R.I.P.: Dick Smyth, Famed Former CKLW, CHUM News Anchor

Dick Smyth was 86

Radio and television personality Dick Smyth, whose booming commentary filled Canadian airwaves for decades with hot takes on the day’s topics, died  Saturday.

He was 86, according to The Toronto Star.

The veteran broadcaster was a familiar voice to radio listeners.

His career spanned an array of influential stations, such as CKLW 800AM in Windsor, Ont., when it was known as “the Big 8,” and CHUM 1050 AM in Toronto.

And his face was known to viewers during the early days of Citytv’s news broadcasts where he offered unapologetic and animated opinions on political leaders, the economy and local issues.

A Montreal native, Smyth was fascinated with radio programming in his youth, and it led him to join a children’s theatre group that performed live on the air. He usually played the giants and ogres, he once recalled. The experience helped land his first official radio gig at a station in Cornwall, Ont., where he met his wife.

But it was being hired at the legendary Windsor station “the Big 8,”named for its powerhouse 50,000-watt signal at 800 on the AM dial,that offered Smyth a serious opportunity to build his reputation as a standout morning newscaster and reporter.

When the 1967 Detroit Riots were sparked by a police raid of an illegal after-hours club for Black Americans, Smyth sprang into action as one of the few Canadian reporters on the scene.

Venturing across the Windsor border, his reports captured the fear gripping Motor City as martial law went into effect. Each update offered vivid descriptions of the scene and colourful interviews with locals.

The news pieces earned much acclaim. Smyth was the first Canadian to receive the International Award of the Radio Television News Directors Association.

Smyth retired from full-time broadcasting in 1997, a decision he made after suffering a period of severe depression.