Tuesday evening, August 30th at The Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, the Michigan Association of Broadcasters honored the newest members of their Hall of Fame including the induction of WJR’s own Paul W. Smith. Ann Thomas, Executive Producer of The Paul W. Smith Show, introduced Paul W. with these remarks …
“Paul W. Smith starts his Monday-Friday morning show by saying ‘make each and every day count, each day is a gift.’ And Paul certainly has made ‘each and every day count.’ He started his long and successful career at the age of 15 in 1968 at WVMO-FM in Monroe and then in the 70’s during college he could be found on the air at WSPD in Toledo. He eventually returned to the station and worked for nearly a decade as the afternoon drive host and salesman. In 1984, Paul moved to morning drive at CKLW in Windsor and then a year later he walked into the doors of the Golden Tower of the Fisher Building as a weekend host. During the week he commuted to New York where he worked at WABC and WMCA. In the early 90’s, Paul was the morning drive host at WWDB-FM in Philadelphia. Then in 1996 when WJR lost J.P. McCarthy…Paul returned to WJR full time to become the host of the morning show. Paul recently celebrated his 20 year anniversary as the morning show host on WJR and if you listen between 5:30 and 9:00am you know several things:
#1 – The man dubbed ‘The King of Talk’ radio by the Wall Street Journal frequently talks to the movers and shakers around the world and if you want to know what’s going on….the Paul W. Smith morning show is the first stop of your day.
#2 – Paul never sleeps and that’s because several nights a week all throughout the year he can be found emceeing charity events around town and meeting with clients.
#3 – He has a giant heart for others….especially children and police officers. Over the past 13 years the Paul W. Smith Golf Classic has raised 5.5 million dollars for Think Detroit PAL.
Finally, Paul W. Smith is a great family man. He often talks about Kim, Adam, Jaimie, Natalie & Sophie on the air. In fact his daughter Sophie says….’I am the most proud daughter in the world.’
And Sophie on behalf of you and your beautiful family I too am honored and pleased and proud to present this Michigan Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame award to your Dad….Paul W. Smith. Ladies and gentlemen, please help me congratulate Paul W. Smith.”
On July 1, 2016, Paul W. Smith celebrated 20 years on the Great Voice of the Great Lakes. Watch live in-studio highlights from this special show.