When William A. Conner (Bill) told an Air Force recruiter in 1991, he wanted to travel internationally, finish college and work in radio and TV, he had no idea he would get exactly what he wanted in his military career. Bill and his wife enjoyed tours in Iceland and Portugal. He earned his master’s in Communication Arts, along with professional certifications, and he spent the first half of his military career as a broadcaster with Armed Forces Radio and Television.
After boot camp, Bill attended the Defense Information School in Indianapolis for training, where he underwent fast-track training in virtually every job at a radio and television station, from copywriting to sound engineering, and from disc jockey to floor director. “Any aspect of broadcasting, that’s what I did in my first career.”
“This was before worldwide streaming media, so when you were stationed overseas, your job was to be the English-speaking media for your base. You might be the morning disc jockey and the evening TV anchor or cameraman. You would carry national headline news and then DJ your own radio show, playing their favorite songs so you could be a little bit of home for the airmen.”
Bill’s award-winning “The Dead Zone” show played “The Grateful Dead” on the base in Keflavík, Iceland. Think Robin Williams in “Good Morning, Vietnam” in another era.
“And it was absolutely wonderful!”
Transferred back to the States, Bill was assigned to USAF Recruiting Headquarters in San Antonio, working with their ad agency, producing recruitment public service announcements. He’d go into the studio to produce custom PSAs for local radio stations, such as country powerhouse WIVK-FM in Knoxville, which the recruiter would then send to the station. “Stations would play the daylights out of it. It got their call sign out, while we got our message out in a time when country music was a huge market for our 18-24 demographic.”
Bill calls his broadcast production work in Texas “just the coolest thing to do.” While working at recruiting headquarters, he traveled to Nashville to produce “The Gift,” a one-hour holiday radio program sponsored by the USAF. He interviewed country artists Randy Travis, Trisha Yearwood, Clint Black and Charlie Daniels, recording their favorite Christmas memories to produce a story-and-song program mixed with songs from their holiday albums. The artists were honored to be part of a military project, and radio stations gave “The Gift” special airtime throughout the holiday season to honor service men and women.
Just as he was about to be transferred back to Portugal, Bill was introduced to a new opportunity in the Texas Air National Guard, doing photography and video work. “So, I finished as a regular active-duty Air Force member, switched over as an active-duty Air Guard member and was with the unit in San Antonio, as a Public Affairs Specialist for 13 years.”
While stationed there, Bill often came to McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base, which has an entire facility dedicated to airmen education, to teach. “My wife [now retired from the Department of Energy in Oak Ridge] and I just fell in love with the area. It reminds us of our home state, Virginia. Our son and daughter were born in Texas, but now both live in East Tennessee. So, it’s the best of all possible worlds for us.”
It was natural for Bill to travel to Knoxville in search of a homegrown radio station, and he found it in roots-music public radio station WDVX. He even tied his public affairs course to WDVX, bringing classes to the “Blue Plate Special” for a learning lab about messaging and community partnerships. Later, Bill followed his passion, joining and currently serving as the chair of the WDVX board.
A job opened up on the McGhee Tyson Air Guard base in 2013, where Bill finished his final military tour, teaching and developing courses in Instructor Certification, Public Affairs Management and Video News Production. “Originally, you go in thinking, let’s give it one tour. Twenty-five years later, in the Air Force and Air National Guard, I retired as Master Sergeant E-7.”
Since 2018, Bill has served as the Military and Family Readiness Manager for the 134th Air Refueling Wing at the McGhee Tyson Air National Guard Base. “This is the greatest job I’ve ever had in my life. I loved being in the military, but I had done everything I wanted to do. This is a role serving military people, but doing it as a civilian is so great!”
“You spend the first third of your military career learning a new job, culture and way of life—reinventing yourself. The middle part, you’re accomplished in your job, hopefully an expert in your field. The last third should be dedicated to giving back time, ensuring that the people coming behind you are doing well and ready to make a good career out of the military. But for me, my last military assignment was a reset because I had to learn how to teach and instruct other instructors. I didn’t really get that third act, my give-back time.”
That opportunity emerged in his role as Military and Family Readiness Manager. Bill says his job is all about taking care of the people on the base through wellness training, classes and military family support programs. He’s part of a resilience team, a group of mental health professionals and chaplains who work closely together to care for airmen and their families.
“If we can help them square away finances, manage education goals, address stressors in their relationships, prepare for deployment, whatever it is, that’s going to help them be happier, be better at their job and better airmen each day they are out here. That’s my goal every day.”
And every day is different. “During a recent drill weekend, our resilience team did a training session for 90 airmen. “In a day, I might have 3 or 5 people come in with problems: one person ready to retire, another needing marriage counseling. I never know how many people are coming through my door, and I definitely have no idea what they need or want. I just have to stay flexible and be ready.”
One driver for Bill is building relationships before people realize they will need that relationship. “Something Desmond Tutu said shaped my philosophy. ‘There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.’”
“That’s my job. These young airmen, who are sharp and amazing kids, need information and support, but live in a world where communication is often done with two thumbs and a screen. Giving and receiving feedback, or discussing problems in person, can be challenging. It can be challenging for them to step out and ask for help from anyone. I get in front of these young airmen so they feel like they know and trust me, so if something is going on, they don’t have that hesitation to come talk to me.”
Bill put together a library of courses, like public speaking, giving and receiving feedback, mindfulness, and resiliency. “People don’t like public speaking, but I tell them in my course, ‘If you can’t lead a discussion, you can’t lead a squadron. So, you guys who think you’re going to be a leader someday, if you can’t get in front of the room and brief with confidence, you can forget it. They won’t listen to you.’ That’s when I get their buy-in.”
Bill explains that people coming from other bases always remark that the 134th Refueling Wing has something very special. “The 134th is amazing, starting with our top leadership, who are always there in every way to support us.” He adds that there are generations of fathers and sons, brothers, mothers and children who have served at the base.
“That, in no small part, has to do with East Tennesseans and the way they support the military and veterans every day. It’s not that they just think of service members on Veterans Day. It’s every day. At this base, we never take for granted the love and support we get from our community. We couldn’t do it without them.”
“This is that third act I wanted … where I get to give back to the people on our base … and it is pretty wonderful.”