John H. Hicks, Jr.

John H. Hicks Jr. spent his younger years living and growing up in Dallas where his father was a PhD. and Professor of the Old Testament in the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University.  

After a year at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Business, beginning in 1940, John worked in the Advertising Department at the Houston Post where he met his future bride Madelyn Ollis.   

World War II intervened and, from 1942-1946, John enlisted and served in the U.S. Army Transportation Corps where he attained the rank of Lt. Colonel.  He was stationed at one of the primary equipment and troop staging areas for the European theater. 

At the end of World War II, John and his family moved to Dallas where, between 1946 and 1959 he worked with Neiman-Marcus and Burris Mills, and finally as a radio station national and regional representative for the Paul H. Raymer Company.  

One of his responsibilities with Burris Mills advertising department was the oversight of the company-sponsored band, the “Light Crust Doughboys” many years following the involvement of Bob Wills in that group. 

In 1959, John left the Raymer Company and moved into radio station ownership in Port Arthur, where he purchased his first radio station, KOLE-AM. After KOLE, John purchased KLVI in Beaumont. The success of that station allowed him to purchase, own and operate WTAW, Bryan; KLAR, Laredo; KBYG, Big Spring; KRRV, Sherman; and KLUF in Lufkin, Texas. At the time, John was the largest radio broadcaster in Texas (in terms of stations owned).  

John recruited owner-managers and incentivized them with a 20 percent ownership stake in the radio station.  His sons, Steven Hicks, Thomas Hicks, and William Hicks, and the late John Hicks, III, followed him in the radio business at different times in their careers.  They controlled and operated over 450 radio stations during their broadcast careers and are well-known and highly respected in the broadcast industry.