Elroy R.C. Smith was born and raised on the island of Bermuda, the youngest of six children born to Ismay and Littenfield Smith. Young Elroy wasn’t excited about school as a child, in fact he preferred doing just about anything over studying and behaving in class. As a teenager, he began to develop a keen interest in music. He joined a singing group the Universal Five which soon became the Universal Four when Elroy was fired from the group. He decided to look at other ways to get involved in the music business.
Elroy’s fascination with radio led him to ZFB in Bermuda where he was informed by the program director that he would never make it because of his inability to read. Determined, Elroy went to New York to attend Announcer’s Training School and when he returned home, Program Director Sergio Dean offered him a part-time job at ZFB as an on-air personality.
He was thrilled to be on the radio but he wasn’t satisfied with this accomplishment. He wanted to go to college even though he didn’t have a high school diploma. After getting a letter from a politician and a minister in Bermuda, he was admitted to Graham Junior College in Boston. No one knew his secret, that he was a college student who could not read. So Elroy did something that was rather amazing. He read the encyclopedia every night, teaching himself to read.
After finishing the two-year program at Graham, Elroy enrolled at Emerson College seeking a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communications. At Emerson he did an air shift on the college station WERS and then started an internship at WILD in Boston. Steve Crumbley, who was the Program Director there, offered Elroy a slot doing a Caribbean show on the weekends, which eventually led to a full time air shift.
In 1983, Crumbley left the station and Elroy was offered the Program Director’s position, but there was a major problem looming. Elroy’s school visa had run out. Ken and Bernadine Nash, who owned and managed WILD, couldn’t bear the thought of losing Elroy. They not only sponsored Elroy, they even paid his legal fees, making it possible for him to stay in the United States.
In 1988, Summit Communications hired Elroy to program their new station, 100.3 JAMZ in Dallas. Ken and Bernadine Nash gave their blessings, but Elroy would soon hit a bump in the road when he was terminated by Summit. Ken Nash came to the rescue again, bringing Elroy back to Boston.
When James Alexander, who was then Program Director of WGCI in Chicago let Elroy know that he would soon be leaving the station, Elroy headed for the city that would become on of his greatest achievements in radio. He joined WGCI-FM in 1992 and the station has consistently been a ratings leader in a number of demographics. Elroy made history in 1993 by carrying WGCI to the number one slot in the metropolitan area for three consecutive ratings periods. He has maintained WGCI as the #1 music station in Chicago for the last 13 years.
In November 2000, Elroy became the Program Director of the Urban Adult Contemporary station WVAZ-FM and has maintained it as one of the top adult stations in Chicago. In 2003, WVAZ-FM received the prestigious Marconi Award for Urban Station of the Year from the National Association of Broadcasters.
Smith has garnered numerous industry awards and has become one of the most sought after speakers and workshop leaders in the radio industry. He was named Billboard Monitor Program Director of the Year (Urban Mainstream) and honored by the Living Legends Foundation. Other honors and awards include the Midwest Radio Music Association Icon Award, the Salute to Excellence award in October of 2002 and in 2005, he ranked No.7 in Radio Ink’s Top Programmers in America. He was also awarded the State of the District Media Award by the Congress of the United States in 2006.
In 2003, Elroy Smith was named Program Director of the Year at the Radio Music Awards in Las Vegas. He was also named Urban Program Director of the Year and WGCI was named Urban Station of the Year at the 2003, 2005 and 2006 Radio and Records Industry Achievement Awards. WGCI was also named R&R Urban Station of the Year in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006 and WGCI was named R&B Hip Hop Station of the Year at the Billboard R&B Hip Hop Awards in 2006. He was also named Star Programmer of the Year in the December 2005 issue of Starpoynt Magazine, Urban Programmer of the Year at the 2005 Radio Music Awards and R&B Hip Hop Operations Manager/ Program Director of the Year at the Billboard R&B Hip Hop Awards in 2006. In September 2006, WGCI received the prestigious Marconi Award for Urban Station of the Year.
On July 5, 2004, Elroy along with principle partners Glenn Blakney and Scott Pearman signed on Bermuda's HOTT 1075 radio station. HOTT's format is urban contemporary featuring Hip-Hop, R&B, Inspirational and Reggae. This station has been received by Bermuda with open arms. Elroy is the CEO and Program Director of HOTT 1075 Bermuda. One of the biggest highlights of Elroy’s career was at the 2005 Grammy Awards. Alicia Keys acknowledged him in her acceptance speech for Best R&B Album by thanking Elroy and WGCI for being the first to play her record. He was also acknowledged on the Judge Mathis Show (by Judge Mathis himself) as one of the best programmers in America.
In March of 2006, Smith coordinated a rally titled, “Black Life Has Value”. The rally was organized to address the violence in the African American community in Chicago. Guest speakers included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr. and U.S. Senator of Illinois, Barack Obama. He also coordinated a celebration to honor Shani Davis of Chicago, the first African American to win an individual gold medal in the Winter Olympics.
In August of 2006, Midway Broadcasting Corporation Chairman Melody Spann Cooper tapped Elroy R.C. Smith to serve as Operations Manager of WVON, the only African-American owned and operated Urban Talk format station in the city of Chicago.
Elroy is a faithful member of the Chicago Church of Christ. He and his wife Vonda are the proud parents of one son, Colin Spencer Smith.
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