Notable Music Journalist Gerry Wood Passes

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Veteran music journalist and colorful Nashville media figure Gerry Wood died in Florida last Saturday (May 3) at age 87.

Wood was the manager of the Billboard office in Music City. He was also a popular local television personality in the 1980s.

Born Gerald E. Wood in Lewiston, Maine, he began his entertainment career in radio. He was a news and sports reporter at WSON in Henderson, Kentucky, then polished those skills while also becoming a DJ at WVJS in Owensboro, Kentucky. He graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1960 and went on to earn a masters degree from Vanderbilt University in 1965.

Gerry Wood continued to combine his news acumen and on-air personality skills at WAKY in Louisville and WKDA in Nashville (1964-66). He then shifted to working on Music Row. He worked in public relations at Vanderbilt (1966-69) and ASCAP (1969-75). Wood began his first stint at Billboard in 1975. He was named the publication’s editor-in-chief in New York in 1980.

He moved back to Music City to become editor at Nashville magazine (1983-84) and Nashville correspondent for People magazine (1984). Gerry Wood returned to Billboard to become the general manager of the publication’s Nashville bureau in 1986.

On local television, he became known as “The Gamboling Gourmet” on WTVF-TV. He was also a regular reviewer on the TNN cable channel in the mid 1980s.

Boundlessly enthusiastic, he was omnipresent at music-biz parties and junkets. He was also a travel enthusiast.

His then-wife Ellen Wood became a publicist in the BMI Nashville office. They worked with an emerging group of media folks, including Ed Morris, Debbie Holley, Chuck & Sandy Neese, Jimmy Buffett and Kip Kirby. Wood won a Journalistic Achievement Award from SESAC in 1981.

Gerry Wood wrote a number of books. Ain’t God Good (1975) and Let the Hammer Down (1978) were collaborations with country comedian Jerry Clower. Other titles included The Grand Ole Opry Presents the Year in Country Music (1997) and Tales From Country Music (2003).

Gerry Wood wrote for Country Weekly, as well as many other publications as a freelance journalist. He was a member of the CMA, the GMA, NSAI and the Recording Academy. He served on the board of the Nashville Entertainment Association.

Following his divorce, he moved to Florida and wrote books as well as articles for local publications on the Gulf Coast. He passed away in Inverness, Florida. No funeral arrangements have been announced.

Robert K Oermann
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