In today’s interview, we embark on the first of a 3 part series with O’Neill Williams. For those unaware, let’s start with some background…
O’Neill Williams graduated from Emory University with a BA degree in Economics. I was actually at Emory at Oxford, Georgia in 1978. I watched the filming of Dukes of Hazzard’s opening sequence. It was really cool. O’Neill is a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity. In 2013, he was awarded Significant Sig Status, one of only 1500 since the start of the fraternity in 1935. After college, he worked in Television and Radio. In the Spring of 1987, at 43 years old, he finished 3rd in the Atlanta Body Building Championship in the senior division.
O’Neill and his wife Gail work every day, 52 weeks a year. Over 1.4 million outdoors men and women watch the television show, listen to the radio show, view his newsletters or visit www.oneilloutside.com.
In 2022, his television show will witness its 41st season. It began in 1982 as “The Metro-Channel Sports Fishing Report”, a Thursday night 15-minute interview program on local Atlanta cable. The program now airs on Bally SportsSouth, Sun Sports, Arizona Sports and other video on demand networks , Destination America, FOX SportSouth, and Fox Sun Sports networks 52 weeks a year, reaches 171,000,000 subscriber households and has a weekly audience of more than 400,000 deeply disturbed
outdoors men and women.
“O’Neill Outside” radio airs on from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. Saturday mornings on Atlanta’s WSB Radio and can be heard over 38 Southern and East Coast States.
So without further ado, let’s start the interview…
Richard (Interviewer): I’m going to read a little bit about you, and it’s long because you have done a lot of great things in your life.
O’Neill: Well, I’ve been around a long time.
Richard: That’s right. That’s what happens. By the way, yeah, I mentioned it later on, but you’re 78 years young and you don’t look it.
O’Neill: I am 79.
Richard: That’s amazing. I mean, you look younger than me actually. I hate to say it.
O’Neill: All that goes to your parents.
Richard: Yeah. And I think you’re a pretty active guy too.
O’Neill: Yes. I did some bodybuilding and I’ve always been deeply involved in athletics and all that. But believe me, I have friends who worked out just as hard as I did and they don’t look anything like me. So, you know, that’s what your parents give you. And both of my parents were first class athletes.
Richard: Wow, so they had to have been quite an influence on you.
O’Neill: Well, they were. My dad died when I was six weeks old. He was an Army Air Corps fighter pilot. And my mother remarried when I was three but my biological father’s, the entire family, of course, he died when he was 21 years old, but the balance of his family all went to college on scholarships. Professional golf. Oh, yes. They’re all top class, world class athletes. So that’s where it all comes from. I played soccer at Emory. That was good. Oh, yeah. Did you say you were a goalie?
Richard: Yeah. I was a goalie at Emory at Oxford. Okay. So you’re a little older than I am, so I doubt we ever met. But how’s your back?
O’Neill: Well, fine. Okay. Surgery. You know.
Richard: Oh, yeah. I’ve had lots of those too. I tell people stay away from being a goalie if you can. You stay quite busy with your TV show. Did I read correctly that you reach 171 million subscriber households?
O’Neill: Correct.
Richard: That is amazing. Well, you must have something to offer to have that following.
O’Neill: I just outlived everybody else.
Richard: Oh, is that what it is?
O’Neill: Yeah, sure.
Richard: You wake up at 2.30 in the morning. It’s not bad for 78 years old.
O’Neill: Sometimes it’s a struggle, but I’m a morning guy.
Richard: So I want to start off with a couple of funny stories, if you can remember anything that just stood out over the years.
O’Neill: Well, there’s always funny things that happen with the show. It’s interesting that when I first started trying to establish the radio program, I telephoned WGST and WSB. WSB never returned my calls. If you didn’t return my calls back then, that means you did not return 20 calls, not one. And so when I went to WGST, I got an appointment with the program director. He said “I’ll tell you what, let me check with my people and come back.” Now you never leave an appointment without another appointment if you don’t get a yes. If you get a yes, leave. And so I said, “all right, I’ll be back Thursday.” I went back and he said “my people say it won’t work.” And I said “your people are wrong. And I’ll give you a chance to change your mind. I’ll be back in two weeks.” And I went back in two weeks and he looked over his glasses, sitting at his desk like that. And he said, “okay, good grief. I’ll give you a chance.” And I started the next Sunday afternoon, 5pm in the afternoon, on Sundays, an awful time slot. And WGST, that is a class B station. So by that time of day, it was a neighborhood station. But Gail went with me every week. We made $15 a week, which we spent on the varsity, going back and forth from Snellville to downtown every Sunday afternoon.
And that concludes part 1 of the interview. Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3 as we dive into more topics with O’Neill. Thanks for reading!
