That’s "BusinessWorld" at its best – challenging your imagination, confronting the status quo, rallying the consumer, and drawing you into the conversation.

A weekly production of The University of Tulsa College of Business Administration, the show’s unique style could best be described as "Car Talk" meets "Wall Street Week."

The lunchtime program draws on the eclectic personalities and diverse backgrounds of TU alumnus Bill Nole (MBA ’94) and TU business professors Dale Lunsford and Art Rasher.  Using laymen’s language, they analyze current business news, applying their discussion to everyday consumer situations.

"We created the show initially to reach the harried business people of Tulsa who try to cram continuing education into every spare moment they have – in the car, jogging at the health club, working through lunch," says Lunsford, strategic marketer and associate dean of the college.

The hosts have addressed everything from corporate culture to consumer vigilantism.  "We talk about global issues in the news, cost competitiveness, management styles, business ethics, the labor market, customer service, even cyber-sickness," says Lunsford.  "And we try to present it all in a way that listeners will understand not just the topic, but how it affects their world."

It was a pleaseant surprise when they began hearing from at-home parents, foremen on the construction site, retirees, and other non-executive types, according to Lunsford.  "We didn't change our message.  This just reinforced that we were able to share complicated issues in a broad way."

The idea for BusinessWorld came about during a lunch between Lunsford and Nole.  "I was in his class, and he knew about my background in radio," explains Nole, who worked at KWGS, the University's National Public Radio station, from 1980 to 1994.

Though Nole left his position as station program director in 1994 to join James Shirley Management Consultants when he completed his graduate studies, he couldn't get the radio bug out of his system.  Jim Shirley, a former TU business faculty member, agreed to donate the cost of Nole's time producing the show each week.

"We started as a half-hour business book review show on Sundays.  Within a year, we had expanded to one hour to include current business news.  Art was a part of the initial pilots, and somehow he just stuck around," jokes Nole.

Rasher, who specializes in international and strategic information systems, is the entertainer.  A certified auto mechanic, globetrotter, and purveyor of paternal philosophy, Rasher explains his voyeuristic vision for the show.  "We want the listeners to feel as though they are sitting next to us in a booth at the Metro Diner at lunchtime, eavesdropping, as we talk about what's happening in business news today."

Above all, the three stress they aren't trying to be an advice show.  "Our goal was to create a business show that is informative," says Nole.  "To that end, we designed it to be interesting, humorous, and human. We take concepts, bring them together, and try to make sense of them. This is the fundamental mission of educational broadcasting."

Lunsford sees additional benefits to BusinessWorld’s outreach. "The show allows the public to view our faculty as relevant, dispelling the myth that we are locked up in ivory towers working only on theory.

"We also invite other TU professors and alumni to the studio to capitalize on their expertise," adds Lunsford. "For the listeners, it’s a unique way to continue a relationship with alumni and faculty."

One very talented alumnus pulls it all together. Live every week from the KWGS studios in Kendall Hall, Nole brings to the show a portfolio of business troubleshooting and radio engineering that puts both BusinessWorld guests and listeners at ease.

"I think it all comes together because of our on-air chemistry – Art’s spontaneity, my serious side, and Dale’s sincerity," says Nole. "It’s a combination of diversity, teamwork, and trust. And, most importantly, none of us takes the whole thing too seriously.

"We have fun, we try to entertain, and along the way, we hope to impart a little useful information," he adds.

So, if you’re near a radio next Thursday at noon, tune them in.

They may be discussing the impact of Disney’s pre-holiday marketing blitz on Bill’s credit cards, debating the ramification of the Federal Reserve’s economic portents on Art’s new car loan, or pondering Dale’s parallels between corporate dogma and Dr. Seuss’ Yertle the Turtle. But chances are, you’ll hear something you didn’t know. And quite possibly, something you can use.

In 1999, Louis Coleman joined the show when Dale Lunsford left BusinessWorld to take his new position as Vice President of the University of Texas at Tyler.