OKC 'American Idol" auditions to be featured

Thursday marks the final “American Idol” audition episode and the show will feature the Oklahoma City rounds of auditions. The tryouts were held in July at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, and callbacks were held in October and November at the Oklahoma City Boathouse District.

The show airs at 7 p.m. on FOX.

“I can feel the wind sweeping down the plain, darling,” said Mariah Carey in a sneak preview video released by Fox. The video was shot in November as the judges, Carey, Nicki Minaj, Keith Urban and Randy Jackson were arriving at the Boathouse District to shoot audition footage.

“I love this team called the Thunder, man,” Jackson said in the preview.

Jackson is the only original judge from the show and according to Nigel Lythgoe, the show’s executive producer, Jackson is the new Simon Cowell in terms of being the judge with the heaviest hand.

“When other people couch their ‘No, you were crap,’ Randy says it,” Lythgoe said in a telephone interview.

“You guys have a great heritage of fantastic artists,” Keith Urban said in the preview, likely referring to Carrie Underwood, the Oklahoma native who won season four of the show.

Urban is looking for an instrumentalist who is a great singer, Lythgoe said.

“Someone that can capture that magic charisma if you will, and connect with the public.”