Johnny Marks

Johnny Marks began his long and respected career in radio broadcasting in Corpus Christi when the radio bug bit him at age 15. That was back in 1961 and it happened while he was glued to the radio for news updates on Hurricane Carla. From then on, young Johnny would hold a pencil as his pretend microphone and do his own radio-style introduction to songs.

In 1962, at the age of 16, Johnny stood outside the front window of KRYS Radio with a "hire me" sign, asking for a job. It worked. He was hooked and decided this would be his career for life.

Between 1962 and 1974 Johnny gained experience both as an air talent and in production at radio stations from Texas to New York and back again working as a jock, a news reporter and eventually Program Director and Operations Manager.

In 1974, he arrived at the 50,000-watt AM Blow Torch of San Antonio WOAI 1200 as Production Manager and Top 40 air personality. When WOAI turned to Talk Radio, Johnny became the consummate radio talk show host interviewing and talking with hundreds of celebrities over the next 22 years.

During his radio career Johnny worked as disc jockey, Program Director, Music Director, field news reporter, Operations Manager, Talk Show host, and Production Manager/Director. He covered countless news stories. And, for many years he worked on the production of the San Antonio Spurs broadcasts. He was the Man with the Golden Voice on WOAI throughout the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

During his distinguished career, he received numerous awards from charitable organizations, advertising awards for his production talents, and Clear Channel Radio awards for his contribution to excellence. Johnny retired from WOAI in 1997 after more than 33 years in the radio industry.

After radio, Johnny combined his love of music and production and co-produced an album, working with numerous country music artists including Willie Nelson, Dwight Yoakum, and Lyle Lovett, among others.

Johnny Marks is a 2021 Texas Radio Hall of Fame inductee. He passed away in 2022.