Pat Boyette

Pat Boyette began his broadcasting career in San Antonio in the late 1920s when he performed as a child actor on a local radio soap opera. When he was 16, he went to work at WOAI radio as an office boy…a position he secured with the help of a family friend. From there he worked his way into a news producer position and then went on-the-air as an announcer.

Boyette would later say that he was so overjoyed to be working in radio he would work an average of 60 or 70 hours a week. He said, "I'll never forget the first time I walked into a radio station... the lure of that microphone … the excitement of what this really meant … just could not be denied."

His work as a news announcer allowed the young Boyette a draft deferment, and when the deferment wasn't filed for a second six-month period, he was drafted and served in World War II as a cryptographer. When he returned home, he returned to radio … working on-the-air at KMAC, KTSA and KONO. He had a warm, friendly, radio-trained baritone voice that made you like him the minute you heard him speak.

In the 1950s, the new era of television drew Pat to "those glowing boxes" as he would later describe them. He became the news anchorman at KENS-TV, a position he held for nearly 20 years before a young Chris Marrou took the reins. Boyette was also the producer of a daytime talk show, a puppet show, and TV commercials.

Boyette later spoke of his work in the early days of broadcasting with great dramatic intensity, calling it a shared cultural experience that would never be repeated. He would remain involved with radio and TV in a limited capacity throughout his life.

During the 1960s Boyette became an independent filmmaker … writing, directing and producing low-budget cult movies in San Antonio. He was also an accomplished artist and, after broadcasting and filmmaking, he had a 20-year career as a successful freelance comics book artist in the action, fantasy, horror and sci-fi genres.

Although he later moved to Ft. Worth to be near his only child, Boyette always considered himself first and foremost a San Antonian. Pat Boyette passed away in January 2000.