It’s easy to look at YouTube with its videos of ranting nobodies, marauding thugs and train-wreck teens and think, “when does the shelf life of this stuff finally run out?” I know my grumpy old man thoughts have drifted in that direction from time to time. But every once in a while, a redeeming YouTube tale comes along that just warms the cockles of your world-weary heart.
Ted Williams’ story is one of them.
No, I’m not talking about baseball’s great Splendid Splinter. This Ted Williams was just another homeless guy on some street corner in Cleveland who, until recently, subsisted on the loose change given to him by strangers. But unlike most “WILL WORK FOR FOOD” corner standers, this guy’s handheld cardboard sign offered a different slant.
“I HAVE A GOD GIVEN GIFT OF VOICE. I’M AN EX-RADIO ANNOUNCER WHO HAS FALLEN ON HARD TIMES. PLEASE! ANY HELP WILL BE GREATEFULLY APPRECIATED. THANK YOU!”
The cops who regularly chased the fatigue-wearing panhandler away from his standard begging locales even dubbed him “Radio Man.” But then something interesting happened. As a local human interest story, a Columbus Dispatch reporter grabbed his video camera and pulled up to Ted with a buck in hand. But he told the scruffy guy that he’d have to work for his hundred pennies and prove that his sign wasn’t just a bunch of false advertising.
Ted smiled, and then out of the guy’s mouth came the rich dulcet tones of a man who was surely born to sit behind a microphone.
He delivered a few melodious radio spot standards, and with a little prompting, told his story of falling into alcohol and drugs and coming back to be clean, but homeless, for the last two years. And YouTube took it from there. The Dispatch video went viral and Ted Williams became an overnight sensation. Local radio and TV stations brought him in for interviews.
“Just to get back to some normalcy and responsibility … If I can a job, whether it’s a twenty-five or even $18,000, I’d be happy,” Ted proclaimed. “At least I know God has me where he wants me.”
Soon, voice over job offers came pouring in and Ted was quickly offered a place to live and a job announcing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“The Cleveland Cavaliers just offered me a full-time job and a house! A house! A house!,” gasped the stunned Ted when the offer came in during a morning show radio interview.
And if that doesn’t cause you to swallow hard or at least smile just a bit, then you’ve been watching far too many YouTube vids of teenagers setting themselves on fire.
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