Bro. Armstrong Williams | Eta Alpha Chapter

Broadcast executive Armstrong Williams was born on February 5, 1959, in Marion, South Carolina. Williams was raised with his nine siblings on a 200-acre tobacco farm in South Carolina. He received his B.S. degree in political science and economics from South Carolina State University in 1981 and was mentored by former Senator Strom Thurmond as a legislative aide. From 1982 to 1986, Williams worked as a confidential assistant to the chairman of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Clarence Thomas, before moving into the field of public relations. He worked as a vice president for governmental and international affairs with B&C Associates before launching the Graham Williams Group in 1991.

Williams first made waves during the controversy surrounding the appointment of Thomas to the Supreme Court. His columns defending his former boss were reprinted in newspapers around the country, marking Williams' debut as a media personality. Since then, he has written weekly syndicated columns that have appeared in over 300 newspapers across the nation, including the Washington Times and New York Amsterdam News. In 1991, Williams got his first radio show, and by 1995 The Right Side with Armstrong Williams achieved national distribution. That same year he published a successful book, Beyond Blame: How We Can Succeed By Breaking the Dependency Barrier. Williams has also hosted a political talk show, The Armstrong Williams Show, which airs on Sirius XM 126 Urban View satellite radio.

In 1998, Williams united with The Salem Radio Network, which syndicated his national radio show to 26 of the top radio markets in the country. In 2002, he reunited with the Newark, New Jersey-based Talk America Radio Network. Williams joined the lineup at WWRL 1600 AM, New York's Urban Talk

From 2001 to 2003, Williams served as the chief operating officer of Renaissance TV Cable Network, where he managed staff, programming, advertising and developing prime-time specials. He also founded, and serves as manager of Howard Stirk Holdings, a company which owns two broadcast stations: WWMBCW21 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and WEYINBC25 in Flint, Michigan. In addition, Williams is Dr. Benjamin Carson’s business manager; executive editor of American CurrentSee Magazine; and is a partner in Chateau EZ in the South of France, the Sonnet Hotel in Mallorca, Spain, and Casa De La Brisa in Mexico. Williams also hosted On Point with Armstrong Williams from 2002 to 2005, a monthly primetime television special and a joint venture with Comcast, Radio One, and Right Side Productions, that aired on cable network TVOne, included guests such as former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

In 2003, Williams launched his own company, The Right Side Productions, which produces and syndicates, with Langer Broadcast Radio Network, his television program to media outlets including Sky Angel and The Liberty Channel.Williams was hired as a political analyst by Sinclair Broadcasting Group for its News Central program.

Williams has served on the boards of Childhelp USA, The Washington Afro-American Newspaper, the Presidential Commission on White House Fellows, Independence Federal S&L Bank, the Ben & Candy Carson Scholarship Fund, and NEWSMAX. Talkers Magazine has named him one of the 100 most important radio talk show hosts in America.

In March 2005 as co-host with Sam Greenfield on Drive Time Dialogue.

Williams began hosting a nightly talk show in 2008 on XM Satellite Radio Power 128 (now SiriusXM Urban View) called The Armstrong Williams Show. Williams' radio program features his own opinions, values, and ideology related to political and current issues. In June 2018, it was announced that Williams was leaving radio to focus more on his television company.

Williams hosts a syndicated television show called The Armstrong Williams Show. Other television shows hosted by Williams include The Right Side Forum[10] and The Right Side with Armstrong Williams.

On November 25, 2013, Williams was involved in the purchase of two television stations as part of a larger $370 million acquisition of Barrington Broadcasting by Sinclair Broadcast Group. Howard Stirk Holdings, which Williams owns, was given ownership over NBC affiliate WEYI-TV in Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan and CW affiliate WWMB in Myrtle Beach-Florence, South Carolina. The name of the company came from both William's mother's middle name Howard, and his father's middle name, Stirk. Both stations remain operated by Sinclair under a local marketing agreement,[15] which resulted in allegations that the company was simply acting as a "sidecar" of Sinclair to skirt FCC ownership rules. Williams defended the allegations, noting that he had full control over their programming, and received the majority of their revenue.

On December 4, 2014, the FCC approved the transfer of station licenses for WMMP, Charleston, South Carolina, WCFT-TV, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and WJSU-TV, Anniston, Alabama from Sinclair to Howard Stirk Holdings. Under the arrangement, HSH would operate their future acquisitions as an independent broadcaster, forgoing agreements with third-parties.

On January 28, 2015, Intermountain West Communications Company filed to sell KVMY to Howard Stirk Holdings. HSH had agreed on January 14 to purchase for $150,000 the stock of the Sinclair subsidiary that was a party to IWCC's sale of KSNV-DT and currently holds the license of KVCW; KVCW and KSNV themselves remain under Sinclair ownership. The transaction was finalized on October 30.[20] Howard Stirk Holdings revealed in its January 2015 application to purchase Las Vegas station KVMY that it again planned to acquire the WLYH-TV license from Nexstar Broadcasting Group. The sale was completed on November 12, 2015.

These transactions made Williams the largest African-American owner of television stations in the United States at the time. In 2019, Byron Allen surpassed Williams with his purchase of most of the assets of Heartland Media.

Awards:
President’s Leadership Award in Telecommunications and National Community Service.