Rod Wood has been a staple in the news diet of Central New York’s TV viewers

By Lou Sorendo

One of the definitions of “anchor” is somebody who provides a sense of stability. That pretty much sums up the life of Rod Wood, a virtual icon in Syracuse area news broadcasting. Wood has been a stabilizing force on the Syracuse television news scene for five decades.

The native Syracusan anchors the 5:30, 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts and also presents the “Consumer Reports” segment for News Channel 9, WSYR TV. He has been in the television business since 1963.

Wood attributes his tenacity and longevity to being able to overcome adversity throughout his career.

“I’ve had some of my best friends fired five minutes before I went on the air. These are people I’ve known and worked with for a long time,” he noted.

“I’ve just sort of hung in there,” he said.

What Wood finds most challenging at this point in his career is being able to maintain a high energy level despite being 68 years old.

“You have some days when you are kind of run down and tired. It’s not the same as when you are 25 and have boundless energy. I have to sort of pace myself at my age,” he said.

“I try to get people the best news product I can give them day after day, night after night. It’s not always easy, but I try to pace myself at my age so I’m able to reliably report the news,” he added. Wood never thought he would still be working at 68.

However, he is not alone. “I see a lot of old timers working part time at the supermarket just to make ends meet. I feel for them, but they seem to be pretty spry,” he said.

“It’s not easy. I had hoped to retire maybe a year ago, but I too was hurt by the stock market crash,” he added.

“I’d like to retire but my wife has expensive tastes,” he said.

Theater background—He was born Roderic Woodruff Groat on Dec. 11, 1940.
When he got into the broadcast business, he changed his name because it was cumbersome and “hard to swallow.”

Wood fell in love with television at an early age. His first brush with audiences was through theatrical performances he did as a child.

Wood’s mother hailed from Auburn, while his father was originally from Amsterdam. They both worked for the Syracuse Journal, where they met in the 1920s.

His father—owner of a small chemical business—passed away when Rod was 12, and he joined his brothers in helping to support his mom.

He attributes his lifelong competitive edge in broadcasting to his theatre background gained during childhood.

As a boy under his mom’s guidance, he had lead roles on radio and television, and this gave him a “leg up” prior to committing full time to a career in broadcast journalism.

When he was 10, he did children’s plays on channel 8 in Syracuse (now Channel 5) when the medium was in its infancy.

He attended Edward Smith Elementary School, and participated in the Syracuse University drama department’s children theater.

One of his fellow thespians, Michael Herr, would later become a master of war journalism. He also did summer stock theatre at the Fayetteville Playhouse for one season and played Brian Dunleavy’s son in “King of Hearts.”

His acting experience helped him immensely in the areas of auditioning and reading. “It’s been very helpful in my career,” he said.

By age 11, his interest in television was more than just a passing fancy.

He had a makeshift television studio in his back yard, complete with TV cameras made out of soapboxes.

The Groat family is no stranger to fame. One of Rod’s brothers is Hall Groat, a prominent American impressionist painter known for his striking murals in downtown Syracuse.
Wood, however, was not around when the artistic genes were distributed.

“I can’t draw a straight line,” he said.

He grew up in the university section of Syracuse and also attended the T.A. Levy Middle School and Nottingham High School.

He went into the U.S. Army at age 19 and served from 1960-63.

Wood moved 67 times during the three-year span as a member of the Military Police Battalion. He was stationed in Fort Dix, N.J. and Fort Gordon in Georgia before being shipped to France during the Berlin Wall crisis.

He returned to Fort Lewis, Washington State, and was then stationed in Miami during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

“The Army gave me the discipline to do what I do today,” he said. “It gave me the ‘stick-to-it-iveness’ necessary to move forward through all the adverse events in my life.”

Wood was hired there in 1967 to do morning radio.Notable teammates—WHEN was a combined radio and TV operation before it became WTVH Channel 5. He worked for WNDR and WOLF radio stations prior to hooking up at channel 5.

While he said his “radio voice just happens,” he did pattern himself on the deliveries of CBS radio announcers of the 1960s.

When he was with WTVH Channel 5 during the 1970s, he rubbed elbows with the likes of Al Roker (weatherman and host of NBC’s “The Today Show”) and Steve Croft of “60 Minutes” fame. Wood and Croft used to read police blotter items together at 4:30 a.m.

One evening at a cocktail party, the manager of channel 9 invited Wood to his table and offered him a job.

He accepted, ending a 10-year run at channel 5. He joined channel 9 in April of 1976 and is now in his 34th year at the station.

“There’s been ups and downs, promotions, demotions, and lateral promotions, and now we’re enjoying the fruits of all that work,” he said.

Wood noted that channel 9’s 11 p.m. newscast has more audience than the other two Syracuse-based news stations combined.

He added that channel 9 is No. 1 in every news slot throughout the Syracuse market.

“When I first came here, the ratings were really bad. We’ve come a long way and it’s been a tremendous team effort. It took a long time to get there,” he said.

Ironically, Wood has worked for nine general managers and nine news directors since coming to channel 9. Three of his five children have been born since he arrived at WSYR.

Two of his boys own and operate Holy Shirt, a T-shirt company that recently produced the highly successful “Marathon Men” T-shirt. The company sold 55,000 “Marathon Men” T-shirts, which commemorated Syracuse University’s six overtime win over Connecticut in men’s basketball last season.

His daughter, Rebecca Groat, is the vice principal of Blodgett Elementary School in Syracuse.

He met his wife, Nanette, while she worked part-time at WNDR in 1966 and they have been a couple since.

They also have five grandchildren.

All about the details—Wood said paying attention to detail is imperative to being a successful newscaster.

“We’ve had a lot of management changes through the years, and I’ve worked with a lot of consultants. I’ve had to be flexible,” Wood said. “You have to be flexible in order to survive.”

“You have to bend, push and shove,” he said.

“Sometimes you don’t get a good night’s sleep the night before, or you may have personal problems,” he said. “You have to put it aside when you get out there. The people watching the newscast don’t deserve to be made to suffer because you’re suffering.”

“You have to put a smile on your face even when you’re maybe crying on the inside. It’s just general persistence,” he said.

“Television news is a whole different ball game today. People are getting their news from a variety of sources, including the Internet, which is certainly amazing. I surf around a lot for news and information,” he said.

Wood accesses the Drudge Report, as well as www.syracuse.com and WSYR’s own Web site, www.9wsyr.com. He also checks out stocks and sports on line.

“Good reporting is the science of total awareness,” he said. “You get that from paying attention to what is going on.”

“I’ve got to have my Post-Standard in the morning, mainly because I grew up in the city. I want to see who from Nottingham died that I went to school with back in the 50s,” he said.

“It is my hometown and I have a lifetime stake in this. I want to do the best I can for the people I live with,” he said.

The down economy—The present down economy is certainly impacting the news business, Wood noted.

“There’s a lot of people hurting out there. I think we are always trying to be mindful of the economy in our stories. It’s an important part of life right now and there’s no way it can be ignored,” he said.

Wood said his job is to provide information to people to help them survive the present economy. In his 46 years of television journalism, Wood says he has seen recessions, inflationary problems, stock market volatility and “a lot of ups and downs.”

“It’s going to take time for us to get through this. We’re still hurting and it’s not over until it’s over,” he said.

While some experts predict an economic turnaround by year’s end, Wood expresses cautious optimism.

“I hope they are right, but I’m not 100 percent certain. We could have another dip before it gets better, or it can get better for a while before we have another meltdown,” he said.

Wood’s highly popular “Consumer Reports” segment aims at saving viewers money.

“People want to save money and are confused by all the advertising. People will call me and ask what kind of television or refrigerator they should be buying,” he said. “They want more bang for their buck.”

Wood is no stranger to writing news, and it’s not uncommon to find him making police calls in the early evening hours.

While the 11 p.m. news producer does the bulk of the writing, he still delves into writing stories on the stock market and business.

In the trenches—Wood puts in 11-hour days, five days a week. “It’s been that way for decades,” he said. “I don’t mess around.”

News director Jim Tortora once told Wood, ‘Rod, you always come to work with your ‘A’ game on.”

Wood does experience a “power dip” in mid-afternoon and again at around 9 p.m.

“I get it back, though. Once I get on the set, I’m energized,” he said.

Wood still gets enthusiastic when covering breaking news, whether it be a fire, plane crash, accident, resignation or scandal. “I’m working the phones like everyone else,” he said.

“I don’t just sit here and pick up copy [to read] every night,” he added.

“I still enjoy coming in here every day,” he said.

Wood said back in the “old days,” sound bytes were much longer—in the 20 to 30-second range—while today they are more in the five to 10-second range.

“Less is more these days,” he said.

In addition, television newscasts are much more graphically enhanced as compared to yesteryear.

Dealing with stress—Wood noted that he doesn’t experience the same level of stress he did 20 or 30 years ago.

Stress levels are less compared to when he was raising his five kids. “I would have crawled under the desk if they came around with the media ax to cut bodies,” he said.

He said cost factors loom large when you have a large family. “If you’re single, you don’t mind being a gypsy,” he said.

“I’ve seen them come, and I’ve seen them go,” he said. He points to a Rolodex on his desk packed with names of colleagues that he has befriended over many years of broadcast journalism work.

“I’ve been through hell and back, and what’s the worse they can do, come in and fire me? I would take it like a man, say it was good while it lasted, and bid ‘arrivederci,’” he said.

said he doesn’t want to live his life with the fear of getting fired.

“You have to get out there, put your best face forward, and when your time is up, it’s up,” he said.

“I’m willing to accept the inevitable because at my age, I’m sure when my contract runs out in two and a half years, they are going to want to hire someone younger who will work for less money,” he said.

“I don’t worry about it. I didn’t make money my life’s obsession,” he said. “I know a lot of people who have.”

“You can’t go through life like you’re a chicken that is about to get its head cut off,” he said.

When he does retire, Wood will probably not stay involved in broadcasting. Instead, he will focus on doing extensive genealogical research while tracing both his maternal and paternal sides of the family.
He was a longtime president of the Syracuse Press Club and is on its Wall of Fame.

Besides enjoying charity work, Wood relishes lawn and garden work and spending time with his grandchildren.

“My wife is always having a party for somebody,” he said.

Wise advice—Wood did not finish college, and considers himself self-educated.

“I think there’s something to say about a man’s ability to educate himself. That’s one thing I believe in,” he said. “I know a lot of tricks that [college graduates] will never know.”

He tells interns from Syracuse University not to get their hearts set on taking on a job in broadcast journalism after graduation.

“They should start thinking about a second occupation,” he said.

The reasoning behind that advice is simple: The news industry is not exactly the most lucrative place to be nowadays.

News channels throughout the Syracuse region have been getting battered financially, with several companies teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. His own station has mandated a two-week unpaid furlough.

“It’s extremely difficult right now,” he said.

“Interns are like my sons and daughters. I urge them to go back to school and earn their master’s, because with that, at least they can teach,” he said.

“It’s good to have something to fall back on,” he added.

“It used to be that people who owned TV stations were well bankrolled,” he said. Wood noted that in the past 20 years or so, companies would scoop up 20-to-30 stations on credit and end up with debt that was four times their holdings.

Wood said the furlough is symptomatic of the times. “There’s a Bible passage that says, ‘I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.’”

Carrie Lazarus: “Rod is Rock Solid”

Fellow anchor Rod Wood known for his preparedness, humor

Carrie Lazarus should know Rod Wood. She has been working alongside the veteran newscaster since 1985.
Lazarus is the anchor for the noon as well as 5-6:30 p.m. newscasts for News Channel 9, WSYR TV in Syracuse.

Lazarus joined Channel 9 in ’85 after working for Channel 5 in Syracuse. “If you think about it, that’s an hour and a half of the two of us sitting there every single day. That’s a lot of time,” she said.

“Rod is rock solid,” she said as to his strengths as a newscaster. “He grew up in this community and knows everything and everybody.”

Wood is a valuable resource when it comes to finding a certain location or remembering a former politician or local celebrity.

“He’s so knowledgeable and so solid,” she said. “If you watch him read the news, he doesn’t make a mistake. I look at him and wonder, ‘How do you do it?’”

She noted that Wood has the “5 Ps” rule: Prior planning prevents poor performance.

“He says that all the time. I think he goes out on the set very prepared,” Lazarus said. “In that respect, he’s been great to learn from. Being prepared has helped me a lot.”

However, while Lazarus sheds praise on Wood’s expertise as a newsman, she said the No. 1 thing she loves about Wood is his sense of humor and quick wit.

“I think I can speak for everyone in the newsroom when I say that Rod makes us laugh. He’s a serious newsman on camera, but off, he is hilarious,” she said.

“If he hadn’t been a newsman, he should have been a comedian,” she said.

“He has songs about some of the best news stories that have come about through the years,” she said.

“In a business like ours where so much of the reporting is serious, it’s nice to have some comic relief,” she added.