George Francis Hicks (August 26, 1905 – March 17, 1965)AP report, ''Kansas City Star'', March 17, 1965, pg. 6 was an American announcer and broadcast journalist. He was a noted war correspondent, first with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

and then with the

Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American Commercial broadcasting, radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the ...

Early years

Hicks was born in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

, the son of Iowa-born dentist Dr. Archie Greenwood Hicks and Grace Mildred (Mackay) Hicks. He graduated from

Stadium High School Stadium High School is a public high school located in the Stadium District near downtown Tacoma, Washington. A historic landmark, the original building opened as a school in 1906 after conversion of an uncompleted railway hotel project. The ...

''Tacoma News Tribune'', March 18, 1965, pg. 44 and

George Washington University The George Washington University (GW or GWU) is a Private university, private University charter#Federal, federally-chartered research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Originally named Columbian College, it was chartered in 1821 by ...

after attending several other colleges.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 129. While at Stadium, Hicks took a news writing course.

Career

Hicks applied at Tacoma radio station KMO after graduation but was turned down. In fall 1928, he went to Washington, D.C. to enter the Foreign Service School at Georgetown University, but was hired by radio station WRC several weeks later on October 15 that year. He was the announcer on a program called "Half Hours With the Senate," which was broadcast on the NBC network. He was transferred to NBC in New York on November 25, 1929. By 1931, he had broadcast such celebrities as

Calvin Coolidge Calvin Coolidge (born John Calvin Coolidge Jr.; ; July 4, 1872January 5, 1933) was the 30th president of the United States, serving from 1923 to 1929. A Republican Party (United States), Republican lawyer from Massachusetts, he previously ...

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...

Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...

and

Maurice Chevalier Maurice Auguste Chevalier (; 12 September 1888 – 1 January 1972) was a French singer, actor, and entertainer. He is best known for his signature songs, including " Livin' In The Sunlight", " Valentine", " Louise", " Mimi", and " Thank Heaven f ...

, and covered such events as the arrival of Admiral Byrd from the South Pole, the Poughkeepsie Regatta, World Series baseball games with

Graham McNamee Thomas Graham McNamee (July 10, 1888 – May 9, 1942) was an American radio broadcaster, the medium's most recognized national personality in its first international decade. He originated play-by-play sports broadcasting for which he was awa ...

, the Lipton yacht races and the arrival of the Graf Zeppelin at Lakehurst, New Jersey on its around-the-world trip. On December 27, 1934, NBC's Hicks interviewed Charles E. Apgar, a New Jersey radio amateur who made some of the first recordings of radio broadcasts during 1913–1915, including recordings of German spy messages during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

."DOCUMENTING EARLY RADIO"
, A Review of Existing Pre-1932 Radio Recordings, by Elizabeth McLeod While based in London during World War II in 1942, he conducted a series of interviews aired on the Blue Network of servicemen from different countries telling of the horrors of war. Hicks recorded an on-the-scene report of the

Normandy landings The Normandy landings were the landing operations and associated airborne operations on 6 June 1944 of the Allies of World War II, Allied invasion of Normandy in Operation Overlord during the Second World War. Codenamed Operation Neptune and ...

from the USS ''Ancon''. It was broadcast on the night of June 6, 1944 over the American networks via a pool feed."George Hicks and the network coverage of the Pool Broadcast of D-Day"
, Radio Days During the broadcast there were sounds of heavy bombardment. His voice was described as "modest" and "incapable of false drama" and was considered particularly well suited for covering the landings. The ''

New York World-Telegram The ''New York World-Telegram'', later known as the ''New York World-Telegram and The Sun'', was a New York City newspaper from 1931 to 1966. History Founded by James Gordon Bennett Sr. as ''The Evening Telegram'' in 1867, the newspaper began ...

'' called his broadcast "The greatest recording yet to come out of the war." On Christmas Day that year, Hicks was one of a number of newsmen injured when a Nazi bomb wrecked a small hotel in Belgium where they were staying. Hicks was also an announcer on

Jack Benny Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky; February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success as a violinist on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century with ...

's '' Canada Dry Ginger Ale Program'', his final broadcast being on October 26, 1932 as the show changed networks from NBC to CBS. He appeared on the ''

Shower of Stars A shower is a place in which a person bathes under a spray of typically warm or hot water. Indoors, there is a drain in the floor. Most showers are set up to have adjustable temperature, spray pressure and showerhead nozzle angle. The sim ...

'' television program of February 13, 1958, celebrating Benny's "40th" birthday. Another program on which he announced was ''

Death Valley Days ''Death Valley Days'' is an American Western (genre), Western anthology series featuring true accounts of the American Old West, particularly the Death Valley country of southeastern California. Created in 1930 by Ruth Woodman, the program was ...

''. On a 1939 broadcast, he relived the days of his grandfather Frank Hicks, who journeyed from New York to California in 1879 in a search for gold.''Tacoma News Tribune, Sept. 2, 1939, pg 23 After the war he was associated with the ''

United States Steel Hour ''The United States Steel Hour'' is an anthology series which brought hour-long dramas to television from 1953 to 1963. The television series and the radio program that preceded it were both sponsored by the U.S. Steel, United States Steel Corpo ...

'' television program for ten years. He toured steel mills to do commercials for the program.

Personal life

Hicks died of cancer at his home in Queens, New York and is buried in Flushing Cemetery, New York. He was survived by his wife, Anne, and his only child, Robert Ivan Hicks, born in 1933, who still lives in New York.

Legacy

He has a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a landmark which consists of 2,813 five-pointed terrazzo-and-brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in the Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood dist ...

at 6314

Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It runs through the Hollywood, East Hollywood, Little Armenia, Thai Town, and Los Feliz districts. Its western terminus is at Sunset Plaza Drive in the Hollyw ...

References

External links

D-Day recording
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hicks, George 1905 births 1965 deaths American male journalists American radio reporters and correspondents American war correspondents of World War II George Washington University alumni NBC News people People from Tacoma, Washington Radio and television announcers Stadium High School alumni