European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 3, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse In the Eye of the nil Lane by Wendy Burland Sliff Rili r Al Mil i Luik i .i.m. In Central . But in wind s workday is nimbly iwo hours old. I inters n the overnight shift ill the american i or i14 set work Headquarters maintenance Man control operator Stanol operator and 8 p.m.-4 . newsman have gone the Coffee is made i i win ii is preparing few to newscast. The 6 and 7 .i.m. Reports Are Liliu ones West Germany Belgium tin1 Netherlands and Luxembourg Wake up to. A Viliott scans the associated Crew United press Ink a National and armed forces radio and television scr vice wire machines which spit out copy Wilh .1 hypnotic Ilick and rips what he wants in i us. Hull add Illo the audio cartridges he overnight newsman Tapi re fur off list night s satellite news feed. Vii i neatly arranges news and sports into some is if understand order pieces of copy to so wifi i f typing xxv list . He adds .1 i s Wilh a pen. I he to . Nowsch isl runs 1 5 minutes the 7 . Iii .isl, 10 minutes. Alter sheels no if spy i gently Hefling he Hiji ulu in his Bandi want id i. to Roll. I can Illy pick it up and Iii there s enough Here he says . I c in feel what they want Chi i a rapport after All Ilius years a Villi five Minu i 5 logo Liy Fofo air time he types lie. Headlines with ii sureness born of experience the by m to Icher. It business where people Rani rave ii Nii revel in pressure Ian Wood is the Eye of the Hurricane. Ii by gird the Long hair and quite a bit of the Wei ii Llie 49-year-old newsman carried around l Ittis r Elliis year Are Jone but Lien most of his Cik ners have never seen him. He i 5 feet 7 inches till Hin Lirk Blond Hiir and Brown eyes Sel in a wide once i be s wearing a suit and lie today since he s being interviewed. Wood is popular not Only with his listening audience a Dodds teacher wrote and said i Lake a Fialli with you every Moi nine by with his Peers Ului wander in Enikh the radio in Sarea in a steady str vim during his shift. He a worked 4 . To noon Sim-i-107b. La s Mil diff cull to gel him to talk unless the Siili i d is himself. I m very protective of my privacy he explains. Wood will say to Dills upstate new York Homo is of dutch descent and Speaks dutch German Rind French to has in Apar lenient in Amsterdam hat occupies the iwo doors above a quaint tobacco shop and lie in .1 resilient of he cily. He is divorced from wife. He has in older brother Terry who is n professional photographer in Tupelo miss. 1 heir parents Guy Anil Wood Are deceased. His 7-ye.ir-old daughter is named alter his rho her. There s always been a Ivilou in the family. He roes to St. Sebastian s Church right Crow the Street from Schultz s Offieri Chicken. He Mikei Ifa Diny Elmore Leonard in particular and he tikes Tho vastness the big cities Berlin and Amsterdam in particular for Wood the Day has a routine to it and chatting Between newscasts is no disruption. He probably could work through a Hurricane. Even the problems Art routine let land Calls Early during Wood s shift with line problems. Their ice types Are Oul All the time he says calmly. The request an update on the Ameriah league and league Bas Liall championship series which ii easy to Wood scans the news wire Teg statly. Ai n Berlin s airman Peggy Fosler phones in with a report from a local a polish for Rybal liking Lou risks to Germany returned wi1hou1211 paying customers who decided to Visil the West permanently. Thai brings this total number of polish ferry jumpers in 1968 to 3,000. Wood laughs As he topics i to report for the 7 . Newscast. Wood s broadcast ing career began when he was drafted into the army in 19fi. A sent o an i rain for what was supposed to be a one year hitch but Lemions surrounding the building of the Berlin Wall and the cuban missile crisis led to involuntary Colens Lotsof his tour. -.". ,.afler his discharge in january 1964, Wood went to cily College of new York where he majored in in Lish but also studied speech and journalism then worked at Wrol in Richmond which he say was .1 Good music radio Stalion. He left Wrol when he was called Back to Active duty in 19&7, and joined the air Force. ,. He sent to the 7122nd broadcast so in. Wiesbaden West Germany now the air Force european broadcasting so at Ramst Einab. He. Describes his Job in wiesbaden1.15 that of a Kun runner whenever they needed to Send someone toy somewhere they Send me. Turkey. Greece Kroml Here Wood was assigned to an / Kaiserslautern. Shortly before he left the air fierce in Lune 1069, Thefan Ila lion manager in Frankfurt phoned and told him a Job was opening in the news Rooni Wood joined the an staff As a civilian newscaster the month after his discharge. After 0 years in an s morning hot seat he does t Rel he jitters. and happened Lume i be seen it All he says. To he sure lie s Madi i slip 01 two on the air but they Aren t printable. All the i be made in freudian he says grinning. Wood says Uherc Are distinct advantages and disadvantages in working in radio news at an. There s very Little supervision. You re a worker and a supervisor ant in makes you mature very he says those Are the advantages the disadvantages Are if you screw up you re up tin.1 Wood s listeners Are responsive and they re in touch with him on a regular basis. I get a lot of mail and a lot of Telephone a alts from people coming on their second or third tour he says. They say it s Nice to hear your voice again.1 " he tries to answer All the letters he gels. Liven when the subject was an an special announcement which Wood says involves a death in the family 99 percent if the Lime one listener was eager Otallo him. I had a Call recently from some outfit i think in was in Fulda bad hers few somewhere along he Border. They had a special announcement for one i f their troops who was on vacation his Mother had died in the the sergeant who Send in the announcement phoned after it ran. I said news department May i help you and he said Yvvis this and 1 said Jan i Midge said. Wood Ai males voice i just heard you on the radio he said hey Guys i be Mil Wood " he does t think he d read the same Way if the were reversed. I d probably keel Over and pass out if i Ever Hwd my name wond says. Not everyone who Calls or writes him however is a fan. Some letters ire critical complaining i favor certain political ," he , i get Calls when cubical of the Abrams link he pauses Ilien says he douse 1 think an is As hard on the military As its civilian counterparts. We re a military broadcast organization we re nut Here to tear Etc apart la s hard to be objective sometimes he says. Listeners Don t just about the news. Sports farts gel very , Loo Wood says. One morning 1 said Boston socks Illo the Laker a Man called up and said i know you Don 1 like the lakers. Where Are you from i said first off it s none of your business Lii Joe from and second Yuu re right i Don t like lakers bul i Don t like Boston either so Iacre and i hangup the caller a colonel wrote a Lutter loan i ump dining about the incident but Jan Wood has weathered Many such attacks. His audience comes and goes but he remains a constant. It s the knowledge that hell always be there for his listeners,.Wood says that makes getting 2 . Worth in. " i know what doing is informative to our audience he says i iry. To tailor it to them. You have people from Podunk Idaho to new York City journalism was t Wood s first Choice of a career. I wanted to be a baseball player bul i was too Small he says. He lettered in baseball every year Al Christian Brothers a Catholic High school in new "1 York. L-"1-,. Woon1 says he enjoyed parochial school. I liked wearing blazers and thai sort of thing he says grinning. He also liked the opposite sex and was kicked out of class a couple times for talking to girls. Since he was Small enough Young Jan would cram himself into his locker so the principal could t find him. I also hid behind the Coke machine he says Lookin Tripti Mig Flint Norm but 3, 1988
