Fellowship Profile: Bill Crane (ABJ ’84)

Congratulations to Bill Crane (ABJ ’84), one of the honorees to be inducted into the Grady College Fellowship during Grady Salutes on April 25, 2025.

Crane has served as a senior communications strategist for nearly 30 years. He began his career in broadcasting and has worked in that arena as the chief political analyst and commentator for WSB-TV’s Action News and WSB-Radio AM 750, a role he continues today.  Crane has also served as a columnist for Georgia Trend magazine and a number of weekly newspapers.

Crane has served as vice president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and as a senior vice president with GCI Group, a global public relations firm. Later, he served in senior communications staff positions under Georgia’s Gold Dome and on Capitol Hill, working for two U.S. Senators and one Governor, in both major political parties. He opened his own firm, CSI Crane, LLC, in 2009, providing a full-range of marketing, public affairs and communications services to individuals and corporations. Crane specializes in crisis management, corporate reputation and executive visibility, as well as communications and governmental challenges of highly regulated industries.

Crane is a former member of the Grady College Board of Trust. He is a past national president of Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity and treasurer of the Georgia chapter of Phi Kappa Tau, Inc. for many years.

Following are excerpts from an interview with Crane.

How has mentorship helped you through your career?

Being mentored, and being a mentor have each been invaluable in my life and career.  Professor Dodie Cantrell Bickley, my first boss in TV news, has been a friend and mentor for nearly 40 years now.  Other Grady mentors include Professor Bill Martin, Professor Bruce Swain, Conrad Fink, Parker Middleton and Dean Cully Clark.

Since three Grady grads and fraternity brothers assisted me at the start of my career, specifically John Culbertson, Russell Grice and Lou Green…I have understood the importance of giving back, identifying opportunities and sharing knowledge and my network with others.  Almost every investment of time or treasure across the decade has brought benefits and dividends, for the mentee as well as the mentor.

What does this recognition mean to you?

As a longtime member of the Grady College Board of Trust, I have enjoyed and witnessed men and women of distinction across the disciplines of our industry, receive well-deserved honor and recognition, by being inducted into the Grady Fellows.  My class of fellow inductees includes classmates and close friends of four decades, from people I have long admired like Parker Middleton to one of my own Grady classmates, Fox 5 Chief Meteorologist David Chandley.  I am highly honored by being in their company and the larger fellowship which we are about to join.

What are the most important skills communicators should master?

Effective and efficient storytelling, I believe best served with a touch of humor, and a consistent desire to base their work pointing toward the true north of fact and truths.  Even opinion and commentary should be fact-based, and again most effective when arguments are made with civility and with a smile.

What skills and/or values and/or circumstances do you attribute to your success?

My first paid job was at the age of 13 as a Copy Boy and Morgue Room organizer in my family’s weekly newspaper chain.  By the end of that year, I added an AJC newspaper route, and started to host a local talk show, called Talk 2, on WSB-TV in Atlanta.  The longest period of unemployment/under-employment was less than 3-months in 2007.  Starting in that Morgue Room in the 70s, I learned the importance of work ethic, dues paying and learning the trade from the ground up.

At present, we operate my corporate communications and reputation management firm, CSI Crane, LLC, with a diverse client roster. I serve as the chief political analyst for WSB Radio and TV and write a syndicated weekly column with roughly 90 print, online, broadcast and radio outlets.  In the ‘give-back’ category, I serve on seven non-profit boards.  If I had not learned those lessons of time management in high school, and taken up a regular yoga practice in my 40s, I would likely be long gone from a heart attack.  Learning to do more with less and to not be ‘above’ any assignment or task has been critical to these many successes, as well as a few stumbles and failures along the way.

The 2025 Fellowship Inductees will be recognized along with the 2025 Alumni Award recipients during the annual Grady Salutes event. This year’s Grady Salutes will be a luncheon on Friday, April 25.

Editor: Sarah Freeman, freemans@uga.edu