Honestly, without The Gradcafe, you wouldn't probably know anything about the status of OSU admissions. I would hesitate to email them and would actually feel bad for giving the grad school office yet another thing to do.
For the University of Washington, I think that a "wave" of interviews/acceptances would have been much more noticeable on the board. The one could be an aberration, like someone who currently goes to UW and has a great shot of admission.
When several people are notified, I think we'll see it on the board.
If I'm not mistaken, some POI's call applicants, others do not. It depends on personal preference (based on BFB's previous comments). Probably not totally out of the running yet.