Radio industry voices approval, frustration at Ted Williams story

Homeless Man with Golden Voice is Actually a Druggie Deadbeat Dad
As usual, the Mainstream Media are a mile wide and an inch deep.  They have made a media sensation out of someone who is a despicable loser, crook and irresponsible parent.    I have not sunk to such depths as this jerk Ted Williams.  Why can’t normal people like ME, with radio experience and who needs a GOOD full-time job, get a job with the Cleveland Cavaliers?   Why does it have to be an undeserving dreg of society who deserves a “second chance&#...

Im Ready reddy red ted Im reddy~ & other important news
Ted Williams, the Homeless guy from Columbus, Ohio with a golden voice got his life changed by the Internet! A dude with a camera asked him to make good on displaying the “God Given GIft” advertised on his begging sign, and Mr. Williams, a former radio announcer whose life went sour when he turned to Alcohol and drug, delivered. The video was put on the internet, and the whole world got to listen to Ted’s talent. Within a day the Viral Video has been seen over 3 million times, ...

Ted Williams: My Time with the Homeless Man with the Golden Voice
I met Ted Williams, the Homeless man with the golden voice who became a viral sensation, in a high-class dope den just before his descent into the world of Addiction. He struck me as one cool dude even back then. By Mansfield Frazier...

'Golden-Voice' Man Credit's God for Redemption
The Ohio Homeless man with a golden voice explained Friday how a YouTube video transformed his life, bringing in multiple job offers for announcing work. Just days ago, footage shot by The Columbus Dispatch showcased Ted Williams' voice and made him an overnight sensation. It even led to a reunion with his 90-year-old mother Julia Williams. Watch the video here . In an interview with ABC News' "Good Morning America" Friday, mother and son recognized God as the source of Williams' redemption....

Selective Compassion and the Pathologies of Inequality
© Columbia Broadcasting System Ted Williams kisses his mom, Julia Williams, on The Early Show "We believe in second chances and second opportunities," declared the senior vice president for marketing from the Cleveland Cavaliers. This pronouncement accompanied the offer of an announcing job to Ted Williams, the Homeless man whose "golden" voice and impoverished visage went viral on a YouTube video. Beyond his elevation by the media to visible and viable economic status, Williams became a ...

Nagging Questions As Ted Williams Saga Unfolds
In this photo taken in late December, 2010, Ted Williams holds a sign advertising his smooth radio voice near a highway ramp in Columbus, Ohio. Why come to grips with a big, messy social problem like Homelessness? So much easier — isn’t it? — to shower job offers, cash payments and network-TV time on one Homeless guy who happens to have a really nice voice? This is perfect: the low-cost, feel-good way of addressing America’s nagging ills, just in time for the small-govern...

So Much Unseen
Before Ted Williams hit the viral big time I had the original YouTube video linked on my Facebook page, for I hoped the evolution starkly demonstrated how easy it is to apparently see and classify a Homeless person as unemployable yet be completely blind to their talents and potential. For some reason Epistemology has been branded a “ten dollar word” of intellectual nerds, but it’s simply the process of answering the question how do you know what you know? Many times the answer induces mil

Conservative talk radio weekly recap: Jan 3-7
My new Talk Radio Watch column is now up! Enjoy FREE audio and video highlights from the week in conservative talk radio. Top stories include: Who got called "the Larry Flynt of talk radio" by Alec Baldwin? CLICK HERE for more. PLUS: Glenn Beck's latest hire -- former HuffPo CEO Betsy Morgan! -- grants an intriguing if jargon-stuffed interview to Forbes , explaining why she made the switch:The other thing I’ll say is it was very deliberate in the Press Release to talk about The Blaze...

Not to sound like a grump, but...
The story of the you-can't-make-this-up-named Ted Williams, the Homeless man with the golden pipes who has in just a few days gone from the street to media darlinghood, is a lovely one. But the insanity surrounding the multiple offers and the relentless media self-congratulation on giving a hidden gem the exposure warranted by a media that loves a resonant voice disguises the larger problem of Homelessness in this country. Mr. Williams, for all his golden voice, has a backstory that fits what mo...

Since When are Deadbeat Dads Pop Culture Icons?
By now you've all see the story of the Homeless guy with the great voice, Ted Williams, as he's been making the rounds on television. But for years we've been told what worthless lowlifes deadbeat fathers are. So why all of a sudden the change in attitude? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for giving people a second or third chance, but let's not overlook the fact the guy is a deadbeat who's left a trail of misery and a broken family. So before we all get all misty-eyed over his shot at redemption, ...

Turns Out the Homeless Man with the Golden Voice Had a Home to go to All Along ...
A Viral Video vaulted Ted Williams and his golden voice to fame, but the real hero of this story is the woman he left behind. Patricia Kirtley raised four daughters alone after Williams split 23 years ago and dove down the rabbit hole of drugs. Not only that, Kirtley took in the baby boy the radioman had with another woman and raised him as her own. Oh, and by the way, she's partially blind. "We survived," Kirtley said Thursday in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. "My Children are survivors. They know if we g...

Will Fame Hurt Ted Williams?
(CBS) A few days ago, Ted Williams was a down-on-his-luck, Homeless panhandler on the side of a Columbus, Ohio interstate highway ramp. But then a reporter who had "discovered" the "man with the velvet voice" and made a video of Williams demonstrating his golden pipes put the video online. It's lured more than 13 million hits. On Wednesday, Williams sat down for an exclusive interview on "The Early Show." The rest, as they say, is history. Williams, 53, has been flooded with job offers, voice...

Andy Borowitz: My Idea of a Heartwarming Story
NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report) - If you'll pardon me for being serious for a moment, here's my idea of a heartwarming story: A Homeless man with no special talent gets our compassion anyway. The Ted Williams story is, of course, riveting and hopeful. But the nation's fascination with it has nothing to do with our capacity for empathy and everything to do with our Addiction to instant celebrity. The coverage has also been shockingly patronizing. People have been amazed to learn that a Homeless ...

Sour note for man with golden voice sparks
A feel-good story about a Homeless man with a radio-voice from heaven has been soured by a war of words between two American broadcast networks. Ted Williams, a former DJ who had fallen on hard times, was a roadside beggar until a video of his singing went viral, bringing him more job offers and interview requests than there are stations on the dial. Now CBS is accusing NBC of blocking a meeting it had set up with his mother, Julia, whom he had not seen for 10 years. NBC claims its rival has sab...

Sour note for man with golden voice
A feel-good story about a Homeless man with a radio-voice from heaven has been soured by a war of words between two American broadcast networks. Ted Williams, a former DJ who had fallen on hard times, was a roadside beggar until a video of his singing went viral, bringing him more job offers and interview requests than there are stations on the dial. Now CBS is accusing NBC of blocking a meeting it had set up with his mother, Julia, whom he had not seen for 10 years. NBC claims its rival has sab...

The viral story of the homeless man with the golden voice
Ted Williams - the Homeless man with the golden voice: In a matter of days the video went viral and Williams became the toast of New York: Via Greg Hengler on YouTube: Homeless Man Finds Love & Mercy, Thanks God For It The job offers kept pouring in, and he ended up doing "The Today Show:" Visit MSNBC.com for breaking news, world news, and news about The Economy Visit MSNBC.com for breaking news, world news, and news about The Economy Visit MSNBC.com for breaking news, world news, and news...

Ex-wife: 'Golden voice' no help with kids
REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Ted Williams, a Homeless Ohio man whose "golden voice" has given him a second chance, did little to help raise his Children, his ex-wife says. Patricia Kirtley told the New York Daily News she raised their four daughters and even had her sisters take in children he had with another woman. "We survived," Kirtley, who is partially blind, said Thursday in Reynoldsburg, Ohio. "My children are survivors. They know if we get a little bit that God provides we make it...

Daily Commentary Thursday, January 6th, 2010 A Nice Broadcasting Story
An Ohio Homeless man gets a second chance at life thanks to his voice. Daily Commentary - Thursday, January 6th, 2010 - A Nice Broadcasting Story [2:09m]:  | Download ...

Homeless Video Star Offered Movie Role
(NewsCore) - Global sensation Ted Williams, the Homeless man with the pitch-perfect voice, has been offered a role in a Jack Nicholson movie, Entertainment Tonight reported Thursday. The 53-year-old Ohio man has been flooded with job offers after showcasing his pitch-perfect voice in a YouTube video recorded by a Columbus Dispatch reporter. He is currently weighing up an offer as an announcer for NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers and was offered a commercial stint recording an ad for Kraft Macaroni & Ch...

Silky-Voiced Homeless Man Copes With Sudden Fame
NEW YORK (CBS 2/AP) — A Homeless man from Ohio who quickly became a celebrity thanks to his smooth announcing voice indicates it’s been challenging dealing with the rush of fame. “I wanted a nerve pill yesterday, to be honest with you,” Ted Williams said Friday on CBS’ “Early Show.” The 53-year-old recovering addict said a psychologist talked him out of it. “She said, ‘Listen, you’re going to have to learn to meditate and not medicate,&...

Someday, the Homeless Will Wear Ed Hardy
It hurts. ​So, Super Top Secret, an interactive design and advertising shop based in Utah, has embarked on a plan to make the world "less sucky." They've printed up a bunch of T-shirts, and they're offering one of those shirts to anyone who will send in their own "heinous Affliction or Ed Hardy tee." They will donate said heinous tee to the Homeless, making for what they describe as a win win situation: You get some rad new gear and at the same time help bring this gaudy, glittery, gold-...

Advice To Golden-Voiced Ted Williams: Listen To Your Mom
What is this? Ted Williams, the Homeless man with the golden voice who's gone from the streets of Columbus, Ohio, to nationwide fame this week because of a Columbus Dispatch video, made another appearance on NBC's Today Show this morning — this time with his 90-year-old mother Julia. As we've reported, they were reunited yesterday (after 10 years apart, not 20 as previously thought). Today, they talked about his years of Drug Abuse, petty crime and Homelessness and the shame they brought o...

Police's homeless murder appeal
Police have appealed for help in tracking the last hours of a Homeless man found murdered in Swansea city centre. David Michael Alan Williams, 26, was found outside the Iceland Supermarket in St David's Square at 0400 GMT on Friday, 7 January. Two men are still being questioned. Det Supt Burke, of the South Wales Police major crime investigation team, said Mr Williams was hmoeless and sleeping on the streets of Swansea city centre. "We are also appealing to anyone who saw any persons i...

Forget the Homeless Radio Guy, Actual Hero Is His Ex-Wife
Photo: Today Show/NBC While the rest of the world cooed and melted over the story of Ted Williams's unexpected ascent from Homeless man with a talent for radio to Viral Video sensation and Cleveland Cavaliers announcer, we also sobbed gently into our keyboard remained unmoved. Sure this was an uplifting instance of rare second chances and dreams coming true, but what about other Homeless people who aren't blessed with a golden voice? Where is the Internet on that, huh? Now tha...

Advice To Golden-Voiced Ted Williams: Listen To Your Mom
What is this? Ted Williams, the Homeless man with the golden voice who's gone from the streets of Columbus, Ohio, to nationwide fame this week because of a Columbus Dispatch video, made another appearance on NBC's Today Show this morning — this time with his 90-year-old mother Julia. As we've reported, they were reunited yesterday (after 10 years apart, not 20 as previously thought). Today, they talked about his years of Drug Abuse, petty crime and Homelessness and the shame they brought o...