Rod Williams graduated from Rosecrans High School, Zanesville, Ohio and the School of Radio and Television Technique in New York City followed by employment beginning with WHIZ Zanesville. He then joined KMVI radio on the island of Maui as a staff announcer at KMVI, Rod joined the staff of WING radio in Dayton Ohio at the beginning of "top forty" radio where he was named news director. It was during this time that he along with sound engineer Jacob Yancy conducted the first "death row" interview of an Ohio woman scheduled to be the first woman to die in the Ohio electric chair. Following that interview that was broadcast on ABC,CBS and NBC, Ohio Governor Michael Disalle commuted her death sentence and she was later granted freedom after it was discovered that she was not at the crime scene. Some years later Rod was hired as News Director of WSAI radio in Cincinnati where he won many journalism awards from the Ohio State bar association as well as a commendation from the 107th Ohio general assembly for his combat reporting in Vietnam. While at WSAI, Rod broke the color barrier that prevailed the 1960's by hiring the first Afro American newscaster in a non ethnic radio station in Cincinnati. Rod eventually returned to Maui where he was named general manager of KMVI and some time later he was named general Manager of KBYR and KNIK in Anchorage, Alaska where he realized the mountain terrain precluded radio signals from reaching a large part of the population. Rod laubched the first super satellite broadcasting network of carrier current transmitters to simulcast his radio stations. Rod is semi retired now but produces documentary videos for the adventure travel market on the net. | |