Roger Wood
His Story
Listen to Roger doing a PSA recorded in May of 1998. You must have the Real Player to listen to this. This picture was taken in March of 1998 at WOKQ Radio.
In the story below, Roger says that he's leaving the NH Radio Station where he's been a mainstay for the last two decades. Rog's last day is June 26, 1998. His new company is called "Media Outreach,' a registered trademark.
Article about Rog from the Sunday Citizen of Dover, NH (3/29/98)
These two photographs are from 1977!
Left Photo is Roger.
Daughter Melissa, Roger and Wife Elaine in Right Photo with Jim Putz between Roger & Elaine
Here is an e-mail from Roger Wood to Gerry Wilkinson......I've been finding old friends like you this way, on the internet and AOL. I'm back here (in Portsmouth, New Hampshire), after 11 years living in Maine (not far from Portsmouth). Still in radio, after brief stint in TV engineering and free lance newspapers. 18 years with Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting. (J.J. Jeffrey formerly of WFIL when I was at WDVR hired me as news director). NH stations all FM, WOKQ/WPKQ (two transmitters, very high power). WXBB/WXBP, smaller transmitters for immediate area. Am news director, morning anchor, produce public affairs shows, etc. Married to Elaine 27 years, three kids all grown, Emily and Melissa, 23, E at Genzyme in Framingham Mass. in Genetics, M at local law firm paralegal still in school, Roger, 19, at University of New Hampshire. Hope all is well with you. How is your family? How is Ed Sciaky and the Cunningham's? We were down in Gettysburg and Philly last summer for one week, ate at former Howard Johnson's, on City Ave, with Harry Wolf and wife.
In 1969, Roger and I were working on a daily radio program (YEARS GONE BY) on WXUR/WXUR-FM in Media. Roger was the host and I the producer. This program was an offshoot of "The Golden Years of Radio" which started on WXUR in early 1968. Half of that show originated from Temple University and the studios of WRTI-FM hosted by Ed Sciaky and produced by yours truly, Gerry Wilkinson. The other half was hosted live from the Media studios by the Station Manager, Bob Barry. Actually, the very first roots of this program dated back to 1967 when all of a sudden, WRTI needed a half-hour program.....overnight. I went home that evening, came up with the concept, wrote the script and came in the next day and recorded the program which was hosted by Ed Cunningham. That was the very first "YEARS GONE BY" program. It was funny how things go. When I went to WDAS, a half-hour show (educational) was needed within a couple days. Thus was born "The Soul of Yesterday," a sort of African-American version of Years Gone By. The first host was Ed Sciaky. However, after one show, Ed left to join Jerry Stevens at WMMR. The second show had a new host.....ED CUNNINGHAM. We cut 13 episodes all together. The program aired weekly starting in late 1970 and went off the air in February of 1980 when I left the station. I ran that program and, in deed, the format right into the ground. Well, anyhow. Roger and I decided to go on vacation together. We booked a cabin in York Beach, Maine and went up for a week (maybe two, I forget which). One afternoon, it was way too cold to go into the ocean (the sea up there is already cold as hell on warm days). So, Rog and I headed out for some local tourist activities. It was a local church with some kind of witch tie-in. I don't remember actually what. (My wife had relatives killed as witches in the 17th century....who knows, maybe there). Our tour guide was this young lady named Elaine. After we took the tour, Roger kept talking about the young lady. A little much, I thought, since he had a nice girl friend back in Philadelphia. Well, the next afternoon, we were out on the beach, when Roger dug the key to the cabin out of the sand, and said, "I'll be back in a minute. Just going back to the cabin to go to the bathroom." (Well, actually, I cleaned up his language). Two and a half hours later, NO ROGER and NO KEY TO THE BATHROOM either. Where could he have gone? And more important, where did he take the key to the bathroom? Finally, he showed up. As it turned out, he went back to the church and waited for Elaine to finish work. He then tailed her home without being seen. When we got back to Philly, he started writing to her. And the next thing I know, Roger's quitting WDVR (now B-101) and moving to Portsmouth, NH. A few months later, I get a call from Rog wanting me to come up to Portsmouth in a little while to be Best Man at his wedding...to Elaine. And that's how the met. .....WEIRD STUFF ALWAYS HAPPENS.......I was on the telephone with Ed Sciaky (who at the time was working at the Philadelphia Flyers ticket office) when his future wife, Judy and her dad came up to the ticket window. Ed didn't get back on the phone for a long time...but that's a whole different story to be told at a later date.
An AOL INSTANT MESSAGE
America Online has a service (FREE, if you're a subscriber) that allows two people who are both on AOL that have a live computer chat called "Instant Messaging." The following is a partial transcript between Roger Wood and Gerry Wilkinson that took place on Sunday, December 7, 1997.
Roger:
I'm doing some experimenting with low power FM, and digital audio workstations.
Gerry:
That sounds interesting.
Roger:
Just bought a Roland VS 880 digital work station, with internal hard drive.
Gerry:
Wow!
Roger:
Still trying to learn it. May use it for free lance news, with ISDN or radio production. Has four manual, all contradict each other. 64 tracks of audio
Gerry:
Your own studio.
Roger:
So's this one. Anyway, I think a complete production studio can be setup on a desktop. I'm thinking of getting recordable CD, DAT or mini disc with Roland
Gerry:
DATs? I thought they were dead?
Roger:
Nope, everybody uses em in commercial radio
Gerry:
That's what I heard. But for the general public, they are dead!
Roger:
They eat tape. They're miniature VCR's
Gerry:
Yeah.
Roger:
But they do have digital inputs outputs. I like the mini disc concept
Gerry:
Sounds great.
In another Instant Message between Roger Wood and Gerry Wilkinson on December 8, 1997, Roger said that he was a GRANDFATHER. Congratulations, Grand Dad! He has a four year-old grandson named Nathaniel, Melissa's boy. Does anyone else out there have any grand children??? Let us know and we'll post it.
Here's an e-mail from Roger Wood to Gerry Wilkinson....
Hey, after reading Professor Biel's impressive resume, I would like to expand mine to include a comprehensive career summary: Commenced professional broadcasting career in 1968 at WXUR in Media, Pa., hosting program "Years Gone By," produced by Gerry Wilkinson. Summer work at WVCH, Chester, Pa., in the same year. Worked at WDVR 101 from 1969 to 1970. Moved to New Hampshire in 1970, and began work as radio station newsman in single person shop at WHEB AM FM. Series of radio jobs, WWNH, Rochester, WBBX Portsmouth, until 1976, when I joined New Hampshire Public Television as an operations/production engineer. Left in 1979 to join Fuller-Jeffrey Broadcasting, now WOKQ/WPKQ/WXBB/WXBP to present time. Serve as news and public affairs director, morning news anchor/personality, public affairs program producer and chief operator in charge of all station logs and FCC requirements. In connection with the latter, I hold the General Class Radiotelephone certificate with radar endorsement. From 1982 to 1993, worked part-time as free-lance reporter and photographer for several weekly and daily newspapers writing hard news, feature and business stories. Also, I perform public relations tasks for non-profit organizations in the area. Awards include: Organizations include: Other activities: If I think of any others, I'll let you know. Thanks, Roger
*UPI individual achievement award for East Coast 1989
*Associated Press NH broadcast award for best newscast, 1995
*New Hampshire Association of Broadcasters best newscast (same newscast) 1995
*Seacoast Life Magazine Readers' poll best radio newscast, 1989
*Numerous other UPI, AP and NHAB category awards various years.
*1995 to present: Member and Treasurer, Board of Directors, The Housing Partnership (affordable housing nonprofit), Portsmouth, NH. Also chair the fund raising and PR committee.
*1996 to present: Member and PR specialist for the Mayor's (Portsmouth) Blue Ribbon Committee on Peirce Island. (To improve the environment of the island)
*1991: Founding member of the Greater Seacoast Economic Summit, to find solutions to the area's recession.
*1995: Volunteer mentor for the Manchester Housing Authority Family Self-Sufficiency Program, helping a resident out of poverty.
*1988: Original Board member of Leadership Seacoast, a leadership development seminar program.
*United Press International New England Advisory Board member.
*Judge, for Associated Press and UPI national awards.
*Reporter assigned to New Hampshire Teacher in Space, doing on-scene reports at the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in 1986. Have original press badge and audio describing launch.
*Frequent correspondent for UPI, AP, Mutual, CBS, and U.S.A. radio networks.
*Implemented first cellular car phone reporting system in Northern New England for trafficaccidents and other highway problems.
*Numerous appearances on New Hampshire Public Television and Radio as fund raising on-air talent.
*Led WOKQ FM to a partnership with WNEV, Channel 7, Boston in New England News Exchange, and set up largest network of radio stations trading news in the region.
*Panelist in a 1985 debate on the media sponsored by the New Hampshire Bar Association on media and the courts. Have participated in many media seminars through the years.
In an Instant Message conversation between Gerry Wilkinson and Roger Wood today, Roger mentioned that in 1986, he was sent to Florida for the upcoming launch of the Challenger. That was because the school teacher was from New Hampshire. He was live on the air when the disaster happened. Roger has written several unpublished articles about it, which eventually we hope to post here. He also has an audio tape, which we hope to convert to Real Audio® and post on this site. Seventeen years before, Roger and I produced a half-hour documentary about Apollo 10, at the new WRTI Annenberg Hall studios for air over WHYY-FM (Then WUHY-FM). I had totally forgotten that until Roger mentioned it. A couple of years later, Bruce Smallwood and I did one on the entire space program which was syndicated (free) and aired on about 18 stations.
A FUNNY STORY....On December 26, 1997, Gerry Wilkinson was talking to Roger via AOL's Instant Messager system. Here's a story that Roger told me (Gerry Wilkinson). Roger was working at WDVR in 1968 or 1969 along with Bruce Smallwood and Joe Ryan. Bruce had a good friend who had been kicking around in the radio business for awhile named "George Benson." Late one night, the telephone rang. "Hello, WDVR," said Roger. The voice on the other end said that he was George Benson. Roger said, "Hey George, how the hell are you doing? Been a long time since we saw each other." George said that he had a new record album out. "Sounds great," said Roger. "I sing on this one," said George. Roger replied that he didn't know George could sing. And George said that it was his first try. After they talked a few minutes, they said good bye. George said, "And who should I tell Hy Lit I was talking to?" Roger Wood was the answer. It wasn't Bruce's friend George Benson but the jazz guitarist who had done his first vocal on this particular album. But I can imagine George Benson talking to Hy Lit (at WDAS, not WDVR) and saying "Yes, that's a nice guy you have working there at WDAS, that Roger Wood guy." And Hy would say...WHO THE HELL IS ROGER WOOD. WHO??
This is the WRTI Old Gang Web Site!