Iconic WBIR news anchor emeritus Bill Williams has died, the Knoxville news station announced. He was 91.

Williams served as lead anchor at WBIR – Channel 10 – for more than two decades.

“He was the most trusted journalist in Knoxville, a man generations of East Tennesseans turned to every day to discover what was happening at home and beyond,” the station said.

A native of Missouri, Williams came to WBIR in 1977 and spent the next 23 years on the air, retiring in 2000. He returned to the station briefly in 2006 when his replacement left the station.

Williams worked closely with Mission of Hope, an outreach program available to the people of rural Appalachia.

Among his accolades was the Silver Circle Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Carson-Newman Univer

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