Post date: Jan 06, 2011 7:57:59 PM
Ted Williams has become a household name in the United States, overnight. The unemployed and homeless radio announcer was discovered by a reporter on a street corner who then broadcast a video of him on You Tube, catapulting him to stardom -- and setting him on a path from rags to riches.
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 6, 2010) NBC - Appearing on the Today Show in New York was merely a dream for unemployed and homeless Ted Williams, but that dream has now come true.
The former radio presenter was living on the streets for the past ten years. But recently he received a second chance after his golden voice was discovered by a reporter who passed by the street corner where Williams was begging for money.Doral Chenoweth III from the Columbus Dispatch filmed Williams, capturing his unique voice, in December 2010. The video went viral on You Tube, attracting over five million hits.
Williams, who resides in Columbus, Ohio, flew to New York on Wednesday night (January 5) to meet with his 92-year-old mother who lives in Brooklyn, whom he hadn't seen in a long time.
The trip also landed him on the Today Show on Thursday morning (December 6).
On the show, Williams spoke about how he is now back on the airwaves at a local station in Columbus and how job offers have begun rolling in from all over, including one from the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team, as well as Kraft.
"The fine people at Kraft Macaroni and Cheese have offered me a little deal of being the official voice of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. Even the Cav's (Cavaliers) deal was a two-year signed deal with them and a home -- a home -- and that's been so long that I've had an apartment of my own, let alone a home," he told Today Show hosts, Ann Curry and Al Roker.
Williams' radio career failed years ago after he succumbed to drugs and alcohol and was briefly imprisoned for theft. But he says he has now been sober for over two years and that he is grateful for a second chance at life.