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HomeMy WebLinkAboutBill Hicks on Father Purchasing WTAW Transcription, WTAW First 100 YearsProject HOLD WTAW Interview Bill Hicks | Son of former WTAW Radio Owner John Hicks / Bryan Broadcasting President Tom Turbiville | WTAW Radio Host Laura Quezada | Transcriber 00:00:01 Dick Bolin (DB) [Music] College Station, Texas, April 24th, 1947… 00:00:04 Speaker 2 Now let's go to the bonfire site where WTAW's Tom Turpin… 00:00:06 Speaker 3 WTAW election night coverage. All 8 voting centers in Brazos County have been counted… [Unintelligible sports broadcaster with crowd of screaming fans] 00:00:14 Speaker 4 Today on WTAW, we're joining with businesses from across the Brazos Valley to support our … 00:00:20 Speaker 5 …1620 WTAW. ------------------------------- 00:00:22 Tom Turbiville (TT) This is WTAW, the First 100 Years, I'm Tom Turbiville. 1961 was 61 years ago, and that's when John Hicks of Port Arthur bought WTAW Radio. John's youngest son, Bill Hicks, is in his fourth decade now of ownership, but remembers well how his dad acquired WTAW. 00:00:44 Bill Hicks (BH) My dad had con-- connections with a lot of brokers, and one of the brokers called him about a station in Austin. It turns out it was KVAT. Seemed like a really good deal, so my dad was hot to do this station in Austin. He goes over there and meets with the selling group, and 20 minutes before they even had the meeting, he gets a call from the broker saying, “I’m sorry, John, it's been sold already. They've already got a contract. It is a done deal, so I've sent you on a wild goose chase. I'm really sorry about that”. But the broker said, “I tell you what, I've got another station that on your way back home, you can look at. It'll be dark, but you can go in”. So, my dad driving from Austin back to Port Arthur, stops in Bryan, Texas, over behind the old Triangle Bowling Alley where WTAW's transmitter building was, and there was an old green shingle building there. It was a small thing, a hideous looking building. That was where my dad went, and late at night, he drives down over there, finds the radio station, looking in the window. Green shingle, ugliest building. I can remember seeing that as a kid, going, boy, this is the ugliest building. 00:01:52 (TT) Well, it had enough drive-up appeal that John Hicks bought it. This is WTAW, the first 100 years.