Prior Smith (born 1944) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

broadcaster who owns and operates the network radio program Canada Calling and, for 35 years, produced the Canadian syndicated radio show "Grapeline".

Broadcasting career

Born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Smith began his career in

radio broadcasting Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...

with brief stints as a news reporter/announcer at CKLY- Lindsay, Ontario, (1966) CHYR Leamington/

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

(1967) and CJSS Cornwall, Ontario (1968) before moving to CJAD

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

in 1968. After one year at CJAD he moved to the legendary CFRB in

in 1969. He worked as a general assignment news reporter/newscaster for the next 18 years. While working in news at CFRB, Smith branched into radio network syndication creating and distributing a number of national radio programs, the most prominent of which was ''Grapeline'' featuring hockey commentator Don Cherry and sports broadcaster Brian Williams. The program, the longest running nationally syndicated radio show in Canadian history, started in the fall of 1984 and concluded in the spring of 2019. Also during his time at CFRB, Smith created a syndicated radio news program to serve traveling and vacationing Canadians across the southern United States.

''Canada Calling''

''Canada Calling'' is a daily radio newscast prepared in southern Ontario throughout the winter months. It is available on demand online at http://www.canadacalling.com and syndicated to a network of radio stations across the U.S. Sunbelt and the Bahamas, serving the more than three million Canadian vacationers who travel south each winter. The original program was created by CBC sports and news announcer Dave Price. It was launched January 4, 1954 on stations in Miami Beach and Tampa. Price would retire in the mid-1970s, selling the operations to Canadian broadcast executive Finlay MacDonald. In 1977, Smith formed his own network and his coverage of the market quickly expanded to include all of Florida, The Bahamas, Arizona, southern California and south Texas. For a brief period the two networks competed for audience before Price's original service ceased operations. Smith has never missed a day hosting the daily newscast for the past 48 years and has carried on the Canada Calling tradition through 2025, its 71st winter broadcast season. Canada Calling's decades on air throughout Florida was honored by the Florida Association of Broadcasters at its annual convention in Miami Beach June 26, 2013 with Prior Smith in attendance representing the longest running radio show in Florida history.

References

* WWBF * WSRQ-FM * https://web.archive.org/web/20090207011901/http://www.broadcastdialogue.com/article_view.asp?action=view&idnumber=407 * https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/27/business/bitter-cold-makes-it-easier-to-sell-the-sun-to-canadians.html * http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/news/great-sports-programming-a-real-achievement-but-two-hundred-grand-doesnt-hurt/1000229484/?&er=NA * http://www.broadcastermagazine.com/news/canada-calling-radio-network-to-begin-60th-season/1002660901/ * https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/grapeline-endures-with-winning-formula-of-commentary-and-chemistry/article726161/ * https://torontosun.com/news/local-news/don-cherry-grapevine

External links

Canada Calling
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Prior 1944 births Living people Canadian radio personalities Mass media people from Toronto International broadcasting Canadian diaspora in North America