Greg Williams (radio personality)

Infobox Radio Presenter
name = Greg "The Hammer" Williams


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Greg "The Hammer" Williams is an American radio personality from Boyd, Texas and a former co-host on "The Hardline" with Mike Rhyner on the sports radio station KTCK 1310 The Ticket in Dallas, Texas.

In the early 1990s Williams hosted a public access television show called "Sports Perspective" [ [http://theticket.com/videos/sportsperspective/sports.html Sports Perspective Video] ] that had amongst its panel members Mike Rhyner and Craig "Junior" Miller, who would go on to be future show hosts when 1310 The Ticket was launched.

Drug addiction

In 2004, Williams disappeared from the airwaves for approximately four weeks to battle an addiction to the prescription drug Lorcet and Vicodin but returned in full health. Greg, believing in The Ticket's mantra of "pulling back the curtain" (where other outlets might hide such information), disclosed on the airwaves the problems he had faced and described in detail the experience of in-patient rehabilitation. [http://dallasobserver.com/2007-11-22/news/hammered "Greg Williams Hammers the Ticket" from Dallas Observer] ]

At the end of February 2006, Williams disappeared from the airwaves a second time for unknown reasons but returned later in the month. On October 12, 2007, Williams was late for a live remote that the Hardline was doing that day, did one on-air segment before disappearing for a third time, again for unknown reasons at the time. In a July 2008 Dallas Observer article by Richie Whitt, Williams admitted that program director Jeff Catlin ordered him to take an immediate drug test which Williams admits he couldn't pass.cite web |url=http://www.dallasobserver.com/2008-07-03/news/the-hard-lie |publisher=Dallas Observer
title=The Hard Lie |last=Whitt |first=Richie |date=2008-07-10
accessdate=2008-07-20]

On December 20th KTCK was sent a "Cease and Desist" letter from Williams' attorneys preventing the station from referencing the former co-worker in any way by name or by on-air drops [ [http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2007/12/greggos_gone_for_good_but_to_w.php 'Greggo's Gone for Good. But to Where?' from Unfair Park] ] . On January 10, 2008 KTCK announced that Greg Williams had resigned from the The Ticket. [ [http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/5445385.html Houston Chronicle Reports on Williams' resignation] ]

On May 19, 2008, Williams appeared on KDFW's "Sports Sunday" with Mike Doocy and admitted on-air that his firing was due to illegal drug use. In addition, Williams announced that he had been officially diagnosed with depression and is currently taking prescription drugs to fight it. [http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=6575356&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1 Greg Williams Talks Drug Abuse, Comeback] ]

An article posted by "The Dallas Observer" authored by Richie Whitt and titled "The Hard Lie" exposes the behind the scenes happenings during the last days of Williams at the Ticket.

In August of 2008 the Dallas Observer's Richie Whitt reported that Williams had finally reached an agreement with ESPN Radio to do an evening show with RJ Choppy. The show will hit the airwaves in mid-September. On Tuesday, September 8th, Williams is scheduled to appear along side his former boss Randy Galloway for a "no holds barred" Q & A. Some have speculated that perhaps Williams new show should not take live phone calls as listners of KTCK (Williams former station) may clog the phone lines with prank calls.

References