Paul Harrop
Paul Harrop is a native Texoman and has deep roots on each side of the Red River. He was born and raised in Lawton, and can trace his family tree back to Quanah, where his grandfather was raised during the Dust Bowl.
Those ties to our land make him proud to tell the stories that impact people here. Harrop has been following stories that affect farmers and ranchers in the middle of the 2011 Drought. "My grandfather picked cotton in Hardeman County as a young man, the agriculture of this area is the very root of my family. I understand as much as anyone how significant a role it plays in Texoma ," said Harrop.
During the Firestorm Across Texoma, Harrop spent day after day doing live reports and sending information over social media. "It was a continuously developing story. My number one concern was getting information to people as quickly as I could," he said. Harrop used streaming video technology to transmit the only live pictures during several of the large fire outbreaks. "We have the technology at Newschannel 6 to bring folks their world in real time; on-air, online and on mobile, I'm glad to be the eyes and ears for people. As soon as it happens, they know it," said Harrop.
After graduating from Eisenhower High School and the Kravis Broadcast Institute, Paul began his television career at a production company in Oklahoma City as a project manager. From there, the news bug bit, and he became a freelance field producer and photojournalist. He worked with various regional and national news outlets and the big stories took him all over the place. He worked on everything from wildfires on the Great Plains to Hurricane Katrina and even the Michael Jackson trial. His is work on the story of the disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba gained him national media attention. Paul's work has been regularly been seen on CNN, Fox News, ABC News and other international news outlets.
While the national scene was interesting, home is Texoma. In 2006 he made the jump into local news at the Texoma ABC affiliate before spending nearly three years at KOCO-5 in Oklahoma City covering breaking news and severe weather. At KOCO, Harrop worked as part of a news team that won numerous accolades including a Peabody Award, an Edward R. Murrow Award and an Emmy Award.
When he's not serving you on air or online, Harrop spends time reading, playing music, and being active in the beautiful Texoma outdoors. "I love Texoma, there is no place I would rather be. From the Wichita Mountains to Possum Kingdom it offers so much," he said. Harrop is also an award-winning storm chaser, and has been an FCC-licensed Ham Radio operator (call sign WX5USA) since 1999.
