Bill Howard, Oklahoma City TV personality best known for Pokey the Puppet, dies

Bill "Pokey" Howard, retiring after 37 years in television

A version of this story will appear in Thursday’s The Oklahoman.

Although his television career spanned 37 years, Howard was best known for playing Pokey the Puppet, the sock-puppet sidekick of Ho Ho the Clown on KOCO-5’s long-running children’s program.

Pokey the Puppet (The Oklahoman Archives photo)

“Bill was an integral part of the history of KOCO. Pokey the Puppet is legendary in thousands of kids’ lives,” said KOCO President and General Manager Brent Hensley, who worked with Howard for seven years. “That was one of the biggest impacts that Bill had on the community at large, but his impact on us here at KOCO, the folks that worked with him here, was immeasurable.”

After a tour of duty as a photographer in the U.S. Army, Howard started at KOCO in 1960 as a camera operator and soon joined the “Lunch With Ho Ho Show,” according to The Oklahoman Archives. The “Ho Ho Show” aired from 1960 to 1988, making it one of the longest-running children’s TV programs in America.