Tulsa's First TV Anchor, Bob Hower, Dies

Tulsa's first TV anchorman has died.

KTUL-Channel 8 is reporting Bob Hower died Saturday morning, surrounded by his family.

Hower was at the news desk when Channel 6 News signed on the air as Tulsa's first television station in 1949.

He was also the station's No. 1 pitchman, doing hundreds of live commercials.

He left KOTV for the Air Force at the beginning of the Korean War, but came back as an anchor on Channel 8.

An author, Hower wrote a book about American Red Cross relief after the Tulsa Race Riot.

But Hower is as much remembered for his commercials for companies like Clear-tone Hearing Aid Laboratories, which kept him on TV for decades.

Beloved by the community, in 1997, Hower was named Tulsa's Centennial King, along with his queen, former Channel 6 host Betty Boyd.

KTUL reports Hower died at age 87.