Billy Parker, long-running KVOO disc jockey and country singer, dies at 88 after decades on air

A Tulsa radio voice with national recognition

Billy Parker, a longtime Tulsa radio personality associated for decades with KVOO’s country format, has died at age 88. Parker built his reputation as an overnight host and broadcaster whose on-air work earned top industry awards and helped amplify country music and western swing programming in Oklahoma and beyond.

Parker joined KVOO in 1971, becoming one of the station’s best-known voices during an era when its powerful signal made it influential across multiple states. KVOO’s country identity—closely linked to Tulsa’s wider music ecosystem, including historic venues and touring circuits—made it a regional pipeline for emerging and established artists, and Parker’s time behind the microphone coincided with that peak period of reach.

Career highlights and honors

Parker’s broadcast career drew national recognition. He received the Country Music Association’s Disc Jockey of the Year honor in 1974. He also won the Academy of Country Music’s Disc Jockey of the Year award in 1975, 1977, 1978 and 1984. His later honors included induction into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame and the Western Swing Hall of Fame, along with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oklahoma Association of Broadcasters.

• Joined KVOO: 1971
• CMA Disc Jockey of the Year: 1974
• ACM Disc Jockey of the Year: 1975, 1977, 1978, 1984
• Industry hall of fame inductions and Oklahoma broadcasting lifetime honor

More than a DJ: recording artist and storyteller

While Parker was best known locally as an on-air personality, his career also included recording and performing. Between the late 1970s and late 1980s, he placed more than 20 singles on Billboard’s country charts. One of his best-known releases, “(Who’s Gonna Sing) The Last Country Song,” reached the Top 50 of the U.S. country chart in the early 1980s.

In recent years, Parker reflected publicly on his long career in an autobiography, revisiting his time in Tulsa radio and his relationships across the country music industry. Those accounts helped document a period when DJs played a central role as gatekeepers—introducing new records, shaping listener tastes and building community identity around a station’s sound.

KVOO’s place in Oklahoma music history

Parker’s legacy is intertwined with KVOO’s historical role. The station—known for decades as “The Voice of Oklahoma”—was widely recognized for country programming and for elevating western swing, a genre closely associated with Oklahoma and neighboring states. Parker’s long tenure placed him among the defining personalities of that tradition, linking Tulsa’s broadcast history to a broader national country music narrative.

Editor’s note: This report will be updated as additional verified details become available, including funeral or memorial information.