Smoaky resigns from KTBB
Our East Texas bureau reports that David Smoak has resigned as “Sports Director and Talk Host at KTBB radio.” A trip to Smoaky.com confrimed this report. It appears that Smoak will continue to maintain his site, a haven of heated discussions on all-things sports, especially high school football.
Texans love their high school football and the Piney Woods house some of the sports’ most passionate fans. Smoaky understands this passion and he developed a successful media strategy that provided East Texans with informative and entertaining coverage of high school football for over 20 years. While media personalities in larger markets look down their nose at high school football, Smoaky devoted a majority of his to time to the it, earning him the reputation of being one of the state’s foremost experts on the sport.
Growing up in East Texas, I have fond memories of watching David Smoak as the sports anchor for a local television station. His high school football scoreboard was a must see every Friday night. As a college student in Tyler, I rediscovered how great Smoaky was when I found his sports talk radio program on the AM side of the dial. Later on, I would have the opportunity to work with Smoaky on several different occassions while working for TexasPrepXtra.com. He was willing to do whatever it took to help young, aspiring journlists get the experience they needed.
It remains to be seen whether or not this signals the end of Smoaky’s career. I’ve found a couple of different statements regarding his move on his website and both of them are deliberately worded, leading me to believe there some contractual issues yet to be answered. I tend to believe that Smoaky will continue doing what he loves, covering sports. I’m just no sure in what capacity.
If this does signal the end of his media career, it’s a sad day for East Texas sports fans. Smoaky’s work went far beyond high school football. He was the first local reporter in East Texas to begin live coverage from Cowboys’ training camp. When Smoaky traveled to camp, he always brought along a huge smoaker and would provide food for the entire media contingent. Through his food and his professionalism, Smoaky developed many contacts throughout the state, friends who would often drop in on his program. No other media program has his connections and they will find it hard to book the types of guests his fans have grown accustomed to.
Heres to a very short stint off the air for David Smoak! East Texas sports fans need him.
