Observance of the 1995 terrorist attack on the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City brought back a flood of memories for me.
For 13 years I served as public relations consultant for U.S. Cellular with the responsibility of spearheading efforts intended to underscore that organization’s commitment to being a national company with a local touch.
From the day in 1985 when U.S. Cellular established wireless service in eastern Oklahoma, reaching out at times of need became its passion.
From a program designed to provide traffic advisories to rush hour drivers to free phone calls anywhere in the world to service personnel on Veteran’s Day, the company quickly established itself as a community resource.
As part of this initiative, it established a loaner phone program to assist news media personnel in covering breaking news stories.
Never was the importance of this program more dramatically shown than on April 19, 1995 when a truck-bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City leaving 168 people dead and hundreds more injured.
Before the infamous twin towers attack in New York City, it was the worst terrorist attack to take place on U.S. soil.
It didn’t take long for the news media to descend upon U.S. Cellular asking (actually, begging might be a more accurate term) to borrow as many cell phones as possible.
It took Market Manager Russell Williams only a few minutes to hand out his entire loaner phone inventory — along with a number of new units when it became clear the demand for them far exceeded loaner stocks.
All were put to good use as reporters kept the public advised on what had just taken place.
This gesture didn’t go unrewarded. After the dust had settled a bit, the media publicly thanked the state’s first wireless phone company for the use of this equipment and for picking up the tab for the airtime that was being used.
One television reporter noted on air that “it would have been impossible for us to do what we had to do without the support and partnership of this outstanding Tulsa company.”
Today I am still shaken by the horror that took place that day, but will always be proud of the company’s commitment to being there when needed.
— Robert Lewis, Broken Arrow
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