Longtime Rochester talk radio host Bob Smith has died at the age of 64.
For 25 years, Smith hosted the “1370 Connection” program on WXXI-AM 1370, a weekday two-hour program discussing anything and everything from community to world issues. The program’s descendant, “Connections” is now hosted by Evan Dawson.
Smith also helped launch “SoundBytes,” now the world’s longest-running computer and tech radio show, now heard on WGMC 90.1.
Smith hosted “1370 Connection” for 25 years, until retiring in 2013 after he suffered a stroke shortly after his final broadcast.
He had a doctorate from Cornell in American political and legal history, and he taught American political and diplomatic history. He started his radio career at WBEN in Buffalo, leaving to take over his family’s business after his father’s death, and coming back to radio at WXXI after selling it. He combined academic and practical business sense, plus an abiding interest in the first amendment.