Bill Shanks

Bill Shanks is the host of ‘The Bill Shanks Show,’ a four-hour daily sports talk show on Middle Georgia’s ESPN – The SuperStations – 93.1 FM in Macon, 105.9 FM in Warner Robins and 98.3 FM in South Central Georgia. Bill has hosted a sports talk show in the Macon market for 11-plus years. He was named Macon’s Best Radio Personality in The Telegraph’s Best of the Best 2010.

For the last 11 years, Shanks has hosted ‘The End Zone’ (a weekly high school football highlights show) on WMGT-TV, the NBC affiliate in Macon. Shanks also does two weekly sports segments for 41 NBC News. Shanks wrote two weekly sports columns for The Telegraph in Macon between 2009-2018.

Shanks is known for his work on the Atlanta Braves. For 10 years, Bill was the publisher and writer for Atlanta Dugout.com, a website covering the Braves organization for Scout.com. In 2010 he was the Atlanta Braves beat writer for Fox Sports South.com, with occasional articles also on Fox Sports.com. Shanks occasionally appeared on Braves Live, the pre-game show on Fox Sports South.

For two years Shanks hosted ‘The Atlanta Baseball Show’ and was the Braves’ analyst for the ‘Buck and Kincaid Show’ on WCNN 680 the Fan in Atlanta. Shanks emceed the Atlanta Baseball Show in 2008, a part of the Braves Fan Fest. In 2006 Shanks was one of the co-hosts of the Braves’ Wrap Up Show on the Atlanta Braves Radio Network.

Shanks was first on the radio at age 12 in 1982 when he delivered the sports on WACL-AM in his hometown of Waycross, Georgia. He did high school basketball at 13 and then high school football on the radio at 15 years old.

In 1986, at the age of 16, Shanks had a weekly radio sports talk show on WWUF-FM in Waycross. “Sports Monday” 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 a sports writer for The Red and Black, the campus newspaper at UGA.

After graduating from UGA in 1992, Shanks became 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 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 in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, 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 aired on CSS (Comcast Sports Southeast), Sun Sports in Florida, and over-the-air stations around the southeast. Shanks also did play-by-play for CSS’s coverage for Rome Braves and Greenville Braves.

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, Bobby Cox, and Paul Snyder.

In March of 2005, Georgia Magazine featured a cover story written by Shanks on Braves’ President John Schuerholz. The magazine also featured stories on the fourteen kids from the state of Georgia playing in the Braves’ farm system at the time, and a story on Walter Victor, the legendary Braves’ photographer. Shanks authored a profile on Bobby Cox for the April 2008 issue of Georgia Magazine. Shanks has also written for Georgia Sports Monthly, and he wrote a feature article for Lindy’s 2006 Baseball Scouting Report, a national publication.

Shanks has also provided weekly Braves reports for stations in Atlanta (WGST), Athens (WRFC), Birmingham (WJOX), Huntsville (WUMP), Mobile (WNSP), Myrtle Beach (The Team), Columbia (ESPN), Spartanburg (ESPN), and Chattanooga (WGOW). He’s also frequently asked to come on with radio stations around the country before the Braves come into town on road trips. Shanks has appeared on radio stations in San Diego and Kansas City to talk baseball, along with baseball shows on Sirius/XM Radio.
Shanks is now in his 33rd year as a broadcast journalist.

Bill resides in Macon, Georgia and can be reached at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.