Mark Paul Smith (c. 1960 – June 2023) was one of those people who kept Denver radio on the air without ever being the voice you recognized. Over 44 years of Denver radio, if your favorite station sounded right, engineers like Mark deserve a big share of the credit.
The guy who’d do anything
Mark was a licensed pilot, and he’d fly a one-engine Cessna over Denver to deliver traffic updates for commuters. He voiced commercials, covered the occasional DJ shift and handled whatever problem turned up that day. Former colleagues remembered him as willing to take on anything. One example: for a remote broadcast of the Colorado State Fair, he flew a pattern over the Front Range so the signal could reach the Denver studio.
When Rick Crandall was part-way through his long stretch at KEZW, Mark served as the station’s chief engineer. Crandall remembered him sitting in on the board any time the morning crew was away on a remote. And on September 11, 2001, while Crandall was broadcasting from the Denver Zoo, Mark called to get him back to the studio as the attacks unfolded.
Starting at 18
His radio career began at the famed Top 40 station KIMN when he was 18, and his family says he then stayed in the Denver market for 44 years. Audacy, Entercom and Jefferson Pilot Communications were among the larger companies he worked for, in engineering and local engineering-director roles.
Engineering leadership
A 2009 industry directory lists him as chief engineer of KJAC 105.5 in Timnath, then part of NRC Broadcasting. By 2013 he was director of engineering for Wilks Broadcast Group, a job that ran until Barry Thomas arrived that August to oversee the Denver stations KMJI-FM, KXKL-FM and KWOF-FM; the two overlapped for about a month. In 2014 FCC filings show him as director of engineering for Max Radio of Denver, handling technical paperwork for KJHM 101.5 and KXDE 107.1.
Remembering Mark
Radio was a family thing: his father, Merwin Smith, was also a Denver broadcaster, remembered as a World War II veteran. Colleagues called Mark a highly capable engineer with a one-of-a-kind sense of humor and a readiness to help. He died in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, in late June 2023, at age 62.
Sources
- Radio World, “Remembering the Late Mark Smith,” August 29, 2023 — career history, KIMN start, KEZW work, colleagues’ recollections and death information.
- M Street / Radio Directory, 2009–2010 — lists Mark Smith as chief engineer of KJAC 105.5 in Timnath.
- Radio World, “Thomas Now at Wilks,” August 6, 2013 — Smith as Wilks’ outgoing Director of Engineering and the Denver cluster.
- FCC historical CDBS record 1634561 — Director of Engineering for Max Radio of Denver, KJHM 101.5.
- FCC historical CDBS record 1634563 — Director of Engineering, KXDE 107.1.