Tom Sherwood on what he tells journalism students when asked about making Journalism a career: I tell every journalism student intern that I meet that one thing about being journalist, it opens doors to everything and anything that you want to see or do. I mean, I've been places and seen things . . . I never would have access to had I not fallen into the news business." Tom Sherwood, Analyst, WAMU's Politics Hour and Former WRC TV Politics Reporter and host Andy Ockershausen in-studio interview Andy Ockershausen: This is Our Town. This is Andy Ockershausen, starting part of what we hope will be a long fifth season. We are especially, especially... I mean this because I've been trying to get this guy for two years, and he finally agreed to do it, to be part of Our Town, because he's such a big part of Our Town. That's my friend, and ex-neighbor, and a guy I've admired for so many years. Welcome to Our Town, Tom Sherwood. Tom Sherwood: I see you had to read my name, so, so much for that introduction. Andy Ockershausen: Well, I could have called you Tom intro. Sherwood: Well, that's true. Yeah, Intro Tom. Andy Ockershausen: Intro Tom. Tom Sherwood: Thank you very much for having me. I'm sorry I couldn't come. I was busy in TV, but I'm happy to be here today. Atlanta and South Carolina | Tom Sherwood's Southern Family Andy Ockershausen: Now, he was a TV guy and he's still a TV guy as far as I'm concerned, because they miss him. Tom has a new life, and I'm so delighted that he stayed in our town, because he could have moved on. Tom, you're a media guy. You grew up in a lot of media. How did you ever get an accent, like a southern accent? Tom Sherwood: Well, having my mother give birth to me in Atlanta helped. I'm a southern family, through thick and thin. Family members came from South Carolina. I think they were indebted people from England, who came over to America to- Andy Ockershausen: To pay off the debt. Sherwood: To pay off the debts. Andy Ockershausen: Oh yeah. Tom Sherwood: And some of them... My great- Andy Ockershausen: Was it Oglethorpe, or something like that. Sherwood: Yeah, it wasn't any name like that. It's Sherwood. But anyways, yes. Andy Ockershausen: Sherwood Forest. Tom Sherwood's Distinct Voice Tom Sherwood: I have nothing to do with my voice. My brother, he's a year older. He has a completely different voice. Andy Ockershausen: People recognize the voice, Tom, of course because you've been in broadcast air for years, and years, and years. Sherwood: Yes, I would never rob a bank- Andy Ockershausen: With a TV career. Tom Sherwood: The police will say, "Just go pick up Sherwood," because they would know what the voice was. Andy Ockershausen: Why would a young boy from Atlanta, Georgia... How did you end up here? You went to high school and college in Georgia? On Growing Up in Atlanta, Georgia and Working for the Atlanta Journal Constitution Sherwood: Well, I went to high school, and I kind of went to college. I think I was a freshman for six years at Georgia State. It didn't really work out. Andy Ockershausen: That's in Atlanta, right? Tom Sherwood: Yeah, we have very similar things. You got your start as an intern, or an office clerk at WMAL? Andy Ockershausen: I got started at the bottom. Sherwood: Right. Well, right out of high school- Andy Ockershausen: Right out of high school. Tom Sherwood: I worked as a copy boy- Andy Ockershausen: Eastern High School. Sherwood: For The Atlanta Constitution. Andy Ockershausen: There you go, a great, great newspaper. Tom Sherwood: Yes. I saw an ad in The Atlanta Constitution, "Copy boys wanted," they didn't hire girls. I was a department store called Richs, which is like Woody's here in town. I looked up, and I could see The Atlanta Constitution sign. I thought, "This is kind of cool. I'll go see if I can work at the newspaper." They said, "Can you start tonight?" Andy Ockershausen: That is incredible.
Tom Sherwood, an analyst on WAMU's Politics Hour on The Kojo Nnamdi Show, and former long-time WRC TV politics reporter, was born and raised in Atlanta and started his career working as a copy boy for the Atlanta Journal Constitution in 1964 right out of high school. He remembers then AJC Publisher Robert McGill who “confronted all of the Civil Rights demons.”, and that “the paper led on Civil Rights.” Sherwood continued his career at The Washington Post until 1989 when he left to join WRC TV as their politics reporter until recently. Andy and Tom Sherwood’s conversation includes:
• Atlanta and South Carolina | Tom Sherwood’s Southern Family
• Tom Sherwood’s Distinct Voice
• On Growing Up in Atlanta, Georgia and Working for the Atlanta Journal Constitution
• Ralph McGill – The AJC and Civil Rights
• Advice to Journalism Students About Being a Journalist: “it opens doors to everything and anything that you want to see and do.”
• Why Tom Sherwood Left The Post for WRC
• On Starting in TV
• In the Navy at the Navy Yard – A Yeoman’s Life
• On Moving to Southwest DC Before it Became The Wharf
• Too Many People and Too Much Traffic
• On Covering Our Town as a Reporter Today
• No “One Man Band” Reporting for Sherwood – Focus on the Technical or the Story
• The Kojo Nnamdi Show and Friday’s Politics Hour
• Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington, D.C.
• Sherwood’s Analogy of DC’s Structure: A Wedding Cake
• An Out of Towner’s Misconception of DC May Impact Voting Rights for the City