Born in Georgia on Friday, May 11, 1927, George Woods (known to everyone as Georgie) was a top R&B jock and became a true legend in every sense of the word.
WHEREAS, Woods came to
Philadelphia
from
New York
in
1953
and began broadcasting from AM stations such as
WDAS-AM
and
WHAT-AM.
; and
WHEREAS, He was a consultant to
Dick Clark
, advising him which records were popular in the
African-American
community; and
WHEREAS, He went on to play the talents of emerging artists like the
Temptations
,
Stevie Wonder
and
Michael Jackson
over the radio; and
WHEREAS, In the
1960s
, Woods used the airwaves to talk about the American
civil rights
movement; and
WHEREAS, He was often known to stop playing music for hours to talk about the efforts of African-Americans and others who were campaigning for equality, and about the work of the movement's leaders such as Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
; and
WHEREAS, In
1963
, Woods chartered buses to take people down to the August 28, 1963 March on
Washington, D.C.
(subsequently famous for its
"
I Have a Dream
"
speech by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) and had asked a young
Ed Bradley
, currently a well-known
CBS
correspondent
, to be a bus captain; and
WHEREAS, Georgie also hosted so-called “Freedom Shows” at the Uptown and Nixon Theaters to raise money for civil rights activities. Georgie became well known hosting the great shows of ten acts at the Uptown; and
WHEREAS, On Tuesday, November 12, 2002 Georgie Woods was presented with the March of Dimes Achievements in Radio (A.I.R.) Award and on Friday, November 18, 2005, the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia was proud to induct Georgie Woods into our “Hall of Fame”; and
WHEREAS, Georgie Woods passed away on June 18, 2005 and will always be remembered as a broadcast pioneer and for his civil rights activisim; now therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That Broad Street from Diamond Street to York Street also be named "Georgie Woods Blvd."
End