Cactus Pryor, Austin radio and TV pioneer, dead at 88

KevinFromTexas · #1 Posted **Aug 30, 2011, 10:24 PM**

Oh wow. My grandma knew him. She went to school with him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactus_Pryor

http://www.austin360.com/blogs/conte...ead_at_88.html

Quote:

Cactus Pryor, Austin radio and TV pioneer, dead at 88

By Ricardo Gandara | Tuesday, August 30, 2011, 04:00 PM

Cactus Pryor, Austin’s original funnyman who pioneered local radio and television, died Tuesday afternoon.

He was 88.

The cause was complications from a recent fall and Alzheimer’s disease. He fell and broke his leg earlier this month while living at an assisted living facility in Buda.

When Austin got its first local TV broadcast on KTBC in 1951, the folksy humorist was the first face that viewers saw. Until 2008, he did commentaries on KLBJ radio about old Austin haunts and personalities.

BevoLJ · #2 Posted **Aug 31, 2011, 4:20 AM**

=(

What was it he always said when he signed off? Theirostockmoirtier or something like that?

Edit: it was on his wiki. "Thermostrockermortimer"

paulsjv · #3 Posted **Aug 31, 2011, 4:59 AM**

Saw this today. I knew him from when I worked at the radio stations from 2001 through 2004. He was a nice guy and funny as hell.

Armybrat · #4 Posted **Aug 31, 2011, 3:04 PM**

RIP Cactus - He was "Mr. Austin" to many of us for half a century.

One of the last living links to "old" Austin is no more.

mars-man · #5 Posted **Aug 31, 2011, 7:58 PM**

A class act, all the way. What a wit. He'll be missed.

Who remembers this:

"And that's Elgin, not Eljin. We sell trucks, not watches."