AN AMARILLO LEGEND

And his name is Roy McCoy.

Roy McCoy was a longtime on air meteorologist in Amarillo. Roy was on air for about 40 years as a chief meteorologist, and most of that time he was with KAMR TV. His last appearance as a full time meteorologist was about a decade ago.

Roy told me the story of how he became a meteorologist. I'll tell you the story, and hopefully I get it right. He was previously a sportscaster at KAMR TV. One day, something happened to the chief meteorologist's wife, and the chief had to quit to take care of her. Roy was asked if he would like to fill in until they got a replacement. He said yes, and he did so well that the station management asked him if he would like to do it full time. He again said yes, and the rest is history.

Roy got a deal with KAMR recently to do guest appearances as a meteorologist. He started about 5 months ago, and he's still going strong with guest appearances on Thursdays and Fridays. Since his appearances, ratings have gone way up at KAMR, and they continue to do so. Ratings will continue to climb after February 9th, but that will be for another post around that time frame.

I got the chance to meet Roy right after he started. I tell you what, he is something special. He's going on 76, and he's still sharp as a tack. He's the kind of guy that will make you laugh because he knows what to say and when to say it. I was at the station one day, and Roy was about to go on the air. He came up to me, and said, "watch this". He then went on air and started out with radar because there were some spotty showers in the area. He then said this. "Folks we have some bikini showers in the area. The reason their called bikini showers is because they don't cover up a lot of area, but what they do cover up, they do a good job at it". Everyone in the studio began laughing hysterically, including me. That's what Roy McCoy is all about. He loves to have fun, and he's very good at what he does. After all, if you're not good at what you do, you won't last 40 years as an on air personality, will you?

Here are some photos I got of him on 1/15/09