Wally Smith, 87, Remembered as Public Radio Pioneer, Advocate

Last Thursday morning, Brian Cosgrove couldn’t help but think of the film “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Except in place of the lead character, George Bailey — a man who gets to see what his town would have looked like if not for his existence — was his friend and public radio pioneer, Wally Smith.

To those who knew him, Smith was both kind and stubborn, soft-spoken yet confident in his morals, values and opinions. He loved red wine, music and the occasional cigar, and was known for his dry sense of humor, friendly demeanor and engaging personality.

His love for public media lit him up, as it did his colleagues at WPPB Peconic Public Broadcasting in Southampton — which is now 88.3 WLIW-FM — where he served as general manager for 25 years and, before that, played an instrumental role in the early formation of National Public Radio, leading some of its first member stations in the country.

“Things would be much different if it weren’t for Wally,” said Cosgrove, host of “The Afternoon Ramble” on WLIW. “This was his life and he believed in it, and I was so grateful to know him.”

Dr. Wallace “Wally” Smith, a resident of North Sea, died of congestive heart failure on October 27 at the Kanas Center for Hospice Care on Quiogue, according to his longtime friend and colleague, John Landes. He was 87.

“He would always say, ‘John, I never had to interview for a job — things just happened to me.’ He put a lot of trust in the world and what would happen. He was kind of a happy-go-lucky guy,” Landes said. “What I learned from him the most was to have that attitude, that life will take care of you — and just go with it.”

Smith was born on November 29, 1934, in Washington, Pennsylvania, to Helen Wallace Smith and Clarence Arnold Smith. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Waynesburg College in Pennsylvania, followed by his divinity degree from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California, where he was involved in campus ministry until his public radio days.

“I can tell you that I’ve never met anybody who loved public media more than Wally,” Cosgrove said. “He believed in it — he knew the power of it. You know when you talk to somebody who’s really passionate about something and it’s infectious? He always went to that place. He always went to that place when he talked about what we were doing — and the power of public radio.”

But Smith fell into it by complete accident. He was finishing his studies at the University of Southern California when, in 1972, NPR was scouring the country in search of a college radio station to serve as the Los Angeles anchor. Under pressure from the student body, the university agreed — and hired Smith as its founding manager.

“There’s a long history of my involvement in public broadcasting since its earliest days, and it has been an extraordinary experience for me,” Smith told The Express News Group last October. “It gave me meaning for getting up every day and doing whatever it was I did, because it all related to being able to help share what we all go through in life and report on things that are important.”

The Los Angeles station, KUSC-FM, grew to be one of the most popular classical music stations in the country. Smith made radical format changes to the station before landing on Long Island. In 1997, he was hired to grow the Southampton College radio station, WPBX, which later became WLIU under Long Island University.

In 2009, when the school decided to cut ties with the station, Smith spearheaded the campaign to keep it alive as an NPR member station — and it soon became Peconic Public Broadcasting, WPPB.

“There were a lot of people who made it happen — Wally didn’t do it on his own, by any stretch, but nobody sacrificed more than Wally,” Cosgrove said. “There were folks who did just as much, but nobody sacrificed more, on different levels, than Wally. He was very instrumental in coordinating to keeping the station together.”

He was steadfast in his management and “his spirit just permeates that place,” Landes said, noting that, in January 2020, the station was sold to WNET, America’s flagship PBS station, which renamed the station WLIW-FM and shifted Smith’s role to general manager emeritus.

During his heyday, though, Smith was a presence, according to Ed German, host and producer of “The Urban Jazz Experience” and “Friday Night Soul” at WLIW. Together, they did hundreds of “fund drives,” he said, and remembers the general manager’s voice giving out on “so many occasions, because he was appealing so emotionally to the audience.”

“Wally Smith was a legend in public radio,” WLNG radio host Bonnie Grice, who is Smith’s ex-wife and a former on-air personality at WPPB, said in an email. “His commitment to radio and its role in community was unparalleled. I was honored to know him and work with him over the years. He was inspirational for so many of us.”

Smith remained lifelong friends with Fred Rogers, creator and host of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.” They met as students at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary — both went on to become ordained Presbyterian ministers — and bonded over their love of music. Though their career paths diverged, they each had esteemed roles in public broadcasting and, from what Smith’s friend, Mare Dianora, gathered, similar personalities.

“I think the very most important thing Wally has taught me — as we quote Mister Rogers — is that we are all neighbors,” she said. “We need to look out for each other in this community and be a helper. Wally’s kindness will live on in us and continue to inspire us all to help each other.”

His compassion toward people extended to his pets and even wildlife, as he was known for making friends with the deer, turkeys and feral cats outside his home in North Sea. At the radio station, he often hosted visits from squirrels that would pop up at the window next to his desk, where he would feed them nuts and raisins, recalled German, who came to his boss with a dilemma about 10 years ago.

“Wally, I’ve got about five bird feeders, man, and I can’t keep those damn squirrels out of them!” German had lamented.

Smith looked up at him and said, “Well, Ed, they’ve gotta eat, too,” German recalled, and that forever changed his outlook and approach.

“It’s because of Wally that I have, right now, about 75 birds and 10 squirrels on my lawn, just eating,” he said, looking out his window last Monday afternoon in Flanders, where he regularly sprinkles birdseed on the grass. “It’s all because of Wally.”

Smith was predeceased by his brother, Donald Wayne Smith, and is survived by his brother, Roy Smith, as well as a number of nieces and nephews, who live across the country. A graveside service will be held on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Shelter Island Cemetery, behind the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church, where Smith was a member for 15 years.

Gifts can be made to WLIW-FM in Smith’s honor at wliw.org/radio.