Bill Mack Smith Jr. (June 4, 1929 – July 31, 2020)
was an American
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
songwriter, singer, and radio host. While at WBAP Radio, Mack initiated the Bill Mack Million Mile Club for truckers achieving one million miles of accident-free over-the-road driving.
Life
For many years, Mack was best known as the host of ''The Country Roads Show'', (later ''U.S. 1 Trucking Show'', and later still, ''
Midnight Cowboy Trucking Show'') the overnight country music show on
WBAP, a
clear channel station in Fort Worth. Mack's show catered primarily to
truck drivers
A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; a HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...
who traveled during the late-night hours. Its opening theme music was an instrumental rendition of "
Orange Blossom Special", performed by
Felix Slatkin
Felix Slatkin (December 22, 1915 – February 8, 1963) was an American violinist and conductor.
Biography
Slatkin was born in St. Louis, Missouri to a Jewish family originally named Zlotkin (though it is not certain) from areas of the Russian Emp ...
and his orchestra.
Because of WBAP's clear channel signal range via
skywave at night, Mack's show was heard over most of the continental United States. Mack began his show in 1969. He briefly took his show to
Mexican "
border blaster
A border blaster is a broadcast station that, though not licensed as an external service, is, in practice, used to target another country. The term "border blaster" is of North American origin, and usually associated with Mexican AM station ...
" station
XERF, but returned to WBAP when an agreement for Mack to do his show from his Fort Worth home fell through.
In addition, Mack hosted the
syndicated radio show ''Country Crossroads'', heard on more than 800 stations across the country, and a similar
cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
show on
FamilyNet. He also hosted the ''Overdrive Top Ten Countdown'', a weekly one-hour
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
countdown geared toward truckers, in
syndication
Syndication may refer to:
* Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system
* Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips
* Web syndication, ...
.
Mack left WBAP to join
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio (XM) was one of the three satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Holdings. It provided pay-for-service radio, analogous to subscription cable television. Its se ...
on its
Open Road channel (XM 171). Two of the other main personalities on Open Road,
Dave Nemo
Dave Nemo is an American radio personality who hosts a show on Road Dog Trucking on Sirius XM Radio. Nemo's show is geared toward entertainment and news favored by truck drivers.
Before his current stint with XM, Nemo was best known as the host o ...
and
Dale "The Truckin' Bozo" Sommers, were Mack's primary competitors before all three left their
AM radio
AM broadcasting is radio broadcasting using amplitude modulation (AM) transmissions. It was the first method developed for making audio radio transmissions, and is still used worldwide, primarily for medium wave (also known as "AM band") transmis ...
stations to join XM. Mack's radio program was heard weekdays on XM channel 13 from 12 Noon to 3 PM Eastern, and rebroadcast from Midnight to 3 AM Eastern. On April 29, 2011, Mack announced that Sirius/XM had terminated his contract to make room for a merger of two of the channels
The Roadhouse
''The Roadhouse'' was a Classic Country radio station on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 62, XM Satellite Radio channel 10 and DISH Network channel 6062. As of February 9, 2010, Direct TV
DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American mult ...
and
Willie's Place
Willie's Place was a truck stop and biodiesel processing plant located in Carl's Corner, Texas that was opened in 2005 and named after Willie Nelson. The facility was originally built circa 1980 by Carl Cornelius and named Carl's Corner. Willie ...
into one channel and that this was his final show.
Mack was succeeded on his WBAP show by
Eric Harley
''Red Eye Radio'' is a talk radio program currently hosted by Eric Harley and Gary McNamara. The program is syndicated nationwide by Westwood One, and originates from WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The show traces its history through ...
, and the show was renamed the ''
Midnight Radio Network
''Red Eye Radio'' is a talk radio program currently hosted by Eric Harley and Gary McNamara. The program is syndicated nationwide by Westwood One, and originates from WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The show traces its history through ...
'' and then ''
Red Eye Radio
''Red Eye Radio'' is a talk radio program currently hosted by Eric Harley and Gary McNamara. The program is syndicated nationwide by Westwood One, and originates from WBAP in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The show traces its history throug ...
'' several years later.
In the country music industry, Mack was also a songwriter. His best-known song is "
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
," one of
LeAnn Rimes' biggest hits. The song won Mack the
Grammy Award for Best Country Song
The Grammy Award for Best Country Song (sometimes known as the Country Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1965. The award is given to the songwriter(s) of the song, not to the artist, except if the artist is also the songwriter.
There ha ...
in 1997. Mack also wrote "
Drinking Champagne," which has been recorded by numerous artists. The song was a hit for
Cal Smith
Calvin Grant Shofner (April 7, 1932 – October 10, 2013), known professionally as Cal Smith, was an American country musician, most famous for his 1974 hits "Country Bumpkin" and " It's Time to Pay the Fiddler".
Career
Calvin Grant Shofner was ...
in 1968, and again for
George Strait in 1990 on his album ''
Livin' It Up''. Some of his other songs have been recorded by
Dean Martin,
Ray Price,
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis ma ...
and
George Jones
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song " He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...
.
In 2000, Mack won the media category award given by the
Grand Ole Opry. He was named to the
Texas Country Music Hall of Fame
The Texas Country Music Hall of Fame, located in Carthage in Panola County in East Texas, honors those who have made outstanding contributions to country music and were born in the state of Texas. This includes singers, songwriters, disc jocke ...
in 1999, and the Country Music DJ and Radio Hall of Fame in 1982.
Bill Mack lived in
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. Accord ...
, with his wife, Cynthia. They had three children - Misty Dawn, Billy Mack III, and Sunday Renee. They had several grandchildren. Bill Mack had a daughter named Debbie from a previous marriage.
Bill Mack Smith III ("Billy") has followed in his father's footsteps and has his own radio show with 92.1 Hank FM in Fort Worth, Texas.
Mack died on July 31, 2020. According to his family, he had been diagnosed with
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
two days prior amid the
COVID-19 pandemic in Texas
The COVID-19 pandemic in Texas is a part of the ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The state of Texas confirmed its ...
.
References
External links
Mack's official web site(2001 archived copy)
Bill Mack at Willie's Place
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Mack, Bill
1929 births
2020 deaths
American radio personalities
Charay Records artists
Grammy Award winners
Jubilee Records artists
People from Fort Worth, Texas
Radio personalities from Texas
Starday Records artists
XM Satellite Radio
Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Texas