Alan Williams is more than just the 5 p.m. anchor and special-projects reporter on WVLT/Local 8 News.
He’s also a native of these parts who has spent his entire professional life in East Tennessee reporting news and sports on both radio and television. Schooled in Florida, he earned a football scholarship to the University of Florida and was subsequently drafted by the New York Jets. Unfortunately, though, he was cut from the latter’s roster before being given a chance to make an impact. Although his pro football hopes weren’t yet dashed, they ultimately would be when he was picked up by the Green Bay Packers only to later be cut again. That’s when he returned to Knoxville and began his quest for a career in broadcast journalism.
Happily, things got better from that point on. “A friend of my dad’s took me under his wing,” Williams recalls. “He knew the general manager at WBIR and convinced them to give me an audition. So I just got on camera and they taped me. And then I did another audition a week later. And then I got a call. They hired me right off the street to do weekend sports. I had only had one public speaking class in college. I hardly had any journalism classes because I had left college to join the NFL. It was pretty amazing.”
Williams credits that lucky break with launching his broadcast career. “I was also kind of a shy guy back then,” he admits. “Speaking wasn’t my forte. I was scared to death. But look where I am now. I can sink or swim. They gave me that opportunity in 1979. I just kept moving up the ladder. I became sports director at a station in Huntsville, Alabama. Then I came back and became sports director at Channel 6, and then I went over to radio station WIVK and became sports director there. At the same time, I was doing a national syndicated TNN show called ‘Dance Line.’ It was all about country dancing, which I knew nothing about. (laughs) And then WVLT called me about doing an entertainment show, so I was doing three different jobs at the same time,” he explained. “Eventually, Local 8 said they wanted me full time, and at the same time, TNN dropped the dance show. So then I left radio and became the 6 and 11 p.m. anchor here, and I feel very fortunate about the way my career has meandered around.”
Aside from Williams’ current role as 5 p.m. anchor, he also has his individual franchises – three in fact – that find him busy with no less than three reports on any given week. His “Keeping the Faith” series is of an inspirational nature. “Tennessee Traveller” focuses on people, places and destinations that define the region and reflect the people that live here. “Made in Tennessee” spotlights local entrepreneurs, inventors, accomplishments and small businesses of the homegrown variety.
“We have a saying that we’ve posted in our newsroom,” Williams says. “’How will we make a difference today?’ That’s the mindset we have. How will these stories affect our community, and maybe make a difference in people’s lives? If you can come away from your job having done that, you will feel like you have made a difference. Not many people have an opportunity to do that. But I feel like I do have that opportunity with some of the stories I do now.”
It’s in that spirit that Williams points to one story in particular as an example of those that have resonated with him throughout the years. He was working at WIVK at the time, and the station sent some of its on-air talent to Brushy Mountain Prison to compete in a softball game with the prison team. It was during that visit that Williams met an inmate named Robert Gibson. Gibson had been given a life sentence, but he had come up for parole after serving 30 years behind bars. “I got to know Robert,” Williams remembers. “He was involved in an organization called the Lifer’s Club. They were inmates who had gotten life sentences, and they were trying to make a difference in the free world. It was difficult to do anything in the free world while being locked up in prison, but we started talking and I got the impression he was the real deal. I believed him – what he was saying and what he was doing – and I got it worked out with the prison administration that I would meet up with Robert on the day he was getting out.” When the time came, Williams was waiting. He interviewed him and his family on the spot and then continued reporting on his progress for the next three months.
“He had never been to a Target. He didn’t know what an ATM was. Think of all the things that had changed in that time, technologically and otherwise. Everywhere he would go, he would just break down and cry. He was back in the free world after all those years. He had grown up in a household surrounded by crime, and now he had the chance to finally make a difference. I had tears running down my face when I saw his reactions and those of his family. That’s a story I will never forget. That’s one that will never, ever leave me.”
It becomes clear after speaking with Williams that he is indeed a sensitive guy. At age 61, he’s older than many of his colleagues, but his devotion to his duties and commitment to his coworkers becomes clear in conversation. It was especially obvious when the station hired late news anchor Ted Hall, who was returning to the market after a stint in Atlanta. In effect, Williams graciously gave him his job, stepping down from the 11 p.m. anchor slot so that the station could offer the role to Hall.
“I’ve known Ted a long time and admired his work at Channel 10,” he notes. “I know how many people watched him over there and so it was such an advantage for us here at Channel 8 to get him. I was willing to scoot over and say, ‘C’mon Ted, come on over, let’s get it done.’ And so we talked quite a bit on the phone. Now we sit next to each other in the newsroom. We’re good friends. We play tennis together and we have a tennis league in the summer. Sure, there’s competition within your own station, but for Ted and I, it’s a camaraderie, about trying to do something together and win at it. It’s been good, and we continue to try to make a difference.”
More than 30 years after landing that first job in his hometown, Williams says he still feels fortunate.
“I’ve been given opportunities,” he reflects. “I haven’t really solicited for them, but they’ve come my way. ‘Would you like to do this?’ ‘Sure!’ A lot of it has to do with the confidence that sports gave me. But I also have a fear of failure. I don’t like to say no. I’m going to do the best I can. I can’t explain a lot of it but I guess a lot of it has to do with the confidence I gained early on in life. I just like the challenge of doing it.”
