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Bill Mack Smith Jr. (June 4, 1929 – July 31, 2020)[1] was an Americancountry music 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.
For many years, Mack was best known as the host ofThe Country Roads Show, (laterU.S. 1 Trucking Show, and later still,Midnight Cowboy Trucking Show) the overnight country music show onWBAP, aclear channel station in Fort Worth. Mack's show catered primarily totruck drivers who traveled during the late-night hours. Its opening theme music was an instrumental rendition of "Orange Blossom Special", performed byFelix Slatkin and his orchestra.
Because of WBAP's clear channel signal range viaskywave at night, Mack's show was heard over most of the continental United States. Mack began his show in 1969.[2] He briefly took his show toMexican "border blaster" stationXERF, but returned to WBAP when an agreement for Mack to do his show from his Fort Worth home fell through.
In addition, Mack hosted thesyndicated radio showCountry Crossroads, heard on more than 800 stations across the country, and a similarcable television show onFamilyNet. He also hosted theOverdrive Top Ten Countdown, a weekly one-hourcountry music countdown geared toward truckers, insyndication.[3]
Mack left WBAP to joinXM Satellite Radio on itsOpen Road channel (XM 171). Two of the other main personalities on Open Road,Dave Nemo andDale "The Truckin' Bozo" Sommers, were Mack's primary competitors before all three left theirAM radio 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 channelsThe Roadhouse andWillie's Place into one channel and that this was his final show.
Mack was succeeded on his WBAP show byEric Harley, and the show was renamed theMidnight Radio Network and thenRed Eye Radio several years later.
In the country music industry, Mack was also a songwriter. His best-known song is "Blue," one ofLeAnn Rimes' biggest hits. The song won Mack theGrammy Award for Best Country Song in 1997. Mack also wrote "Drinking Champagne," which has been recorded by numerous artists. The song was a hit forCal Smith in 1968, and again forGeorge Strait in 1990 on his albumLivin' It Up. Some of his other songs have been recorded byDean Martin,Ray Price,Jerry Lee Lewis andGeorge Jones.
In 2000, Mack won the media category award given by theGrand Ole Opry. He was named to theTexas Country Music Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Country Music DJ and Radio Hall of Fame in 1982.
Bill Mack lived inFort Worth, Texas, 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 withCOVID-19 two days prior amid theCOVID-19 pandemic in Texas.[4]
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