Radio Broadcaster Georgie Woods Dies, June 19 2005

Maybe not so familiar to UK soulies, but legendary radio broadcaster Georgie Woods, who introduced Philadelphia to the sounds of Little Stevie Wonder and the Temptations and took active part in the 1960s civil-rights movement, has died. He was 78.

Woods, who moved to Florida in 1996, died early Saturday of a heart attack, according to his longtime companion, Doris Harris.

Woods came to Philadelphia from New York in 1953 and went on to use the airwaves of WDAS-AM and WHAT-AM to bring the city emerging talents such as the Temptations, Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson. Known on the radio as "the guy with the goods," Woods also brought James Brown, Aretha Franklin and other acts to shows at the city's landmark Uptown Theater.

In the 1960s, he would sometimes stop the music for hours on WDAS to talk about the civil-rights movement and the work of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. HE also marched in Selma, Alabama, with King and helped charter 21 buses to bring Philadelphians to King's historic March on Washington DC in 1963.

You can read his full biog here - http://www.broadcastpioneers.com