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1987-88 Roy J. Eaton Wise County Messenger

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Roy J. Eaton, 110th president, bought the Wise County Messenger in 1973. He was state chairman for the National Newspaper Association when he was elected Texas Press Association president. He was president of NNA in 1996-97.

Eaton began his journalism career as a part-time reporter for radio station KXOL in Fort Worth in 1956, following his freshman year at Texas Christian University. While still a student at TCU, he was named news director of the station in 1958. He graduated in 1959.

In 1960 he was elected president of Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Association. He was president of North & East Texas Press Association in 1983-84.

He was inducted into the inaugural class of the Texas Newspaper Foundation Hall of Fame in 2007.

After a decade as news director of KXOL, Eaton became assistant to the president of Fort Worth’s largest Ford dealership. He moonlighted as the automotive editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram for more than eight years.

Eaton returned to news in 1968 as news director at WBAP, then owned by the Star-Telegram. He began directing television news coverage two years later.

He married Jeannine, in 1958 and they had three sons.