Such suite sorrow — radio host to retire
For fans of classical radio in the Bay Area, tuning in to KDFC during the early hours of the day has long meant that the musical offerings will come with a distinctive flavor. That inviting quality — folksy, mellifluous, almost preposterously agreeable — is the trademark of Hoyt Smith, the station’s longtime morning DJ.
But later this month, after nearly 17 years on the job and a career in radio spanning more than four decades, Smith is planning to walk out of the studio and into a wellearned retirement. It’s safe to say that the airwaves won’t sound quite the same without him.
And anyone who imagines that Smith is displaying any angst or agitation about his decision has probably never heard him in action. The same unruffled, easygoing sonorities that inform his
on-air work are there in person.
“There’s never going to be a good time to retire,” he said during a recent interview at the KDFC offices in San Francisco. “Thankfully, I’m in an amazing position, and I love the work I’m doing.
“But my wife retired from United as a flight attendant a year or two ago, and I’ll be turning 66 in November. I don’t want to be that guy who hangs on too long.”
During his years at KDFC, Smith has worked out a reliable but flexible formula for framing the carefully selected music that makes up the station’s morning fare. It’s a combination of historical and biographical tidbits, all modulated through the energetic warmth of his own personality.
Those were the qualities that first drew him to the attention of station president Bill Lueth, when Smith was working at KKSF during its days as a purveyor of smooth jazz. The two stations were housed in the same building, and Lueth says he would hear Smith’s voice resounding through the halls.
“I used to think, that guy should be on our station,” Lueth says. “He’s got a great voice, to begin with, and then through that announcer-y voice he’s so personable and friendly.
“He sounds like a guy you’d want to hang out with. He doesn’t take himself too seriously, and I wanted that for classical radio.”
That’s not to say that the transition was easy. When Smith began at KDFC in 1999, he had plenty of experience in radio, but none as a classical announcer.
“There was a steep learning curve, and for the first six months I was scared to death,” Smith recalled. “I thought I am the biggest fraud, going on the air and pretending to know what I’m talking about.”
In his first weekend on the air, he says, he mispronounced the first name of violinist Pinchas Zukerman, calling him “Pinch-us” instead of “Pink-us.”
“This woman called up and said, ‘Oh honey — sit down.’ But people have been very patient.”
It helps that Smith has never made or implied any great claims to expert authority on the subject. He sounds like what he actually is — a guy with a lifelong interest in classical music who has turned up an interesting yarn or angle that he’s eager to share with listeners.
“There’s so much to talk about with these composers, everything from the lascivious — like Wagner’s taste for wearing silk underwear — to information about what the times were like or the inspiration for a particular piece.
“You have to have a native curiosity to undertake all that research. Pulling together some of those features is a big part of doing the show.”
Smith’s enthusiasm has clearly rubbed off on his listeners, in ways that have reverberated. One South Bay listener, he says, regularly sends in long, stream-of-consciousness letters about the music she’s heard on the station that has moved her. At a recent event for schoolkids, Smith was greeted by listeners as young as 8 eager to meet him face to face.
And last year, Smith — along with his fellow on-air personality Dianne Nicolini — was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame, a recognition that fills him with considerable pride.
“When I look at the immense talents who received that honor, I’m just humbled to be part of it.”
Not bad for a guy who spends his days, as he describes it, “sitting in a little padded room talking. I just talk and hopefully people are listening and hopefully they like it.”
Smith’s infatuation with radio dates back to his childhood in San Anselmo. He remembers listening to oldies on KWEB, and being impressed by the disc jockeys at KSFO. At 16, he landed a job as a gofer for the renowned Don Sherwood, coming into the KSFO station at 6 a.m. before school to open Sherwood’s mail, make his coffee and wake him after the previous night’s exertions.
“I wanted to be a Top 40 guy, but I didn’t have that kind of persona. They were bigger, more swaggery, larger than life, and I couldn’t pull that off.
“My influences were people like Carter B. Smith, or even Dave Garroway — this real low-key guy that you just trusted and who could amuse you or you’d be amused with him.”
After getting involved with college radio as a student at San Diego State University, Smith returned to the Bay Area and a series of gigs with various stations. Some of those stints lasted longer than others — radio is a field that can be notable for frequent personnel turnover — but, he proudly notes, he’s been “fortunate enough to have been mostly gainfully employed ever since.”
Smith says he doesn’t have any particularly pressing plans for retirement — do some traveling, catch some music festivals, and maybe learn a little more about the classical repertoire that hasn’t crossed his path during the KDFC years.
“I play a fairly narrow window of music on the morning shift. I mean, it’s a good-sized library, but a lot of it is Vivaldi, and there are plenty of composers I would never play.
“I’m still learning about the Mahler symphonies.”
Smith’s last day on the air will be Sept. 29. As far as he knows, nothing is planned to mark the occasion.
“I’m just going to come in and do my show like any other day. Although who knows, I may be a total wreck — weeping Hoyt. I’ll be sure not to wear mascara.”