Story by MARCY ANDERSON SANFORD
Radio, music and community have always been a part of Benny Smith’s life.
His grandfather, father and mother performed on gospel radio shows on WGRV in Greeneville, Tennessee. And he started listening to his hometown station and others in upper East Tennessee at an early age. During the day he’d keep up with life locally, but at night he’d turn the dial and get connected to faraway cities like Chicago, Nashville and Fort Wayne.
“Those stations were playing music you didn’t hear in Greeneville, and I was hooked.” Smith shared the new music with his friends by giving them mixed tapes and when he was 16 years old, got his first break into radio when he signed up for an internship at WGRV. “At the end of my first day as an intern, I was offered a part-time job. While I’d always loved listening to the radio, I never knew what an integral part of the community it was until I worked there. The station reached all the remote rural areas of Greene County, and everyone in town listened to it for local news, athletics and weather forecasts. At 12:30 pm, the whole town would stop what they were doing and listen to Maxine Humphreys report the news of the day, mostly what babies had been born and who had died. We would do live remotes from the fair and get to meet our listeners, and I realized that radio was much bigger than music. It was about being part of the community and working to make that community better.”
Since that first job, Smith has strived to do just that in Knoxville and all throughout East Tennessee. As a student at the University of Tennessee, he led the college radio station, WUTK. Later, while working there as General Manager and Program Director, he was instrumental in the station, winning numerous national and regional awards and served as a mentor and champion for hundreds of students, helping them discover and start communication careers.
In between his times at WUTK, he was an integral part of the regional music scene. If you went to a show from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, there is a good chance that Smith had a hand in bringing the event to fruition, whether it was through his booking company, No Cheeze, or with AC Entertainment. It was during this time that he met, Tony Lawson, now General Manager at WDVX, who was trying to start an Americana inspired station to pay tribute to East Tennessee’s musical heritage. “I reached out to Tony to find out how I could help, and we ended up hosting a bluegrass show on WQLA, Soppin’ the Gravy. It was popular because bluegrass fans are very passionate, and there was not another show like it on the air. We started organizing fundraising shows, showcasing local and regional bluegrass bands, as well as well-known ones like Blue Highway. It takes a lot of money, time and resources to get a new station on the air, but we were very successful in raising awareness of and money for the station through these shows, and in 1997, WDVX signed on the air from a camper in Norris Campground. I continued to do the radio show with Tony for another year, but then became so busy with AC Entertainment, that I did not have the time.”
Fast-forward 27 years and Smith has come back home to WDVX and is enthusiastic about helping the station grow to the next level. “With WDVX, I’m back at a station where community means everything. A community that celebrates and preserves the musical heritage of East Tennessee, loves music and loves the people who make music. Our listeners are the best. We just finished a very successful spring pledge campaign, and we are so grateful to everyone who called in to pledge, especially as we are likely facing cuts in the federal funds we receive.”
“One of the best things about the pledge drive is that it gives us another chance to connect with our listeners, not only here in the area, but also those from all over the world who tune in online. WDVX is already an important part of the community, and I’m looking forward to making that connection stronger, connecting with other non-profits, working with our sponsors and getting back on the air with my show, Clinch River Breakdown,” where Smith will once again be introducing a whole new set of friends to music he loves.