|
Born Noble F. Stover on
November 16, 1928 in Huntsville, Texas, Smokey had his own
band and was playing the honky tonks of Texas at the age of
16. In 1949, a new radio station went on the air in Pasadena,
Texas where he landed his first deejaying job at KLVL-AM, an
on-the-air learning experience. A year later, KRCT-AM in
Baytown, Texas lured him away. Over the next year, Smokey’s
show became so popular, the station changed their format to
country and hired two more deejays.
In 1954, he moved on to KBRZ-AM
in Freeport, Texas where he stayed for three years except for
a six-month interval in 1956 when he helped launch KLOS in
Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 1958, he moved to KCIJ-AM in
Shreveport, Louisiana to be near the Louisiana Hayride, hoping
the move would push his singing career. Seven months later,
the station changed owners who brought in their own deejays.
With the help of a friend, Claude Gray, Smokey found a job at
WDAL in Meridian, Mississippi where he stayed until late 1959
when he received a call from his old Freeport boss, Ken
Ferguson. Ken was opening KMOP in Tucson, Arizona and wanted
Smokey to be his sign-on man. Smokey hit the airwaves there in
January, 1960 and remained there for eight years when he took
a couple of years out to concentrate on his singing and
songwriting.
On January 1, 1970, Smokey
went back on the air at KRZE in Farmington, New Mexico. A
year-and- a-half later, his mother’s illness forced him back
to Houston, Texas. He more or less retired from radio then
until 1992 when a friend built a new station, KVST in
Conroe/Huntsville, Texas. Smokey went on the air there in
early 1993 and ran a midnight ‘til 6 am show for a year until
it “got old” and he re-retired. In 1995, Ernie Ashworth lured
him to Gallatin, Tennessee to get the “Country Classic”
station of WYXE off the ground. Smokey enjoyed romping and
stomping with the Oldies for about eight months when he hung
it up and returned to his native Texas where he retired from
radio, but still picked and sang every weekend. His latest
recording was titled, “I May Be Getting Older, But I Ain’t
Stopped Thinking Young.”
Smokey was inducted into the
Country Music DJ Hall of Fame in 2000.
On June 3, 2005, Smokey lost his battle with cancer.
|
