Lee got his first radio job straight out of high school in Falls City, Nebraska.
In his first year on air, he set the life goal of working his way up, and some day being the voice at the end of a national program doing the network ID.
Following his parents in a move to Ohio in 1958, Lee attended Ohio University in Athens. He met his wife Claudia at WATH. His daughter Stacy would arrive in 1960. Lee worked the graveyard shift in a station in Huntington, WV, then relocated to Florida at the height of the Cuban missile crisis.
He was working at a little station in Palm Beach when south Florida radio legend Charlie Murdock heard potential. In 1963, he started overnights at WQAM where he would take on the stage name “Sherwood”. Accompanied by an imaginary dog named “Sherbert”, his show titled “Sherwood’s Forest” came to life. In a meteoric rise at WQAM, Lee would own Miami morning drive in the 1960’s, becoming the voice that awakened half of south Florida.
Here is 35 minutes of classic Sherwood at WQAM on March 2, 1964.
[ LISTEN ]. (35:13)
[ LISTEN ]. (35:13)
This was part of AM’s “golden age”, where WQAM enjoyed an unprecedented 50+ market share. The station’s “Tiger DJ’s” with their matching gold jackets were celebrities in their own right, and just one degree of separation from The Beatles, Elvis, The Monkees and others.
This is a scoped aircheck of Lee on "Sherwood's Forest" dated July 29, 1966. [ LISTEN ] (25:58)
In 1968, Lee left Florida for a Program Director position at WFIL in Philadelphia followed by a stint at KISS in Los Angeles and a couple years as a programming consultant and format change agent for stations from Detroit to New Orleans.
Throughout the 60’s and 70’s, Lee produced jingle and imaging packages with the PAMS company of Dallas, Texas. An innovation Lee brought to this endeavor was to produce jingles that sounded more like the music on the station, often echoing themes and hooks from hit songs. 1970 PAMS Series #39 was named “The Sherwood Series”, in his honor.
In 1974, Lee became an Executive Producer at NBC in New York, working on nationally syndicated programming at Rockefeller Center. Fulfilling a life goal set as a teen, his voice completed programs with the tag “this is the NBC Radio Network”.
NBC deployed him to Chicago in 1975 with the task of flipping WMAQ to country.
Lee Sherwood & Pat Cassidy
Blizzard of '79In 1980 Lee took an offer he couldn’t refuse, attempting to transplant WMAQ’s country format success to KHJ in Los Angeles. Surviving a nearly fatal car accident shortly after arriving, the station set up a temporary studio so he could do his morning show from a hospital bed in his home.
American Top 40 September 11, 1982
During his time in LA, Lee stood in for Casey Kasem, guest hosting American Top Forty. A Billboard magazine editor from August 1982, was critical of KHJ’s efforts, but wrote “a glimmer of hope remains in the form of morning man Lee Sherwood… he is the only person I ever heard who can humanize a liner card with warmth and impish personality. He has the talent of making you feel good about him and yourself each time he opens his mouth.”
KHJ’s country format venture lasted only 3 years. Lee moved on to St. Louis in late 1982, taking on mornings at KUSA with co-host Frank O. Pinion and news man Robert “The Country” Fox.
USA would be Lee’s last radio gig. One Friday after his morning shift, the GM came in and told him the station was flipping formats the next week and his services were no longer needed. He decided then and there he was done.
Sherwood left the industry quietly in the late 1980’s. He and his wife Nancy, who was a tour director with some great connections, reinvented themselves as a husband and wife video production team in the cruise line industry. Lee bought some gear, taught himself video editing, and transplanted his skills as a story teller, producer, director and voice over artist to a new medium.
For nearly three decades, Lee and Nancy traveled the world writing, filming, editing and producing in-house videos for major cruise lines such as Cunard, Norwegian and Seabourn. If you’ve been on a cruise in the last 25 years, you’ve probably heard Lee’s voice in your cabin.
WHERE DID LEE WORK? Here is the list: WATH, KIIS, WMAQ, KHJ, KUSA, and KDJR (De Soto Missouri).
Some materials found on this page were originally published by the following: Telos Alliance.
