Don Owen (news anchor)
| Donald Lynn "Don" Owen | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Louisiana Public Service Commissioner | |
|
In office January 1, 1985 – December 31, 2002 |
|
| Preceded by | Edward Kennon |
| Succeeded by | Foster Campbell |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
February 18, 1930 Beggs, Okmulgee County Oklahoma, USA |
| Died | June 17, 2012 (aged 82) Shreveport, Caddo Parish Louisiana |
| Resting place | Not announced |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) | Dagmar Oksenholt Owen (married c. 1955-2012, her death) |
| Children |
Daryl Hays Owen |
| Residence | Shreveport, Louisiana |
| Occupation | KSLA-TV broadcaster |
Daryl Hays Owen
Donna Lynn Owen Touchstone
Donald Lynn Owen, or Don Owen (1930 – June 17, 2012), was from 1954 to 1984 the pioneer news anchor at KSLA-TV, the CBS affiliate and the first television station in Shreveport in northwestern Louisiana, a position which gave him a high degree of regional name identification. From 1985 to 2002. Owen was one of the five members of the Louisiana Public Service Commission, an elected regulatory body over utilities rates and common carriers.
A native of Beggs in Okmulgee County in east central Oklahoma, Owen as a teenager contracted polio, which impacted him for the rest of his life. The viewing public was mostly unaware that Owen wore a leg brace.
Owen's first position in broadcasting was at a radio station in Ada in in southern Oklahoma. In 1953, he joined KFDX-TV, the NBC station in Wichita Falls, Texas. By January 1954, when he was still twenty-three, he accepted a position as an announcer for KSLA, which had been on the air only fifteen days when Owen arrived in town.
KSLA broadcast from the basement of the former Washington Youree Hotel in downtown Shreveport at the location of what became Hibernia Bank. For a few weeks, Owen presented weather information but soon switched to news. His colleague Al Bolton, a native of Alexandria, a graduate of Louisiana College in Pineville, and a United States Navy veteran of both World War II and the Korean War, joined KSLA a month after the station opened and assumed long-term duties as the weather reporter, a position also with unclear duties at the beginning. Bolton remained the meteorologist until May 1991, when he began a ten-year association with KRMD radio before his retirement. Bolton received the "Seal of Certification" from the National Weather Association in 1982 for "performance well above the media and meteorological standards". Bolton was similarly honored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
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