The Greenville story of Tim Waller

A former reporter who's lost but gained

By: Wyatt Edward Stephens

Name: Tim Waller

How long have you been in Greenville? I have been in Greenville since 1994.

What is the most interesting fact about yourself? Given the types of stories that I use to cover, I am actually a more sensitive-person than people would think. I had a reputation of being an aggressive reporter that asked the tough questions. But the truth is: I am a pretty docile guy that happens to be surrounded by loving friends and family members. 

What is your background? I grew up in East Tennessee from the age of seven as my father had moved us from Ohio to Tennessee. The first thing that I remember is, being young at the age of seven, was that there was this heavy-southern draw within the folks of Tennessee. And I kid you not, truly, it took me a while to understand what my elementary classmates were saying. 

Fast forward to the next decade or so of my life, I learned the Southern Culture, I learned to appreciate the Southern Accent and I now consider myself a Southern Boy, even though I sound like a Midwestern. 

I grew up in a family of four, with one sibling, a sister whom is no longer with us due to a lifelong illness. My father also passed away a few years ago, and thus, it is currently me and my mother of the original four family members that are still alive. 

My father worked in a plant in East Tennessee working on internal parts for old school telephones as, at the time, they were switching mechanisms from the rotary phones that we use to have back in the day. It was a subsidiary of AT&T. 

People ask me why I became a reporter and they would probably expect me to say something along the lines of: ‘I have always wanted to be a journalist,’ or, ‘I have always wanted to uncover the truth,’ but the fact is this: I was a terrible student in college [East Tennessee State University]. Due to that, I took an ‘intro’ into everything: psychology, business, theology, marketing, you name it. I literally went down the list in my college catalog and tried to find something that I would fall in. However, I came up short. I was unsuccessful and my poor mother became worried that I was going to drop out of college. At that point, my mother said, ‘I tell you what, for now, I just want you to do something in college, a class even, that is fun.’ It was shortly after that I signed up for a radio broadcasting class. I was new to the program, I wasn’t the cool DJ, I had to start off as the newsman where I would rip copy of the AP News Feed. The rest is history. 

For my family, in particular, I am a divorced man. We have adult children, two daughters, twenty-eight (28) and twenty-three (23). I am not really public about this [below], but I do not want to hold back. 

Last summer, July 12th 2019, I lost my youngest daughter, Claudia to an opiod overdose. The nationwide epidemic that everyone is hearing about, the epidemic that I was reporting on at WYFF, would soon come knocking on my door. It was a complete shock: some would likely look at me thinking, ‘was he [Tim] out of touch? 

But the answer is no, quite the contrary. Claudia was struggling with substance-abuse issues as her drug of choice, in particular, was alcohol. It was a battle with her for many years, likely since the ages of fifteen or sixteen. When Claudia died, and again I never even heard of opioid use from her, I would have her friends tell me that she had just recently experimented with heroin. Even her friends were shocked. 

When the Coroner came to my door, on July 12th 2019, and told me what had happened, before I could even react, I was in shock. I was in complete shock at what he [Coroner] was telling me. 

What are you currently reading and/or watching? I am reading a book that I got for Christmas, called Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Harari. 

What are your hobbies? I am the GoPro Guy. I take that little camera just about wherever I go. I likely overshare my shots [on Instagram], I probably overshare to a ridiculous amount, but it is a lot of fun for me. My friends even know me by such as I’ll go out to lunch, brunch, what have you and they will ask, ‘Tim did you bring your GoPro?’ If I don’t, I see disappointment because the word is out: if you are with me, you are going to be on my GoPro and Instagram account. 

I do not know what it is about Instagram, I love it. I love the interface, the quick-scrolling, looking at pictures, liking them, them liking my pictures. Pictures are a universal thing and I follow worldwide accounts, as we all can. Some are places that I have always dreamed of going and there are excellent photographers out there. I love photography. 

I do not do it enough, but I would like to say that reading is one of my hobbies. I would also say that exercising is a hobby of mine, even though I also do not do that as much. I also like hiking and camping. 

My weirdo hobby however, is collecting antique typewriters. You can follow my hobby (@typegvl). Though they are not all my typewriters [on Instagram], I can say that I love old typewriting machines. I have about fifty of them within my collection. Believe me, it becomes a storage problem after a while. Some are a century old, some newer. But the one thing that I love about typewriters that were made in the late 1800s: they still have the QWERTY layout, the keyboarding layout that we use today. I love this, it hasn’t changed in over a century: we still type the same. 

What phrase do you try to live by? Given everything that has happened to me in 2019: leaving WYFF4 and my daughter’s death, the words I live by is: ‘things are going to be ok.’ 

I hope that this is true, I keep telling myself that. And so far, so good. I am not into positivity for the sake of positivity but I am trying to be positive about everything that has happened in my life: I have to do me. 

Here is the one thing that I knew, after being at WYFF for twenty-five years: I realized that the time had come for me to leave, I was no longer happy. There has been an increase in the amount of news coverage on human tragedy. Yes, you can argue that the media had covered human tragedy for years. But I can tell you, for the past four-five years, that the media has increased their coverage of human tragedy because the fact is this: human tragedy is something that sells. It is the last remaining thing that really sells as more and more people tune out of the TV medium and use social media as their news source; I was exhausted mentally and physically. My outlook on the World was grey, it was very bleak. 

Now, I have Tim Waller PR [upon leaving WYFF4]. Even though I am a one-man show, things are filling up and looking good. I chose PR because simply, I had been on the receiving end for my entire life. I had seen PR agencies try to get either me, or my colleagues, to do a story their agencies’ clients: I have seen both successes and failures. 

I know what makes a good story, I know what makes a story pitch. Not only do I know the players in our area, but I know their likes and dislikes. You would likely not hire me for everything but my speciality is earned media, i.e., media coverage: I will get news cameras and stations at your event. 

How would you describe Greenville? The greatest city in the United States. When I moved here, twenty-fives years ago, I would interview folks in their living room. And, regardless of the topic, if they were native Greenvillians, they would always tell me how Greenville has changed over their lifetime. 

Now, being here for almost twenty-six years, from 1994 - present day, I can truly say the same thing. I have seen major changes in the city. Aside from the few growing pains that all cities have (transportation, etc.), I believe Greenville has down a phenomenal job with their growth. It is just an exciting time to be here. 

How would Greenville describe Tim Waller? Oh my, I guess that depends on who you ask. The one thing that I hear is: the trustworthy guy.

I believe that I bring some credibility to the surface, which is serving me well right now. 

What is your happiest Greenville moment? It was the year after we moved here and the birth of our youngest daughter here in Greenville, Claudia, the daughter that I sadly lost last year. When she was born I was at WYFF TV. I remember doing a segment at WYFF on home safety and how to ensure your kitchen area is safe from choking hazards amongst small children. I remember, specifically, that I was granted to do a live report from my kitchen where I showed everyone Claudia as a newborn on live TV. It was an amazing live shot and I have that on tape somewhere. That video still makes me smile. 

Where is your favorite Greenville morning hangout? Grateful Brew: they serve the Counter Culture coffee; I love Grateful Brew it is such a cool vibe. 

Where is your favorite Greenville evening hangout? My leather chair in my living room watching Netflix.