Tom Wood being interviewed on Feb. 24, 2019. Photo: Michael Hibblen.
An iconic voice for Little Rock radio has become the latest victim of the struggling corporate radio industry. Tom Wood, best known for creating and programming longtime rock station Magic 105, was notified today, April 10, 2019, that he is among 70 regional employees of iHeartMedia who are out of a job. The injustice seems hard to fathom.
Tom started in radio 46 years ago and rolled with the punches in recent decades as deregulation changed the industry from being largely locally-owned and programmed stations to homogenized, mostly automated and syndicated programming designed for the masses. Companies used to be limited to one AM and one FM in each market, but by the mid-1990s, companies like Clear Channel were gobbling up every major frequency and forming clusters of stations designed to operate with as few employees as possible. Yes, it’s a business but with the change came the loss of a time when each station, especially music stations, seemed like a family with a staff of live disc jockeys on the air 24/7.
Tom Wood got his first radio job while in college in 1973 at Southern Illinois University when the radio was still the place where people turned to hear new music. He loved being on the air and ended up bouncing around to bigger and better stations until he got word in 1980 of a radio station that was going to be going on the air in Little Rock, Arkansas, a place he had never been to.
That station ended up becoming KMJX-FM 105.1, better known as Magic 105. He spent nine months helping to put the station on the air, created the format, the identity, and soon it was among the top-rated stations in Little Rock. Magic 105 lasted 27 years. The first couple of decades were great, especially in the 1980s, but after being sold to Clear Channel, it was scaled back with more automation and syndicated programming. When, no surprise, ratings dropped, the format was changed. But amazingly he managed to stay with the company (now known as iHeartMedia) by taking on different roles responsibilities.
Tom Wood was a radio hero of mine growing up as an avid radio listener. I eventually met him while in high school through someone who worked with him at Magic 105. As I entered radio, I called him several times asking for advice as I was starting out at small stations outside of Little Rock. He was gracious by listening to aircheck tapes and making suggestions. I’ve gone on to work 30 years now in radio.
On a whim, after talking to him recently in February, I asked if he’d mind sitting down with me to record an interview about his career in radio. On a Sunday afternoon, February 24, 2019, he talked with me at my current station KUAR. I hadn’t shared the audio yet, was waiting until I could get parts of it transcribed, but with news of him being let go today, I wanted to get this up right away. As you can hear in the interview, he had no intention of retiring and wanted to keep working in the field he loved.
Tom told me by phone today that he’s fine with me sharing this unfortunate news. He said he was stunned to be let go and had no idea this was coming. The other employees terminated in this round of cuts apparently were told Friday, April 5, but he was on vacation. When Tom returned to work today at 8:30 a.m. he was told and 15 minutes later was driving back home.
Here’s our interview divided into three segments which you can listen to below. I’ll add more to the text as I find time. I can’t help but be reminded of Tom Petty’s song “The Last DJ.”
AUDIO: Tom Wood interview part 1. He discusses starting in radio in 1973 and bouncing around the country a bit before eventually being brought to Little Rock to put the legendary Magic 105 on the air.
AUDIO: Tom Wood interview part 2. Tom talks about the evolution of the music, his experiences with many performers and a major challenge Magic 105 got from competitor KZ95.
When Magic 105 was killed off by Clear Channel, KUAR News and Program Director Ron Breeding put together this short report.
AUDIO: KUAR’s report on the format change which killed Magic 105.
I didn’t even ask Tom Wood in my interview about the demise of Magic 105, the ill-fated Tom-FM or another short-lived format Big 94.9, not wanting to get into anything that could upset his supervisors. But I did ask his thoughts about where he saw the future of radio going.
AUDIO: Tom Wood interview part 3. A discussion on the current state of radio as a business and perhaps its future, as well has Tom then having no plans to retire.
I’ll just close by saying this is endemic of what’s wrong with corporate radio. Companies that got greedy, overextended themselves and are now in bankruptcy.
UPDATE:
I wasn’t the only person to be extremely disappointed by iHeartMedia’s action. On Sunday, April 21, 2019, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette mentioned Tom’s termination in Sean Clancy’s Paper Trails column. Then Arkansas Business reporter Kyle Massey wrote a more in-depth article for its weekly issue that came out Monday, April 22, and included a mention of my interview above.
