Bob the Weather Cat dominated local TV in the 1980s, and Portlanders haven't forgotten him

Updated: Jan. 05, 2017, 10:05 a.m.|Published: Jan. 05, 2017, 9:05 a.m.

By Douglas Perry | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Putting together a list of Portland notables in any field is always humbling. Because it reminds us of the wealth of talent this city has produced. And also because, inevitably, readers will tell us we failed to include some obvious choices.

This week we offered up our ranking of the Rose City's all-time most memorable TV and radio stars. Tough decisions had to be made to keep the list from getting too long -- but that's no excuse. More than a few readers pointed out that we let arguably the greatest TV star in Portland's history slip by us on little cat feet. (Our apologies to Carl Sandburg.)

We're talking, of course, about Bob the Weather Cat.

"Every Friday night, thousands of VCRs in the Portland, Ore., area are programmed to record station KATU from 6:50 to 6:52 p.m.," People magazine wrote in 1988.

That was when Bob, who died in 1993, made his first appearance each week. He'd be wearing sunglasses or earmuffs or maybe a jaunty hat. Bob's bosses insisted they dressed him for the newscast, but, come on, everyone knows cats don't have bosses. We believe Bob himself donned whatever gear he deemed appropriate for the conditions outside. After all, he was a Weather Cat.

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