Longtime OKC broadcaster dies from coronavirus
Armando Rubio, a fixture on Spanish-language television in Oklahoma and a wellknown champion of Hispanic causes in the Sooner State, died Thursday as a result of COVID-19. He was 73.
“He loved the Latino community of Oklahoma and the state, and what it provided for him and his family ,” sonin-law John Woods said. “He knew the Latino community de served a voice in Oklahoma.”
Rubio worked as Telemundo T30' s station manager and entered metro area homes each week on a TV show he hosted about vital issues in the local Hispanic community.
His journey to becoming a legendary Hispanic broadcast erin Oklahoma started in El Paso, Texas, where he was born May 6, 1947. The journey
took him through Juarez, Mexico, where he grew up, and into the U.S. military.
As a teenager in Mexico, Rubio's father told him that as a U.S. citizen, it was his duty to register for the draft. Rubio registered for the U.S. Army in 1966 and was drafted a few months later.
When he got out of the Army, he lived in California, where he married Margarita Garcia in Los Angeles on Jan. 15, 1972. Rubio took an assembler job at a General Motors plant in 1983.
Rubio and his wife eventually planted roots in Oklahoma and reared their daughter and son here.
In a 2008 interview with The Oklahoman, Rubio said:
“I consider myself not only bilingual, but also bicultural. I'm very proud and I'm very happy to be 2-in-1.”
Rubio realized he had little help as a Mexican-American in Oklahoma City, and decided to help others.
He volunteered to assist Hispanics with their income taxes, leased time from KTLR 890 AM, formerly KBYE, to do a radio show in Spanish, and sold ads for the show while working full-time for GM.
Rubio earned a license from the American Broadcasting School in Del City and eventually retired from GM.
He began working parttime for Tyler Media when it launched a Spanish radio station, and joined the company full-time in 2000 when it launched a TV station.
“This is for me ,” Rub io said in 2008. “This is for my family. This is for my kids. I'm an Okie now.”
Cecil ia Hernandez-Cromwell, news director at Telemundo Oklahoma, worked with Rubio for more than six years. Rubio was a familyoriented man who always checked in on employees and asked how their families were doing, she said.
Rubio was proud of his work at GM and his service to the country, and he always had stories to tell, like not having enough ingredients locally to make traditional Mexican food when he first moved to Oklahoma.
“To make tamales, he had to go to Texas with his wife,” Hernandez-Cromwell said.
Hernandez-Cromwell said Rubio also played up the legend of his first name, which he wryly said was actually “Amando,” which means “loving.”
It was an appropriate description of a man many described as deeply affectionate toward his family.
“He was a doting and loving husband who cherished his wife Margarita and he was proud of his kids, proud of their educational and work accomplishments,” Woods said.
Indeed, his son, Rigoberto, served in Iraq as a member of the Oklahoma National Guard and went on to a career in law enforcement, while his daughter, Tania, has worked in the state Department of Mental Health.
Woods said the “outpouring” of love and support from the Hispanic community has been “more than we can describe.”
Rubio served on boards and as a volunteer to help members of the local Hispanic community, including the South Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce, the Salvation Army and Capitol Hill Main Street.
In 2015, he earned the Guardian Angel Excellence in Leadership Award from the Latino Community Development Agency. In 2017, he earned the Lifetime Achievement Award/ Excellence in Media Award from the Oklahoma Media Network.
His presence in Hispanic homes and businesses is sorely missed.
Leo Jimenez, whose family runs Rosa Blanca Store, a Hispanic culture supplies shop at 1028 SW 29, said Rubio sold advertising to the family dating to 1997.
“He always came in for his pumpkin seeds,” Jimenez said. “He's a good guy. He always stopped by. Everybody knew Armando, especially on the south side.”
Rubio is survived by his wife of 49 years, Margarita Rubio; son, Rigoberto Robles and his wife Alicia; daughter Tania Woods and her husband John; grandchildren Abigail and Avery Robles, Miles Rosas, Ryan and Finley Woods; and brothers, Gabriel and Andres Rubio.
Visitation will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Havenbrook Funeral Home in Norman, with a rosary service at 7 p.m. The event will be live-streamed on Rubio's tribute page at www.havenbrookfuneralhome.com.
Am ass of Christian burial will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. Thomas More University Parish in Norman.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Latino Community Development Agency for the Armando Rubio Scholarship Fund at LCDA, 420 SW 110, Oklahoma City.