By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
…and by golly, they were all the same person, and a sane one at that! Throw in a former youth pastor, a paratrooper, and someone who fought on horseback in Afghanistan, along with having worked in the Pentagon, and you have Alabama’s own Phil Williams of Right Side Radio. Phil is going to be attending the Alabama Veterans Museum Coffee Call on Saturday, February 3, at 8 a.m., and this is an invitation for you to come meet him.
Williams has a popular radio show that can be heard on WVNN each weekday from 2-5 p.m. The Alabama-based syndicated show has a tag line which is “Solid, Conservative, and Just Plain Right,” and its fans are known as “Right Side Ruffians.” I first “met” Phil in the early days of Right Side Radio when he had callers call in with a pop song that described what was going on in the political arena, and most had chosen “Crazy Train.” Mine was Bob Dylan’s “Hard Rain Is Gonna Fall,” and after that I have been a frequent caller. I have also had the privilege of being interviewed in his studio in Gadsden, and we have both gotten “misty” more than once over our love for soldiers, especially those who are no longer with us.
Phil comes from a military family, and I am sure in the time he speaks to the attendees, he’ll briefly tell what it was like to have a grandfather who ran Redstone Arsenal and a dad whose health was severely compromised from the chemicals used in Vietnam.
I appreciate many things about this man that I call a brother and friend, not the least of which are his understanding of history, the Constitution, the law and the Word of God. It also doesn’t hurt that he gives me the opportunity to publish his column in each edition of Athens Now. It goes without saying that he endured severe hardship in Afghanistan, including losing 30 pounds because of dysentery, and his service was deeply appreciated by his men, the Afghanis, and the Iraqis. We were in Iraq at the same time, but our paths never crossed, and I am glad that this is no longer the case.
While Phil is certainly confident in his own skin, he doesn’t like to toot his own horn, so I will. His radio show is my favorite, and I listen as often as I can. He does solid research for his “show prep,” and makes an excellent case for everything he covers. I will also say that more than once I have wondered if I was safe to keep driving because I was laughing so hard. He has resources on his radio show website, rightsideradio.org, and an excellent reading list, so check it out. He also does well when detractors call in, and I am grateful that he doesn’t resort to insulting them.
My last statement is that if you are a business owner, you would be doing yourself and your business a favor by advertising on Right Side Radio. If you are not a business owner, and even if you are not a veteran, come to Coffee Call on February 3. You’ll be glad you did.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
April 19, 2024
