Hugh Smith, Channel 13 broadcaster

Hugh Smith, Channel 13 broadcaster. Hampton Dunn Collection. Courtesy of the University of South Florida Digital Collection

Hugh Smith was the voice of reason as a reporter, news anchor, and news director for WTVT Channel 13 since starting there in 1963. He was revered as a journalist and reported factual news without editorializing. He had many local firsts at the station, including anchoring the first color newscast in 1966 and doing the station’s first remote live broadcast from a helicopter in 1976. Smith worked for the station until 1991, when he resigned following a dramatic fall from grace after he was charged a second time for soliciting a prostitute. He then did a stint at radio station Mix-96 (WMTX) as a news anchor with Mason Dixon. Smith died from complications of cancer in 2007.