Changes

Owen began his career in broadcasting at a [[radio]] station in Ada in Pontotoc County in southern Oklahoma. In 1953, he joined KFDX-TV, the [[NBC]] station in [[Wichita Falls]], [[Texas]]. By January 1954, when he was twenty-three, Owen had accepted a position as an announcer for KSLA, the first station in Shreveport but on the air for only fifteen days.<ref name=ksla>{{cite web|url=

Owen began his career in broadcasting at a [[radio]] station in Ada in Pontotoc County in southern Oklahoma. In 1953, he joined KFDX-TV, the [[NBC]] station in [[Wichita Falls]], [[Texas]]. By January 1954, when he was twenty-three, Owen had accepted a position as an announcer for KSLA, the first station in Shreveport but on the air for only fifteen days.<ref name=ksla>{{cite web|url=

http://www.ksla.com/story/18808888/longtime-ksla-anchor-and-psc-commissioner-don-owen-passes-away?clienttype=printable

http://www.ksla.com/story/18808888/longtime-ksla-anchor-and-psc-commissioner-don-owen-passes-away?clienttype=printable

|author=Carolyn Roy|title=Longtime KSLA anchor and news director Don Owen passes away|publisher=KSLA-TV|accessdate=July 2, 2012}}</ref>  

|author=Carolyn Roy|title=Longtime KSLA anchor and news director Don Owen passes away|publisher=KSLA-TV|date=June 17, 2012|accessdate=June 9, 2020}}</ref>  

   

   

KSLA began broadcasting local news from the basement of the former Washington Youree Hotel in downtown Shreveport, now the site of Hibernia Bank. For a few weeks, Owen presented weather information but soon switched to news. Colleague Albert Martin "Al" Bolton, Sr. (born c. 1921), a member of a prominent banking family from [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], then assumed long-term duties as the weather forecaster. Bob Griffin was the station's long-term sportscaster and the host of several local programs. In a 1964 interview with the since defunct ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'', which under the president and publisher [[Douglas F. Attaway, Jr.|Douglas Fisher Attaway]], owned KSLA during the 1960s, Owen explained that because he had always been interested in the news, he chose broadcasting as his career at an early age. Originally, Owen announced eleven half-hour programs per week, including the commercial minutes: "There was no [[Teleprompter]], there were no videotapes to give you a second chance, you went on the air and you did it, either well or badly, but it went out."<ref name=ksla/>  

KSLA began broadcasting local news from the basement of the former Washington Youree Hotel in downtown Shreveport, now the site of Hibernia Bank. For a few weeks, Owen presented weather information but soon switched to news. Colleague Albert Martin "Al" Bolton, Sr. (born c. 1921), a member of a prominent banking family from [[Alexandria, Louisiana|Alexandria]], then assumed long-term duties as the weather forecaster. [[Bob Griffin (journalist)|Bob Griffin]] was the station's long-term sportscaster and the host of several local programs. In a 1964 interview with the since defunct ''[[Shreveport Journal]]'', which under the president and publisher [[Douglas F. Attaway, Jr.|Douglas Fisher Attaway]], who owned KSLA during the 1960s, Owen explained that because he had always been interested in the news, he chose broadcasting as his career at an early age. Originally, Owen announced eleven half-hour programs per week, including the commercial minutes: "There was no [[Teleprompter]], there were no videotapes to give you a second chance, you went on the air and you did it, either well or badly, but it went out."<ref name=ksla/>  

   

   

As KSLA's only news director for three decades, he set the standard in Shreveport television news. "He was Channel 12. He was the pioneer. He blazed the trail," recalls long-term KSLA photographer Semmie Buffin.<ref name=ksla/> In October 1967, the demanding Owen hired Nita Fran Hutcheson, later a chamber of commerce official in her native Texarkana, Texas,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2012/05/02/hutcheson-retiring-from-main-street-texa-717577.php|title="Hutcheson retiring from Main Street Texarkana post effective May 31," May 2, 2012|publisher=''Texarkana Gazette''|accessdtae=July 2, 2012}}</ref> as the first female reporter in Shreveport television: "Every time I would get to the level of the bar that he would put up for me, he'd raise it and do it again." Hutcheson recalled. Owen as having been most protective of the trust that he developed over the decades from his viewing public.<ref name=ksla/> Owen was also responsible for hiring Roseanne Colletti, who went on to report for WNBC, Margaret Pelley of NBC's ''Dateline,'' as well as local figures Wray Post, Carl Pendley, Tony Taglavore,<ref name=ksla/> [[Tom Erwin]] (1924-2020), and Barry Erwin, Jr., Tom's son who became the president of the Council for a Better Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obits.theadvocate.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=tom-erwin&pid=196312648|title=Tom Erwin obituary|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date=June 8, 2020|accessdate=June 9, 2020}}</ref>  

As KSLA's only news director for three decades, he set the standard in Shreveport television news. "He was Channel 12. He was the pioneer. He blazed the trail," recalls long-term KSLA photographer Semmie Buffin.<ref name=ksla/> In October 1967, the demanding Owen hired Nita Fran Hutcheson, later a chamber of commerce official in her native Texarkana, Texas,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2012/05/02/hutcheson-retiring-from-main-street-texa-717577.php|title="Hutcheson retiring from Main Street Texarkana post effective May 31," May 2, 2012|publisher=''Texarkana Gazette''|accessdtae=July 2, 2012}}</ref> as the first female reporter in Shreveport television: "Every time I would get to the level of the bar that he would put up for me, he'd raise it and do it again." Hutcheson recalled. Owen as having been most protective of the trust that he developed over the decades from his viewing public.<ref name=ksla/> Owen was also responsible for hiring Roseanne Colletti, who went on to report for WNBC, Margaret Pelley of NBC's ''Dateline,'' as well as local figures Wray Post, Carl Pendley, Tony Taglavore,<ref name=ksla/> [[Tom Erwin]] (1924-2020), and Barry Erwin, Jr., Tom's son who became the president of the Council for a Better Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://obits.theadvocate.com/obituaries/theadvocate/obituary.aspx?n=tom-erwin&pid=196312648|title=Tom Erwin obituary|publisher=''The Baton Rouge Advocate''|date=June 8, 2020|accessdate=June 9, 2020}}</ref>