R.I.P.: Mary Bell Zolik-Smith, Former Morning Host At WRVF Toledo

Mary Beth Zolik-Smith

Mary Beth Zolik-Smith, a hall of fame broadcaster and a mainstay of Toledo morning radio, whose warmth, wit, and relatability drew listeners for nearly four decades, died last Thursday. She was 67, according to The Toledo Blade.

She’d been dealing with cancer since 2012, when she learned she had non-Hodgkin Lymphoma — and told her audience on WRVF 101.5 FM The River.

“That’s just the way Mary Beth was,” her husband, Terry Smith said. “She recognized she was a public personality, and people listened to her for years. She knew they loved her. She thought she could become a role model. She was an open book.”

Zolik underwent treatment and returned to the airwaves. She announced her retirement in February, 2016, and a month later her cancer returned. In January, 2021, she underwent a bone marrow transplant to fight resurgent cancer.

A Detroit native, Zolik graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wayne State University. After an internship at radio station WJR with legendary host J.P. McCarthy, she took a job in news at a Charlotte radio station. She returned north for an opening at WSPD, 1370-AM, just an hour from her hometown.

A stint reading news on Jack Mitchell’s morning program in the early 1980s led to on-air conversation between the two and then a partnership that endured through moves to two other radio stations and until Mr. Mitchell’s retirement in 2006. Billed as “Mitch and Mary Beth,” their show was a consistent radio ratings leader in the Toledo market and among the top-rated shows in the nation.

“She was so communicative and warm and funny and bright,” Mr. Mitchell said. “It just worked out beautifully for us. There seemed to be a chemistry between the two of us to communicate, and people seemed to like it.”

The pair departed WSPD in 1986 for WKKO-FM and WTOD-AM, where they dominated local ratings. They announced in October, 2000, they were leaving, and they resumed broadcasting in July, 2001, on WRVF-FM. Ms. Zolik and Mr. Mitchell were 2005 inductees to the Ohio Broadcasters Hall of Fame.