Happy Birthday Ron Smith

Yesterday former WBAL radio talk show host Ron Smith turned 70 years old. Even if you're not a talk radio kind of person, but you've lived in Baltimore you've probably heard of Ron Smith. Talk Show Man. The Voice of Reason. These are a couple of his monikers.

Ron retired from talk radio last week after a month-long battle with pancreatic cancer. Ron explained that he did not respond well to treatment and is signing off, but he's okay with that.

I have listened to Ron Smith since 1994 when I graduated from college. I can thank my fraternity brother Slopper for getting me into talk radio. In college he made me listen to Rush Limbaugh anytime we went somewhere in his car. I wasn't a huge fan, but it definitely got me thinking. When I returned to Baltimore after college I started listening to Ron Smith. And I got hooked.

David Zurawick wrote a great article in The Sun about Ron Smith. Z writes that despite battling Maryland's liberals for 26 years, there's been a huge outpouring of support for Ron in the last couple of months. He's received calls from Senator Cardin, Senator Mikulski, Attorney General Doug Gansler, Comptroller Peter Franchot, and he even received a note from Martin O'Malley, the Governor who has refused to go on WBAL radio for years after he got into a fight with Chip Franklin.

I missed Ron when he moved from the drive home to the late morning. I really miss him now that he's not on the radio at all. God speed, Talk Show Man.