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Pioneering Anchor Smith Dies

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By WALT BELCHER, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 18, 2007

Updated: 12/17/2007 11:33 pm

TAMPA - Hugh Smith, who for decades was the most popular television anchor in the Tampa Bay area, died Sunday after a battle with melanoma. He was 73.

A television pioneer who was part of the first live color telecast in Tampa, the first remote live shot and the first hourlong newscast, Smith had worked at WTVT, Channel 13 for more than 27 years.

Friends and co-workers remember Smith as a private man with a dry sense of humor and a dedicated newsman who brought credibility to local television news.

Smith joined WTVT in November 1963 and resigned in March 1991. For much of that time, he anchored the most-watched newscasts in the Tampa Bay area. He also held the dual post of news director for 15 of those years.

Along with late sports anchor Andy Hardy and meteorologist Roy Leep, he was one of the most well-known Tampa television personalities in the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

"I have lost a good friend and colleague who was the heart of the newsroom," said Leep, who retired from WTVT in 1997.

"We were part of a golden era when television news was still trying to find its feet and it was fun to be a part of it. There were years when two-thirds of the homes in Tampa Bay were watching our newscasts," Leep said.

Leep said at a time when much of television news was just "rip and read" the headlines, Smith would go out and cover the news, shoot the film, edit it, write the story and read it on air. He said that he will remember Smith for the positive things that he did in his life.

No plans for a funeral or memorial service have been disclosed.

Smith was diagnosed with melanoma this year. He was in Palms of Pasadena Hospital when he died.

He had turned down requests for interviews in recent years, reportedly because he did not want to revisit the incidents that led to his resignation.

Because of his reputation and popularity, Smith was able to weather a 1982 arrest on a solicitation of prostitution charge, for which adjudication was withheld.

After an on-air apology, he continued as anchor for almost another decade.

2nd Arrest Ends TV Career

His television career ended when he was 56 after a second arrest, in 1991, on a charge of soliciting prostitutes, including an underage runaway. He was sentenced to house arrest and probation.

"It was a mistake for which he paid dearly," says former WTVT news director Jim West. "It's a shame that it has to be brought up now because he should be remembered for the good that he did."

A former WTVT photographer and longtime friend of Smith, Tony Zappone, says Smith was "a good man and a terrific newsman in the Tampa Bay area for 30 years, and the things some remember him for were just a handful of days. Those days were not Hugh Smith."

Shortly after leaving WTVT, Smith joined the Mason Dixon morning show on WMTX, 100.7 FM, as news anchor. He continued in radio until the late 1990s and then retired to St. Petersburg.

Described by friends and former co-workers as a "very private man," Smith also was known for his sense of humor off camera and his work ethic.

"He was a giant in his day, and it's amazing how many people loved and respected him," says Jule McGee, 70, WTVT's news operations manager. "If ever there was a man who took the news business seriously, if ever there was a man who tried to do right in his work, it was Hugh."

Born in Madison, S.D., Smith grew up in the small town of Pipestone, Minn.

In a May 2002 interview for a Web site devoted to the history of WTVT, big13.net, Smith said he developed an interest in radio by listening to broadcasters such as Edward R. Murrow, Eric Sevareid, Douglas Edwards and Robert Trout.

He said working at Channel 13 was the best thing that ever happened in his career.

Smith earned a journalism degree from the University of Minnesota and began his broadcasting career in 1956 as a staff writer for WCCO radio in Minneapolis.

He also worked at WHAS-AM and WHAS-TV in Louisville, Ky., and TV station KVTV in Sioux City, Iowa, before coming to WTVT in 1963.

He and his first wife adopted three children, Grant, Ward and Karen.

In 1966, he anchored the first color broadcast of a newscast in Tampa and in 1976 did the first live remote shot, reporting from a helicopter hovering over town. He also was instrumental in expanding WTVT's newscasts from 15-minute reports to 30 minutes and eventually to 60 minutes.

During the 1960s and '70s, in addition to supervising a staff of 30, he covered the Hillsborough County school system, the legislative delegation and the Hillsborough County Commission. He also filmed and edited his own reports.

'Larger-Than-Life Figure'

"He was like a god in the newsroom, a larger-than-life figure that we all respected," says West, who worked at Channel 13 from 1977 to 1989.

"I had grown up watching him and considered him a role model," says West, now president of Faith Television Network. "When I started there, Hugh was running the newsroom, and it was a tight ship."

He said Smith would come in early in the morning, go out and cover a school board meeting, come back and plan the 6 and 11 p.m. newscasts and edit his film and write the script. "He put in 16-hour days, and we all admired him for that and his insistence on high standards for journalism," West said.

Zappone, who worked at WTVT from 1976 to '82, said, "Hugh was an extreme introvert, and didn't let a lot of people in. He was not a criminal by any means, and I know he paid dearly for what he did."

He said Smith didn't attend WTVT's 50th anniversary party in 2005 out of concern someone might mention the arrests.

Radio personality Mason Dixon said he took a chance on Smith after the 1991 arrest. "He had been such a credible newsman that I felt that he deserved a chance," Dixon said. "I didn't know him personally at the time, and I was impressed by his dedication. He would come in at 3 a.m. to prepare for a 6 a.m. report.

"On the air during the news, he had this serious Walter Cronkite delivery, but when that was done he could be very funny; he had a great personality," Dixon said. "He would play pranks, and he fit right in with the craziness on our show."

Dixon says there was no negative feedback about bringing him on the show, and it remained No. 1 in ratings.

Reporter Walt Belcher can be reached at (813) 259-7654 or wbelcher@tampatrib.com.

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