How Curious

Animal shelters and rescues across Oklahoma are regularly transporting thousands of adoptable animals in need of homes out of state. In this episode, host Rachel Hopkin learns more about why Oklahoma has an overpopulation of cats and dogs and what is being done to alleviate it.

For a brief period from 1929-1930, the small town of Waynoka, Oklahoma, became the center of a pioneering coast-to-coast air transport service for the ultra-wealthy.

If you’re a regular listener, you’ll know that How Curious is typically a documentary strand that explores interesting Oklahoma stories. But we’ve had a number of listeners asking how How Curious is made. So this month, KGOU managing editor, Logan Layden, turns the tables on How Curious host/producer Rachel Hopkin to find out a little about her production process as well as what’s in the works currently.

The Prairie House - which stands a few miles outside of Norman, OK - was the creation of architect Herb Greene and was completed in 1961. It's been variously likened to a bird, a bison, a steeple, a shed, a boat, a haystack, among other things. It's also been hailed as “an excellent example of organic architecture”, an embodiment of the American School of Architecture, and a masterpiece. It's been in private hands and largely hidden for many years, but now it's in the process of being restored. How Curious host Rachel Hopkin went to find out more.

In this month’s How Curious, host Rachel Hopkin looks into how, when, and why the parking meter was invented here in Oklahoma City back in the 1930s. In the course of her investigation she learns about the polymath behind it, inventive reactions to its installation such as tying a horse to the meter post and paying for the metered spot for a game of bridge, and some beautiful women in golden bikinis.

Every year, the Asthma and Allergies Foundation of America puts out an Allergy Capital report which ranks the top 100 large US cities if you suffer from pollen-based seasonal allergies. Oklahoma City and Tulsa regularly make the top ten. In this episode, Rachel Hopkin looks into what makes the Sooner State so challenging for the seasonal allergy afflicted.

Nestled in the heart of Bricktown is a remarkable tribute to some of the most innovative and influential figures -- and instruments -- in music history. Join How Curious host and producer Rachel Hopkin in her exploration of the world-class American Banjo Museum.

This month's How Curious explores how the work of two African American property developers and entrepreneurs proved ground-breaking both within Oklahoma City and beyond on both a literal and metaphorical level.

A few months after How Curious host/producer Rachel Hopkin moved to Oklahoma, she was given a barite rose rock by two of her dear neighbors. It came in a box with a short text attached which stated that to hold it was “literally like holding a quarter billion years of history in the palm of your hand.” That gift provided the impetus for this episode, in which Rachel finds out more about this geological bloom and why it's unique to just one part of the Sooner state.

It's almost impossible to imagine life without the shopping cart today. However, it was invented less than a hundred years ago. Rachel Hopkin explores how it came about, its pervasive impact, and the role that the Oklahoma inventor/entrepreneur/philanthropist Sylvan Goldman played in its success.

How Curious host/producer Rachel Hopkin the world's largest institution that’s solely dedicated to revealing and exploring the form and function of the skeletal system and which is based right here in OKC.

Seventy years ago, a landmark psychological study that has been described as a real life Lord of the Flies took place in an Oklahoma state park. But although the Robbers Cave Experiment, like the novel, focused on a bunch of schoolboys, it offered a very different perspective on human nature.

Which Oklahoman Got a Hippopotamus for Christmas? Today’s story features a local girl with a belter of a voice, several hippopotamuses, some zoo history, and a hit song.

Which of Oklahoma's cities was designated "America's Model City" in 1951? And how did the diminutive Shetland pony help that city to grow?

Many settlers in Oklahoma are of German descent but had ancestors who lived as Germans in Russia for a century or more. Who are these “other Germans?”

Did you know that the Tulsa Oktoberfest played an important role in fueling the craze for the Chicken Dance? Find out how in this episode of How Curious.

Does a massive man-hunting octopus inhabit Oklahoma’s lakes? Rachel Hopkin looks into one of the Sooner State’s unique legendary monsters, the Oklahoma Octopus.

In 1913 a young Oklahoma came to be known as “The Richest Black Girl in America” after oil was found on her land. How Curious explores Sarah Rector’s extraordinary life.

For decades, stories have circulated about a violent Chicago gangster living in rural Norman, OK. In this How Curious episode, Rachel Hopkin, digs for the truth behind the rumors.

The Texas Longhorn is typically associated with, er, Texas. But KGOU heard a rumor that when the breed was on the verge of extinction a century ago, it was a group of Oklahomans that saved the bovine.