The roadside 'golden voice' back on the air

Ted Williams once had a career built on his voice. He worked in radio, and the station where he began in the 1980s was in Columbus, Ohio. NPR reports that alcohol and drugs brought him down. The article does not describe in detail how he became homeless, or how long he spent without a home.

In 2011, the Columbus Dispatch posted a video of Williams panhandling on the side of a road in Columbus. What stopped viewers was the sound of his speech: a polished announcer's voice, delivered by a man asking passers-by for money. The video spread widely, and NPR says his voice was heard around the world.

After the video, Williams appeared on talk shows and was reunited with his mother. He went to rehab and wrote a memoir, and he picked up occasional voice-over work. The path was not smooth. In late 2014 he told the Dispatch that he had an apartment but no furniture or car, and that nothing was left from the 395,000 dollar advance he had received for the memoir. He says he has not used drugs since August 6, 2011.

By 2016, about five years after the video, he was back on the radio. He co-hosts The Golden Voice Show on WVKO-AM in Columbus, which airs on weekday mornings from six to ten. It is his first steady job since 1993, and the station is the same one where he began his radio career. His co-host and manager, Scott Anthony, said that it is still a journey to teach him to be responsible with his finances, while the station's general manager said they teach and preach about giving second chances.