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Curt Smith | |
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| Born | (1951-03-20)March 20, 1951 (age 74) |
| Occupation | Author, radio and television host |
| Alma mater | State University of New York at Geneseo |
| Subject | Baseball |
| Notable works | Voices of the Game |
| Website | |
| www | |
Curt Smith (born March 20, 1951, inCaledonia, New York) is anAmericanauthor, media host andcolumnist. In addition to work as a newspaper reporter, Smith was a political speechwriter until 1992 and a host of radio and television programs until 2002. He has written 17 books, includingVoices of the Game, which covers the history of baseball broadcasting. Smith is a newspaper columnist in upstate New York and holds an academic appointment at theUniversity of Rochester.
Smith is a 1973 graduate ofState University of New York at Geneseo. He worked as aGannett Company reporter, a speechwriter to formerTexas GovernorJohn Connally, and an editor at theSaturday Evening Post. In 1989 he joined theGeorge H. W. Bush Administration as a speechwriter. After Bush's defeat in 1992 Smith lectured at theSmithsonian Institution and then turned to radio and television. From 1994 to 1996 he hosted theMidday Milwaukee talk show on radio stationWISN. He also hostedWROC-TV’sPerfectly Clear program from 2000 to 2002 and a 1997–2002 series on the Fox Empire Sports Network.
Currently Smith hosts the weeklyPerspectives series onRochester, New York'sNPR affiliateWXXI. The show deals with politics, pop culture, sports, and other topics. Smith also hosts the twice-weeklyTalking Point show on Rochester'sCBS affiliate WROC, where he spars with co-hosts on political and other issues.
Smith is the author of eleven books:Voices of Summer,What Baseball Means to Me,Voices of The Game,Storied Stadiums,Windows on the White House,Our House,Of Mikes and Men,Long Time Gone,A Fine Sense of the Ridiculous,America's Dizzy Dean andThe Storytellers. Perhaps his best known book isVoices of The Game, which recounts the history of baseball broadcasting fromKDKA's firstPittsburgh Pirates broadcast in 1921 to today's enormous media coverage of the game. A three-part documentary was also made based on the book and has aired onESPN.[1][2] His writing style has been highly praised by pundits likeBob Costas, but he has also been criticized for overly florid and sometimes tangledprose.
Smith lives in Rochester with his wife Sarah and their two children. He writes columns for the Messenger-Post newspapers in upstateNew York and is a senior lecturer at theUniversity of Rochester.
