Steve Smith was pivotal in launching the legendary New York City hip-hop station Hot 97 in the mid-’90s.
Smith, renowned for his long blond locks as much as his programming savvy, had more than 34 years of major market experience programming stations and managing programming staff, but was particularly credited with launching the hip-hop format with New York’s Hot 97 in the mid-’90s.
“The first time I saw Steve Smith was in 90’s walking up Broadway in NY, I knew immediately who he was,”program director for XL 106.7/Magic 107.7 Orlando, recalled on his Facebook page. “Steve was already a famous PD with his trademark hair posted all over industry publications. Steve signed on Hot 97 in the ‘90s. This was the first hip hop station in the country.
Smith’s radio career began in 1987 when he worked as director of programming at Hot 97.7 in San Jose, Calif. after graduating from Pepperdine Law School. Following three years as vp of programming at Phoenix’s KKFR, he moved to the corporate level, holding positions at AM/FM Radio Group, Emmis Communications, Clear Channel , CBS Radio and Cox Media Group.
Smith shocked the radio industry in November when he resigned as Cox’s vp of programming after 10 years at the media group, only to resurface this April as a founder of Smith Richards Collective with Richards and digital marketer. The consulting group handles programming for groups of stations of all formats, and also offers talent coaching and brand growth services.
, Smith recalled the origins of Hot 97 and the potential of the hip-hop format when he was still in Phoenix in 1993 before heading to New York. “[I was] looking at the Billboard album chart and the No. 1 selling album was, and nobody was playing anything off of this album, there was no radio airplay,” he said at the time. “We started playing more hip-hop in Phoenix.
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