associated Press Sports Editors for investigative reporting on the 2003 Baylor University basketball scandal that included the murder of player Patrick Dennehy.

What Others Are Saying About The Observer

Oklahoma Gazette
December 6, 2006

Frosty fluctuation
After nearly 40 years, change is in the weather at The Oklahoma Observer. But don't count on its voice quitting the scene anytime soon.

BY SCOTT COOPER

There are changes taking place at one longtime political newspaper, which might leave some to wonder if retire­ment is setting in. But the voice of the paper says not to worry: “I'm still going to be feisty Frosty.”
That's Frosty Troy of The Oklahoma Observer. A liberal voice of Oklahoma publications for nearly four decades, Troy and his newspaper are as much a part of state govern­ment and politics as negative cam­paigning.
The Observer mainly has been a two-person operation since the day Troy purchased the newspaper. He has handled the editorial content while his wife, Helen, has handled everything else.

“She's 80 percent of it,” Troy told Oklahoma Gazette. “I'm traveling. I cover the Legislature. I drift in here to do some writing and then I'm gone. She's the publisher, accountant and coordinates my speeches.”
A few months ago, Helen Troy served her husband notice she was ready to retire. FrostyTroy went out on the hunt for a new partner and finally bagged a journalist he had been trying to win over for two years. Arnold Hamilton was the Oklahoma bureau chief of The Dallas Morning News for 18 years. He retired from the Morning News earlier this year in a buyout offer and then bought into the Observer.

“He said, ‘How much do you want for the paper?’ I said, ‘One dol­lar,’” Troy said. “He said, ‘Come on.’ I said, ‘No. That's what I paid for it.’”
It was 36 years ago that Troy became owner and editor of The Oklahoma Observer. After serving as assistant editor of the Tulsa Tribune, Troy received a call to meet with the Rev. John Joyce, then the publisher of the Observer. It was at this meet­ing that Joyce told Troy he wanted to sell the newspaper because Catholic Church leaders were abandoning their financial support of it. The Catholic Archdiocesan Council funded the publication, but Joyce's commentaries about his opposi­tion to the Vietnam War irked
the Catholic hierarchy, according to the Observer's Web site, www.okobserver.net

But Joyce had one Hail Mary to pull.

“He put everything in his name,” Troy said, which gave the priest the authority to sell the newspaper to whomever he want­ed and at whatever price he chose – one dollar.

While the Observer has been as much a part of Troy as politics, he admits it is no longer his main source of income. For several years, Troy has made a healthy liv­ing as a speaker both in and out of state.

“That's what made me finan­cially independent,” he said. “That's when we started dropping display ads in the paper.”

Besides Troy's insightful stories and scathing columns, readers also look forward his list of darts and laurels and his annual ranking of the best and worst legislators.

A biweekly publication, The Oklahoma Observer currently has a circulation of 8,000, Troy said.

“It used to be 10,000, then I started making speeches out of state,” he said.
It was those out-of-state speeches that led Troy to partner up and finally put the Observer on the Internet this year. Troy said he plans to start blogging in the near future.

So do the changes signal a coming retirement for feisty Frosty?
“This is not retirement,” Troy said, something he had to make clear to his new partner as well. "If (Hamilton) knew me, he knows I'm hyper.”