Radio host plans fun final year
It’s the beginning of the end of an era.
Last month, Tommy Smith, ringleader of the “Show With No Name” on KABZ-FM, 103.7, The Buzz, said on air that he would retire in April 2022.
The announcement might have been made off the cuff, but the thought had been with him for a while.
About four years ago, Smith was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a neuromuscular disorder that causes weakness in the skeletal muscles.
“I knew I was having trouble saying words, and a couple of people even asked me if I’d started drinking again,” the 66-year-old said last week on his way to Hot Springs for a Friday morning show from Oaklawn with longtime co-hosts David Bazzel and Roger Scott.
At the time he was diagnosed, he was convinced it might be ALS, but a visit to a neurologist confirmed he was suffering from myasthenia gravis.
“I’d never even heard of it,” says Smith, who grew up in Little Rock.
The disease is not curable, but it is treatable with medication. Some days are better than others, he says.
On a remote broadcast from Stuttgart on April 15, he let it be known that he would leave the show when his contract expires next April.
Smith got his first onair job in 1974 at the nowdefunct KEWP-AM, 1380, in Little Rock. He served five years in the Army, then worked at a Colorado Springs station before moving back to Little Rock in 1980 and joining KMJX Magic 105.
It was there on the raunchy, boundarypushing “Rock ‘n’ Roll Breakfast” that he lived up to his hard-partying persona and “Outlaw” nickname. He was fired in 2004 and later that year signed on at The Buzz for a somewhat less raucous morning show with his pal Bazzel, talking about sports, politics, polls, news and all things Arkansas.
“There is no question Tommy has been a huge piece of our success here,” says Justin Acri, the station’s program director. “He is very community oriented, whether it was helping people after tornadoes or floods, or the many other charitable things he’s been engaged in. He’s been a great asset to Arkansas.”
Acri says there are no solid plans just yet for the post-Smith era, though he anticipates Bazzel, Scott and co-host and producer RJ Hawk will have a part in whatever develops.
After a health scare and run-ins with the law, Smith checked into the Betty Ford Center in California in 2011 and has been upfront about his alcoholism and recovery. He credits friends Frank Fletcher, Bazzel and Scott for their support and refers to his wife, Karen, as “my rock.”
“I’ve been a lucky and blessed man,” he says. “I hope this last year is a fun, fun year.”
As for his impending retirement, the Outlaw adds: “I will be losing a lot of golf balls, and I will enjoy every minute of it.”