Bill Williams

Bill Williams, age 91, of Knoxville, TN passed away peacefully on Monday, August 18, 2025. In a recent interview Bill was asked, “if you had it to do all over again, what would you change?” He responded, “Nothing. I wouldn’t change a thing.” He hesitated for a moment and then added, “I made a difference.” Bill Williams did, indeed, make a difference.

Bill came to Knoxville in 1977 with a wealth of broadcast experience. He had worked at three radio stations and two television stations in Oklahoma and Missouri before moving to East Tennessee.

Shortly after joining WBIR, Bill was named anchor of the eleven o’clock news, and then in 1978 added anchoring the six o’clock news to his work schedule. He would maintain that position as primary news anchor for the next twenty-two years. During those years the Channel 10 newscast viewership was the ratings leader in the Knoxville market. Many times the six o’clock news garnered the highest ratings in the country. He was thrilled when the City of Knoxville, at the urging of his friends, Robin Wilhoit and John Becker, re-named the street that runs alongside WBIR: “Bill Williams Avenue.”

Often described as the “Walter Cronkite of East Tennessee,” he was a journalist that insisted on truth and accuracy in his own work, and that of his colleagues.

But beyond his skill and love of broadcasting the news, he loved his community and the people in his community. Especially the children.

In 1980 Bill inaugurated a program that would make a difference in thousands of lives over the next thirty years. With the commitment of the Knoxville Council on Adoptable Children and urging by the co-presidents of that group, Mimi and Ivan Brody, Bill introduced adoptable children that were either over twelve years old, a large sibling group, part of a minority group, or special needs to the WBIR audience every Monday on the noon, six, and eleven o’clock news. He called the program, “Monday’s Child.” Bill and his photographers traveled all over the state of Tennessee to meet, interview, and tape segments with the children. Bill introduced more than fifteen-hundred children on Monday’s Child. About one-thousand of those kids were placed in permanent homes.

With his continued focus on the plight of area children, Bill’s attention pivoted to the extent of the poverty he saw in rural East Tennessee and Southeast Kentucky. He went into the mountains to bring the story of soul crushing deprivation back to the local news. In October of 1985, Bill testified in Washington D.C. in front of a Congressional select committee about the hardship in Appalachia. Many Knoxvillians were moved to action by what they saw on Bill’s reports, including Julie Holland, a local viewer. Almost single-handedly she began a program to take food, clothing, and Christmas gifts to the children in the mountains. She called the program, “Mission of Hope.” In 1986 with the help of family, friends, WBIR, and Bill, Julie took a truck load of gifts to fifteen-hundred children. Over the years, the Mission of Hope has grown to serve nearly twenty-thousand children and their families every year. The Mission of Hope goes to the mountains with food, clothing, back-school supplies, educational scholarships and more. And it happened because Bill Williams cared.

Bill helped raise millions of dollars for East Tennessee Children’s Hospital in the thirty years he anchored the Children’s Miracle Network telethons on WBIR. Year after year the local telethon ranked among the top in the nation in the amount of money raised per capita. Bill loved the Smokies and loved to tell other people about the experiences and beauty in what he called the “jewel in the crown that is East Tennessee.” He anchored the “Friends Across the Mountains” telethon for twenty-three years and helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars to preserve and protect the Great Smoky Mountains.

During his career, Bill averaged at least one hundred-fifty personal appearances a year in churches, civic groups, schools and other organizations. His duties in addition to anchoring at WBIR included hosting special programs on politics or education, and moderating political discussions and debates. He was in his element when he stepped away from the anchor desk to report on some of his favorite subjects. He was fascinated by politics at every level and loved to tell the stories of causes that would better the lives of the underprivileged.

Bill loved music. He played french horn in his high school and college bands, and with the Enid/Phillips symphony orchestra in Oklahoma. He loved to sing and had a beautiful bass voice which earned him a spot in his college quartet, “The Four Statesmen,” which helped pay for his college education. He played piano and violin all his life and often played and sang during his personal appearances for churches and civic groups. He was also privileged to spend ten years with the University of Tennessee “Pride of the Southland” Marching Band as their stadium announcer at Neyland Stadium and other stadiums across the country.

Bill had a very personal and all-consuming spiritual life. He filled the pulpit as a guest minister at many local churches, and was a deacon at Central Baptist Church Fountain City. His first intention after graduating from Phillips University was to become a minister. That plan was waylaid after Bill got a taste of broadcasting, and he became determined to work in what he hoped would be a broader ministry in radio and television.

He was honored innumerable times by professional and community organizations. Among the many awards he received, the ones he cherished most were the honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree conferred on him by Carson-Newman University and being inducted into the Tennessee Journalism Hall of Fame in 2019.

One of Bill’s greatest loves in his life was fishing. His parents taught him how to fish at an early age and took him all over the country and Canada in search of the next great catch. He passed that love down to his children and grandchildren.

In 1983, Bill met Wanda, and after dating for a week, they were engaged and then married just three months later. Wanda made Bill’s life complete. Throughout his career, Bill was always busy -- delivering the news, writing, planning, announcing, speaking, emceeing or singing. He was never too busy to be present at the special times with his family: football and baseball games, piano and dance recitals, church programs, or whatever involved the family inside or outside the home. He and Wanda were always opening their home to friends and family where they showered their guests with an abundance of love.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents, Riley and Lola Williams. In October, 2019, Wanda, his precious wife of thirty-six years, lost her battle with pancreatic cancer. After she passed he would often say, “I feel good physically but my heart is broken.” He also lost both his sons, Mark and Michael, both of whom he loved dearly and who died far too early.

He is survived by daughters Marcelene Edwards (David), Angelique Thomas (Wesley), and daughter-in-law Crystal Williams Rosecrance (Matt). Grandchildren Riley (fiancé, Kacey Cannon) and Mallory Thomas; Billie Williams and Harper Rosecrance.

There will be a Call of Convenience Thursday, August 28, 2025 from 11:00 am - 7:00 pm at Berry Lynnhurst Funeral Home. The family will receive friends Sunday, August 31, 2025 from 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm with a 5:00 pm service at Central Baptist Church Fountain City, 5364 N. Broadway St., Knoxville, TN 37918. The services will be conducted by Reverend Ron Mouser and Reverend Bob Robinson.

Memorial contributions may be made to Mission of Hope, East Tennessee Children’s Hospital, and Central Baptist Church Fountain City.