Bill Smyth (broadcaster)
William Johnston Smyth (2 November 1936 – 26 January 2011) was a broadcaster and sports journalist in Northern Ireland. Born on 2 November 1936, he originated from the Antrim Road district of north Belfast. He was educated at Methodist College Belfast and Queen's University, Belfast, graduating with a degree in psychology.
Broadcasting career[edit]
Smyth was a school teacher and was an educational psychologist, before embarking as a broadcaster in the 1960s at the BBC Northern Ireland Home Service, which later became known as BBC Radio Ulster. In the early 1970s, Smyth was employed with BBC Radio Bristol, in the west of England.
When Northern Ireland's first commercial radio station, Downtown Radio, went on air in March 1976, Smyth was one of its original presenters, working on the shows Downtown Downbeat and The Sunday Request Show.
1978 saw his move into television broadcasting when he joined Ulster Television as a newscaster and continuity announcer, a move that made him a household name.[citation needed] He remained with the station until 1987.
Thereafter, the father of four daughters, worked as a journalist with the Antrim Guardian. He also spent some time at Townland Radio in Cookstown, County Tyrone, and in 1997 moved to Belfast Community Radio/Citybeat.
In addition to his sports reporting for the Irish News, the Ulster edition of the Daily Mirror and other publications, he was a travel news announcer with the Belfast radio station U105 (2005–2010) launched by UTV Media plc.[citation needed]
In 2009 he narrated The Old Road to Dublin by Belfast-based indie Notasuch Films, a documentary film and online comedy about "social attitudes, improved infrastructure, the new Ireland, cultural heritage and drink!".[citation needed]
Formerly a resident of Rosstulla Avenue in Newtownabbey's Jordanstown area, Smyth died of cancer on 26 January 2011 in Belfast City Hospital.
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