Paul William Smith (born 1953) is an American talk radio host and columnist. He currently hosts the morning show on WJR radio in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

and co-hosts the weekly show ''Opportunity Detroit''. Smith's shows typically feature in-depth interviews with a number of notable people, including politicians, authors, and business leaders within the

automotive industry The automotive industry comprises a wide range of company, companies and organizations involved in the design, Business development, development, manufacturing, marketing, and selling of motor vehicles. It is one of the world's largest industry ...

Early life

Smith's maternal grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, and Smith's father William D. Smith is of

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

descent. While on a boat ride to the U.S. from Lebanon, Smith's grandmother was pregnant with Smith's mother, Marie Boutros. William D. Smith, who died in 2007 at age 80, worked as an insurance agent and community theatre director. Paul W. Smith was born and raised in

Monroe, Michigan Monroe is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Monroe had a population of 20,462 in the 2020 census. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but the two are administered autonomo ...

as one of three children and graduated from

St. Mary Catholic Central High School St. Mary Catholic Central High School, known colloquially as SMCC, is a Catholic, co-educational, parochial, secondary school located at 108 West Elm Avenue in Monroe, Michigan. SMCC is sponsored by the Catholic parishes of the Vicariate of Monr ...

in Monroe and the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. He writes a column at ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the '' Detroit Tribune'' on Februa ...

''.

Radio career

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

, Smith began his career hosting both radio and TV shows, and he has hosted programs on the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

stations WABC and

WMCA WMCA may refer to: *WMCA (AM), a radio station operating in New York City * West Midlands Combined Authority, the combined authority of the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom *Wikimedia Canada The Wikimedia Foundation, ...

. In 1990, Smith became the morning show host at

WWDB-FM WTDY-FM (96.5 MHz) is a commercial radio station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The station is owned by Audacy, Inc. and broadcasts a Top 40/CHR format. WTDY's studios are co-located with located within Audacy's corporate headquarters in Center ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. Smith has hosted the current program on WJR since 1996, taking over following the death of the legendary

J.P. McCarthy Joseph Priestley "J.P." McCarthy II (March 22, 1933 – August 16, 1995) was a radio personality best known for his over 30 years of work as the morning man and interviewer on station WJR in Detroit, Michigan. Early life J.P. McCarthy was bo ...

. His morning show has been consistently rated as the number-one radio program in

metro Detroit The Detroit metropolitan area, often referred to as Metro Detroit, is a major metropolitan area in the U.S. State of Michigan, consisting of the city of Detroit and its surrounding area. There are varied definitions of the area, including the ...

. Smith was an occasional guest host for ''

The Rush Limbaugh Show ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' is an American conservative talk radio show hosted by Rush Limbaugh. Since its nationally syndicated premiere in 1988, ''The Rush Limbaugh Show'' became the highest-rated talk radio show in the United States. At its ...

'', a nationally syndicated show carried by WJR until the death of Rush Limbaugh. On WJR, Smith co-hosted the weekly program ''Destination 313'', which explored landmarks and profiles community affairs in the city of Detroit.Destination 313 - About
(archived) In addition to hosting, Smith is the Detroit area chair of the

Police Athletic League The Police Athletic League (PAL; Police Activities League) is an organization in many American police departments in which members of the police force coach young people, both boys and girls, in sports, and help with homework and other school-rela ...

and is a member of its national board. His annual "Pals for PAL"

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

fundraiser finances the bulk for the local PAL programs. Beginning March 13, 2006, Smith began authoring a Monday column for the

Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...

which borrows heavily from former Detroit Free Press columnist Bob Talbert.

References

External links

The Paul W. Smith Show
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Paul W. 1953 births Living people American columnists American people of Dutch descent American people of English descent American people of Irish descent American people of Lebanese descent People from Monroe, Michigan Radio personalities from Detroit The Detroit News people University of Michigan alumni