Joseph Theodore "Ted" Hallock was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1921. His family came to Portland, Oregon, in 1927. He began working in broadcasting while still in high school when his cousin, Homer Welch, got him a job in sound effects at KGW radio. He studied law at the University of Oregon, but joined the Air Force shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. After he returned from serving in World War II in 1945, he gave up his plans to study law and went into journalism instead. He won several awards for his broadcasting work, including a Peabody. His work in journalism took him to England and Russia during the 1950s. He started a public relations and advertising company bearing his name in 1959. In 1964, he joined with Gene Zarones to form the Hallock-Zarones Co. Between 1967, when Zarones left the company, and the time of Hallock's death, Hallock's public relations business had several other names, including the Hallock-Merrill Co.; Ted Hallock, Inc.; the Hallock Agency; and Hallock Modey Advertising and Public Relations. Hallock's wife Jackie Hallock was also active in the business, becoming president and creative director. In addition to operating his business, Hallock represented Multnomah County in the Oregon State Senate as a Democrat from 1963 to 1982. In 1988, Hallock became a member of the Northwest Power Planning Council and served until 1994.

Hallock was married three times and divorced twice. He married Muriel Myers, before his deployment in World War II. They divorced soon after he returned from the war in 1945. Shortly thereafter, he met his second wife, Phyllis Natwick, at a fundraiser, and they married in 1946. They divorced in 1968, and he and Jackie Hull were married soon after. Hallock died in 2006.