Don Owen (news anchor) once called him "the Walter Cronkite of the Shreveport media market," a reference to the CBS anchorman from 1962 until 1981. Owen also hired Margaret Pelley of NBC's "Dateline", Roseanne Colletti, who went on to report for WNBC-TV, as well as local figures Wray Post, Tom and Barry Irwin, Carl Pendley, and Tony Taglavore. Owen was a past president of the Louisiana and Mississippi AP Broadcasters and the Louisiana/Mississippi United Press International. In 1963, 1964, and 1965, the Associated Press named him "Broadcaster of the Year". Some of his articles on a variety of topics were published in "Shreveport Magazine."
Walter Cronkite he ended the newscast with opinion or commentary. Beginning with January 16, 1980, Day 50 of the Iran hostage crisis, Cronkite added the length of the hostages' captivity to the show's closing in order to remind the audience of the unresolved situation, ending only on Day 444, January 20, 1981. Cronkite is vividly remembered for breaking the news of the Assassination of John F. Kennedy on Friday, November 22, 1963. Cronkite had been standing at the United Press International wire machine in the CBS newsroom as the bulletin of the President's shooting broke and he clamored to get on the