Woods died Saturday in Boynton Beach, Fla., likely the victim of a heart attack, according to his longtime companion, Doris Harris. He had moved to Florida in 1996.
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., recalled Joe “Butterball" Tamburro, the station's former general manager.
“In the 1950s and the 1960s, he was it - the person everyone listened to," former Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode said. “He was an outstanding community and civil-rights leader - someone who fought for the underdog and encouraged people who were marginalized."
Woods marched in Selma, Ala., with King and helped charter 21 buses to bring Philadelphians to King's historic march on Washington, D.C., in 1963.
In 1986, however, Woods' comments sparked racial tensions with Asian-Americans when he advocated blacks supporting black-owned businesses in their communities instead of Korean merchants.
-- Associated Press
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