BILL SHANKS

 

 

 

 

Bill Shanks is the publisher and writer for The Braves Show.com. He also hosts a daily sports talk show called ‘The Bill Shanks Show’ on WFSM Fox Sports 1670 in Macon, Georgia. He also is a weekly columnist for the Macon Telegraph and also hosts 'The End Zone' on WMGT 41 NBC in Macon. In 2006 he’s was one of the co-hosts of the Braves’ Wrap Up Show on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network.

 

Shanks has covered the Atlanta Braves since 1986, when at the age of sixteen he had a weekly radio sports talk show on WWUF-FM in his hometown of Waycross, Georgia. ‘Sports Monday with Bill Shanks’ featured guests like then-Braves Manager Chuck Tanner, then-Braves President Stan Kasten, and Braves’ Announcer Pete Van Weiren. The next year Shanks started writing a weekly baseball column for the Waycross Journal-Herald.

 

While at the University of Georgia in Athens, Shanks again hosted a weekly sports radio talk show on WUOG-FM. Along with covering the Braves, he reported on the UGA Athletic Department, including one year as the radio voice of the UGA baseball team. Shanks was also a sports writer for The Red and Black, the campus newspaper at UGA.

 

After graduating from Georgia in 1992, Shanks became the Sports Director and main sports anchor at WBSG-TV (WB 21) in Brunswick, Georgia. In 1996, he moved to Macon, Georgia and became the Sports Director at WGXA-TV (Fox 24). Shanks hosted and produced annual specials on the Braves, Atlanta Falcons, Georgia Bulldogs, and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at both stations. He also hosted and produced weekly football programs, high school and professional, during the fall. Then in 1998, Shanks hosted the “Countdown to Signing Day” state programs for Fox Sports South; the shows were seen in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina.

 

In 2000 Shanks formed a television sports production company called SportsCom Network. The goal was to produce complimentary programming on a regional level for sports teams and athletic conferences. From 2001-2003, Shanks hosted and produced weekly programs for the Atlanta Braves (“The Braves Show”), the Atlanta Hawks (“The Hawks Show”), and the Atlantic Sun Conference (“The Atlantic Sun Show”). “The Braves Show” was a combination of major league and minor league content. The programs were aired on CSS (Comcast Sports Southeast), Sun Sports in Florida, and selected over-the-air stations around the southeast. Shanks also did play-by-play for CSS’s coverage of the Rome Braves and Greenville Braves in 2003.

 

Shanks stepped away from television in 2004 to write his first book. Scout’s Honor: The Bravest Way To Build A Winning Team is published by Sterling and Ross Publishers in New York. The book shares scouting stories of players in the Braves’ organization, along with examining the philosophies that have made the Braves one of the most successful franchises in baseball. Scout’s Honor also investigates the histories of John Schuerholz, Stan Kasten, Bobby Cox, Paul Snyder, Roy Clark, and Dayton Moore, and show how the synergy between these men created unprecedented success.

 

In March of 2005 Georgia Magazine featured a cover story written by Shanks on Braves’ GM John Schuerholz. The magazine also featured stories on the fourteen kids from the state of Georgia playing in the Braves’ farm system, and on Walter Victor, the legendary Braves’ photographer. Shanks has also written for Georgia Sports Monthly, and last spring he wrote a feature article for Lindy’s 2006 Baseball Scouting Report, a national publication.

 

Shanks has also provided regular baseball reports for stations in Atlanta (WGST), Athens (WRFC), Birmingham (WJOX), Huntsville (WUMP), Florence (WYTK), Mobile (WNSP), Myrtle Beach (The Team), Columbia (ESPN), Spartanburg (ESPN), and Chattanooga (WGOW).

 

 

The Braves Show is the best website on the Internet covering the Atlanta Braves. Shanks provides extensive coverage of the team, with an emphasis on minor league information. The site also has breaking news of all major news items with the team, exclusive interviews, weekly premium chats, regular Internet talk shows, and audio podcasts.

 

The 2009 season was Bill’s 32^nd year of watching Braves Baseball, having started in 1978 when Dale Murphy and Bob Horner were leading Bobby Cox’s first Braves’ team. This was his seventh season writing on The Braves Show.com.

 

Bill resides in Macon, Georgia and can be reached at thebravesshow@email.com.