Armstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams (born February 5, 1959) is an American conservative political commentator, entrepreneur, author, and talk show host. Williams writes a nationally syndicated conservative newspaper column, has hosted a daily radio show, and hosts a nationally syndicated television program called The Armstrong Williams Show. He is the owner of Howard Stirk Holdings, a media company affiliated with Sinclair Broadcasting that has purchased numerous television stations.

Early life, family and education Armstrong Williams was born on February 5, 1959 in Marion, South Carolina to Thelma Howard Williams and James Stirk Williams. Williams, one of 10 children, was reared on the family's tobacco farm.

(Williams is a cousin of South Carolina State Senator Clementa Pinckney, who was a victim of the Charleston church shooting. )

Williams was known during high school to have a talent for public speaking. He earned a BA in Political Science and English at South Carolina State University, graduating in 1981. He is a life member of Phi Beta Sigma fraternity.

Career After college, Williams worked in Washington DC as a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, assisting rural farmers. Williams served as a confidential assistant to the chairman of the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (and future Supreme Court Justice) Clarence Thomas. Williams was a legislative aide and advisor to US Senator for South Carolina, Strom Thurmond. He is its CEO.

Williams began hosting The Armstrong Williams Show, a nightly talk show in 2008 on XM Satellite Radio Power 128 (now SiriusXM Urban View).

Television Williams was a political analyst for Sinclair Broadcasting Group's TV program News Central.

Williams has hosted numerous TV shows. His show The Right Side with Armstrong Williams began in 1995. He hosted The Right Side Forum.

Newspaper column Williams has written a syndicated newspaper column.

Howard Stirk Holdings

Williams founded Howard Stirk Holdings in early 2013, with its name taken from his mother's maiden name, Howard, and his father's middle name, Stirk.

On February 28, 2013, Barrington Broadcasting announced that it would sell its entire group, including NBC affiliate WEYI-TV, Saginaw, Michigan and CW affiliate WBSF, Bay City, Michigan, to Sinclair Broadcast Group. Sinclair already owned a station in the market, Fox affiliate WSMH, Flint, Michigan, and could not own more than one license in the market. As part of the sale, Sinclair transferred the license assets of WEYI-TV to Howard Stirk Holdings and of WBSF to Cunningham Broadcasting. WSMH took over the operations of both WEYI-TV and WBSF through local marketing agreements (LMAs) when the deal was completed on November 25, 2013.

Included in the same February 2013 sale of Barrington Broadcasting's group to Sinclair Broadcast Group was ABC affiliate WPDE-TV, Florence, South Carolina; SagamoreHill Broadcasting owned Florence-licensed then-CW affiliate WWMB, which was operated by WPDE-TV under an LMA.

On December 4, 2014, the FCC approved the transfer of station licenses for then-ZUUS Country affiliate WMMP (now MeTV affiliate WGWG), Charleston, South Carolina, WCFT-TV (now WSES), Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and WJSU-TV (now WGWW), Anniston, Alabama, from Sinclair to Howard Stirk Holdings. Under the arrangement, HSH would operate their future acquisitions as an independent broadcaster, forgoing agreements with third parties. On January 28, 2015, Intermountain West Communications Company filed to sell then-MyNetworkTV affiliate KVMY (now MeTV affiliate KHSV), Las Vegas, to Howard Stirk Holdings. The transaction was finalized on October 30. Howard Stirk Holdings revealed in its January 2015 application to purchase KHSV that it planned to acquire the license of then-CW affiliate WLYH-TV (now WXBU), Lancaster, Pennsylvania from Nexstar Broadcasting Group; that sale was completed on November 12, 2015. These transactions made Williams the largest African-American owner of television stations in the US at the time. In 2019, Byron Allen surpassed Williams with his purchase of most of the assets of Heartland Media.

On April 24, 2018, Sinclair announced that as part of its merger with Tribune Media, Howard Stirk Holdings would acquire the Sinclair-owned KUNS-TV in Seattle and KMYU in St. George, Utah, as well as the Tribune-owned KAUT-TV in Oklahoma City. This transaction was canceled once the Tribune deal collapsed in August 2018.

On August 12, 2025, Sinclair announced that it would acquire WWMB (at this time a Roar affiliate) outright, creating a legal duopoly with WPDE-TV. The sale was completed on December 1.

On August 12, 2025, Sinclair announced that it would acquire WXBU (at this time a Univision affiliate) outright, creating a legal duopoly with WHP-TV. The sale was completed on June 1, 2026.

In September 2025, Sinclair moved to buy WEYI-TV outright. On December 10, 2025, WEYI-TV's NBC affiliation was moved to WSMH's second subchannel, while WEYI-TV's main channel flipped to Roar. The sale was completed on March 1, 2026.

Stations owned by Howard Stirk Holdings City of license / market Station Primary network affiliation Anniston–Tuscaloosa–Birmingham, Alabama WGWW 2 40 (9) 2015 H&I WSES 33 (33) 2015 H&I Las Vegas, Nevada KHSV 21 (2) 2015 MeTV Charleston, South Carolina WGWG 4 (34) 2015 MeTV

Stations formerly owned by Howard Stirk Holdings City of license / market Station Primary network affiliation Saginaw–Flint, Michigan WEYI-TV 25 (30) 2013 1 2026 Roar Lebanon–Lancaster–York–Harrisburg, Pennsylvania WXBU 15 (23) 2015 2026 Univision Florence–Myrtle Beach, South Carolina WWMB 21 (21) 2013 1 2025 Roar

1 Operated under an LMA by Sinclair Broadcast Group 2 Has a TBA with Sinclair Broadcast Group

'No Child Left Behind' controversy In January 2005, USA Today reported that documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (NCLB) revealed that Williams had been paid $240,000 to promote the controversial No Child Left Behind Act. USA Today reported that Williams was hired "to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same." As part of the agreement, Williams was required "to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts", and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004.

After the USA Today revelations, Tribune Media Services (TMS) terminated its syndication agreement with Williams. In a statement to Editor & Publisher (E&P), TMS stated: "ccepting compensation in any form from an entity that serves as a subject of his weekly newspaper columns creates, at the very least, the appearance of a conflict of interest. Under these circumstances, readers may well ask themselves if the views expressed in his columns are his own, or whether they have been purchased by a third party." In response, Williams initially told E&P that he intended self-syndicate his column. E&P contacted 10 newspapers listed as clients on Williams's website to ask if they would continue to carry the column; the majority stated that they would not.

On September 30, 2005, the Government Accountability Office released a report concluding that the Department of Education had acted illegally in making the payments because the government's role in the public relations effort was not disclosed.

Sexual harassment settlements Williams has settled sexual harassment lawsuits, one in 1997 and another in 2017.

Other civic, supervisory and charitable activities Williams was a longtime associate of US Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and was an influential surrogate during Carson's 2016 presidential campaign. He was a member-at-large of the board of the Carson Scholars Fund, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization.

Other boards on which he has served include: Childhelp USA, the newspaper Washington Afro-American, Independence Federal Savings Bank, and Newsmax.

Honors and awards In 2004, Williams was appointed by US President George W. Bush to the President's Commission on White House Fellows, which chooses White House Fellows.

Williams received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater South Carolina State University in 2021.

Books by Williams Williams, Armstrong. Beyond Blame: How We Can Succeed by Breaking the Dependency Barrier, Free Press, 1995. Williams, Armstrong. Reawakening Virtues: Restoring What Makes America Great, New Chapter Publisher, 2011. Williams, Armstrong. What Black and White America Must Do Now: A Prescription to Move Beyond Race, Hot Books, 2020. Carson, Benjamin; Crump, Benjamin; Williams, Armstrong. Crisis in the Classroom: Crisis in Education. Williams, Armstrong. Letters to a young victim: Hope and Healing in America's Inner Cities, Scribner Paper Fiction, 1996.