R.I.P.: 'Radio' Bob Smith, Broadcaster, Station Owner

Bob Smith

A newspaper columnist once wrote that tuning in to one of Bob Smith’s radio stations in western Wisconsin was like “listening to neighbors talking over the back fence.”

According to The Pioneer-Press, Smith, who owned and operated seven radio stations in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Florida for almost 60 years, believed radio had the power to unite communities.

“It was community radio. That’s what Bob believed in, and that’s what he promoted,” said Nelson Lent, who worked for Smith as his general manager at WWIS-AM in Black River Falls, Wis., from 1968 to 2006. “We served the community, and I think we did a pretty good job with that.”

Smith, nicknamed “Radio Bob,” died Monday of natural causes at the Red Cedar Canyon Assisted Living Center in Hudson, Wis. He was 90.

Among the stations Smith owned: WWIS-FM in Black River Falls; WIXK-AM and -FM in New Richmond, Wis.; WIMN-AM (now KLBB-AM) in Stillwater; and WTRR-AM in Sanford, Fla.

Smith, who grew up in River Falls, Wis., had a voice made for radio, said his son Dan Smith, of Mahtomedi. “He had a deep, rich voice, and he enunciated perfectly. He was a real broadcaster.”