BILL WILLIAMS 
SUNDAYS ... Noon to 5pm

Wow, can’t believe I’ve been playing the hits for the last 49 years.

My first “radio station” didn’t broadcast to anyone. I built it in my bedroom with sound equipment I collected around the house. It was a great way to practice announcing to get better at it. From there, I started and ran a radio station at my high school. We broadcast to the school library. Then, it was my college radio station, before landing my first paid radio shift in 1976.

I began at WTLB in Utica, working Saturday night at midnight till Sunday morning at 6am. After WTLB moved to WPTR in Albany. The station was 50,000 watts, so it was a regular thing to receive requests from listeners in Canada, and along the east coast.

My first full-time radio job came in March 1978 at WDOT in Burlington Vermont. I worked the night shift, which also included running the control board for Yankee games.

After Vermont, I returned to the Hudson Valley, and have been there ever since, working at WHUC and WRVW in Hudson, WCKL and WCTW in Catskill, WGHQ and B-94 in Kingston, Q-92 and WKIP in Poughkeepsie, and WGY and WGY-FM in Albany, plus doing traffic reports for the Traffax Traffic Network in the Capital Region.

I’ve worked in many different formats of music, been a news reporter, traffic reporter, and appeared at hundreds, if not thousands, of parades, community events, grand openings, and other remote broadcasts.

I grew up and continue to reside in Columbia and Greene Counties, and have always considered the Hudson Valley my home.

Two of my greatest thrills, as a radio person, was in 1976, when I traveled to NYC and met both Dan Ingram on WABC and Don Imus on WNBC.

On a personal note, I recently made a decision to move from full-time to part-time employment. I still get to do the job I love, but for not as many hours a-day. The extra time I now have is for my family.

Email: bill@albanymagic.com