Local FM voice taking position at new station
Jimbo Wood, who helped WRTT-FM 95.1 The Rocket lift off seven years ago and then soar in the ratings, is leaving to help get another station off the ground in Birmingham.
Wood, one of the city’s top rock radio voices, is taking a job as program director/on-air jock with the newest rock station in Birmingham, WENN-FM 105.5 The Vulcan, owned by Clear Channel. It replaced Hallelujah FM, a gospel station, and helps fill the alternative rock void left when WRAX-FM 100.5 The X went off the air.
Wood’s last day with The Rocket is Wednesday.
“Yeah, we started The Rocket Feb. 14 of 2000 and sort of invented the format as we went,” Wood said. “We started out classic rock and morphed into newer rock and then a mixture of the two, and that’s where we ended up living.”
Wood was one of the original three voices on The Rocket, along with the syndicated “Rick and Bubba Show” and Nicki Lilly.
“I loved building this radio station,” Wood said. “My blood is in the carpet; I sweat for it to make it sound as great as it can. I wanted it to be the best radio station in town every time somebody turned on the radio.
“Now is a great time to leave it. It’s healthy, people like it, and the image of The Rocket is great. I couldn’t be leaving at a better time.”
Wood got his first job at WERC-AM in Birmingham in 1978 and then went to WKXX-FM Kicks 106 and I-95 in Birmingham. He’s also been on the air in Montgomery, New Orleans, Memphis and San Jose, Calif.
In 1993, Wood took a break from radio, sold all his stuff and moved to Miami, where he lived on a sailboat for two years teaching scuba and sailing in the Bahamas before he got back into radio. While he was here, he volunteered as an Underwater Astronaut Trainer at Space Camp, teaching scuba to Advanced Academy campers every Tuesday morning.
WRSA-FM Lite 96.9 is completing a major improvement to its technical facilities. The station recently installed a new transmitter and antenna at its tower site atop Brindlee Mountain, just south of the Huntsville city limits. WRSA owner and president Penny Nielsen says the upgrade provides much better reception of her station inside workplaces and homes.
“Today, as a result of the area’s tremendous growth, there are more steel-reinforced office buildings,” Nielsen said. “Some listeners have told us it is hard to receive radio stations inside these buildings, so we decided to build a new, 21st century transmitting facility to address these issues.”
Laurelyn Carter, a 16-year-old country singing phenom who attends Madison County High School, has the No. 1 Video for “I Should be Laughing” at mp3unsigned.com/videocharts.asp. Carter is opening for Heartland during the group’s homecoming concert March 17 at the Von Braun Center Concert Hall.
Source: www.al.com
