On the road, again
Fox 4's "Wild" Bill Wood is at home anywhere
BY EVAN WILLIAMS ewilliams@florida-weekly.com
Nearing 9 a.m., "Wild" Bill Wood grasped a big microphone and leaned back in a rocking chair outside The Cracker Barrel in South Fort Myers. The buoyant star of "Wild Bill's Florida Road Show" on Fox 4 Rising from 5 a.m. to 9 was waiting with his cameraman to tape the final segment of the day. It was about six minutes until showtime.

FLORIDA WEEKLY PHOTO BY EVAN WILLIAMS Bill Wood

"Did you know that rocking chairs actually have psychological benefits?" he asked.

This was a fact he'd mention later on, during the show.

The Cracker Barrel is a chain diner as well known for its homey décor, gift shop and rocking chairs as it is for fresh juice and hearty breakfasts. Wood was perfectly at home there. His morning shows are warm, ongoing vignettes, testaments to his selfconfessed nosey nature and interest in all things Americana. They are possibly modeled after a past reporter and one of Wood's idols, Charles Kuralt.

"I get to exercise and work on my ability as a live reporter," he said. "You never know what you're going to get or who your gonna get. I'll just jump off the edge of a cliff and hope someone will catch me, and so far they have…You only get a reaction once."

That's something he learned from Kuralt - to never start the interview before the camera's roll, to look for what is spontaneous in a given moment.

"It's scary and exiting at the same time," Wood said.

A woman walked towards Wood and The Cracker Barrel. She asked what had gone wrong and would she be safe eating breakfast. The parking lot was half empty, an ambulance was also parked in it and seeing the newsman here - all seemed to bode ill.

"People always assume something's gone wrong when they see us here," Wood said, incredulous yet amused. The woman was now grinning.

"Just step right over the dead bodies," he said, ushering her into the restauraunt. "Ignore the blood on the menus."

The cameraman took a last minute cellphone call and advised Wood two minutes was left until he was being broadcast to a live audience. Three ambulance drivers in uniform exited the restaurant and Wood asked them if they'd join the segment.

"You don't want this ugly face on TV," one said.

"Look at this face," Wood shot back. "And I've got my own show."

Wood's favorite television show is the Andy Griffith show, which he watched in Chesterfield, South Carolina where he grew up.

"I used to play television in my bedroom," he said. There, homemade sets were constructed out of cardboard boxes.

Later, after a bachelor's degree from The University of South Carolina and a master's in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago, Wood won 11 Emmys for his features reporting. He has interviewed Cher, Elizabeth Taylor, Bill Clinton, Bob Barker, Colin Powell and Jared, the Subway spokesman, to name a few. Wood has also been a puppeteer, a magician and an actor in movies like "North Country," with Charlize Theron.

His Fox 4 road show was launched in June 2006. Wood had spent the past 15 years in Albuquerque, N.M. as a feature stories reporter and weatherman.

"Breakfast burritos," Wood says, remembering Albuquerque. "I love diners."

He's covered earthquakes, protests, parades and tornados.

"But no hurricanes," he said, tapping the side of his head. "Knock on Wood…You don't have to just cover serious hard hitting news to be a journalist. The range of news is very broad."

As the camera rolled, he directed Cracker Barrel servers, DSD Homes President Brady Starling and one Florida Weekly Correspondent, to sit in the rocking chairs in front of the restaurant. Wood turned on like a light switch, introducing members of the crowd. In minutes, the segment was concluded. It was just like…being on TV.

Back at his desk inside the Fox 4 building on Pine Island Road, things were quiet. The smell of a good sauté drifted over from nearby; a cooking show was being filmed a few hundred feet away in the studio. Wood's calendar was full of places he'll explore every morning.

His aim is to travel wherever his interests take him; from the Winter Wine Festival in Naples to a McDonalds in Cape Coral with the Rockettes to New Years Eve on South Beach in Miami, "partying with the hoity toity glittery people." Wood said wherever he goes the stories remain human and unfold over the course of the four hour program with delightful, interesting results. And he always keeps the audience in mind.

"My mission is to put a smile on people's faces as they go into the world," he said. "I'm out there working and laughing and having fun and people are brushing their teeth and getting the kids ready… My mission is to have fun. My mission is to shine my spotlight on all sorts of people."